John 8:12 — Community Reflections

JOHN 8:12 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life — Jesus makes another absolute I-am statement ('egō eimi to phōs tou kosmou'), the second of the great predicative 'I am' statements (after 6:35). Light and darkness are fundamental categories in John: light represents truth, life, and God; darkness represents falsehood, death, and the world's rejection of God. The claim is universal ('light of the world') and conditional on following ('he that followeth me'). The promised result is 'the light of life'—illumination that is life-giving, that leads to eternal life.

Church Fathers on John 8:12

Having absolved the woman from her Sill, lest some should doubt, seeing that He was really man, His power to forgive sins, He deigns to give further disclosure of His divine nature; Then spoke Jesus again to them, saying, I am. the Light of the world.
Alcuin · 8th century

Where it is to be observed, He does not say, I am the light of Angels, or of heaven, but the Light of the world, i.e. of mankind who live in darkness, as we read, To give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death.
Bede · 8th century

As they had brought Galilee as an objection against Him, and doubted His being one of the Prophets, as if that was all He claimed to be, Me wished to show that He was not one of the Prophets, but the Lord of the whole earth: Then spoke Jesus again to them, saying, I am the Light of the world: not of Galilee, or of Palestine, or of Judea.
Chrysostom · 4th century

Read all 7 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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