SEV Biblia, Chapter 8:12
¶ Y les habl Jess otra vez, diciendo: YO SOY la luz del mundo; el que me sigue, no andar en tinieblas, mas tendr la luz de la vida.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - John 8:12
Verse 12. Then spake Jesus again unto them] Allowing the story about the woman taken in adultery to be authentic, and to stand here in its proper place, we may consider that our Lord, having begun to teach the people in the temple, was interrupted by the introduction of this woman by the scribes and Pharisees; and now, having dismissed them and the woman also, he resumes his discourse. I am the light of the world] The fountain whence an intellectual light and spiritual understanding proceed: without me all is darkness, misery, and death. The Divine Being was, by the rabbins denominated, The light of the world. So in Bamidbar Rabba: "The Israelites said to God, O Lord of the universe, thou commandest us to light lamps to thee, yet thou art THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD: and with thee the light dwelleth." Our Lord, therefore, assumes here a well known character of the Supreme Being; and with this we find the Jews were greatly offended.
Shall not walk in darkness] He shall be saved from ignorance, infidelity, and sin. If he follow me, become my disciple, and believe on my name, he shall have my Spirit to bear witness with his, that he is a child of God. He shall have the light of life-such a light as brings and supports life. The sun, the fountain of light, is also the fountain of life: by his vivifying influences, all things live-neither animal nor vegetative life could exist, were it not for his influence. Jesus, the Sun of righteousness, Mal. iv. 2, is the fountain of all spiritual and eternal LIFE. His light brings life with it, and they who walk in his light live in his life. This sentiment is beautifully expressed and illustrated in the following inimitable verse (all monosyllables except one word) of that second Spenser, Phineas Fletcher. Speaking of the conversion of a soul to God, he says: - "New LIGHT new LOVE, new LOVE new LIFE hath bred; A LIFE that lives by LOVE, and loves by LIGHT: A LOVE to him, to whom all LOVES are wed; A LIGHT, to whom the sun is darkest night: Eye's LIGHT, heart's LOVE, soul's only LIFE he is: LIFE, soul, love, heart, LIGHT, eye, and all are his: He eye, LIGHT, heart, LOVE, soul; He all my joy and bliss." PURPLE ISLAND, Can. I. v. 7.
Some suppose our Lord alludes to the custom of lighting lamps or torches, on the first day of the feast of tabernacles. But as these words seem to have been spoken the day after that last and great day of the feast, mentioned chap. vii. 37, they may rather be considered as referring to the following custom: It has already been observed, that the Jews added a ninth day to this feast, which day they termed, The feast of joy for the law; and on that day they were accustomed to take all the sacred books out of the chest where they had been deposited, and put a lighted candle in their place, in allusion to Prov. vi. 23: For the commandment is a LAMP (or CANDLE) and the law is life: or to Psa. cxix. c5: Thy word is a LAMP unto my feet, and a LIGHT unto my path. If this custom existed in the time of our Lord, it is most likely that it is to it he here alludes; as it must have happened about the same time in which these words were spoken. See Buxtorf. Synagog. Jud. c. xxi.
As the Messiah was frequently spoken of by the prophets under the emblem of light, see Isa. lx. 1; xlix. 6; ix. 2, the Pharisees must at once perceive that he intended to recommend himself to the people as the Messiah, when he said, I am the light of the world.
The rabbins think that the Messiah is intended in Gen. i. 8, And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. "From this we may learn that the holy and blessed God saw the light of the Messiah and his works before the world was created; and reserved it for the Messiah, and his generation, under the throne of his glory. Satan said to the holy and blessed God, For whom dost thou reserve that light which is under the throne of thy glory? God answered: For him who shall subdue thee, and overwhelm thee with confusion. Satan rejoined, Lord of the universe, show that person to me! God said, Come and see him. When he saw him, he was greatly agitated, and fell upon his face, saying, Truly this is the Messiah, who shall cast me and idolaters into hell." Yalcut Rubeni, fol. 6. This is a very remarkable saying; and, as it might have existed in the time of our Lord, to it he might have alluded in the verse before us. The thing itself is true: the Messiah is the light of the world, and by him Satan's empire of idolatry is destroyed in the world, and the kingdom of light and life established. See several similar testimonies in Schoettgen.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 12. Then spake Jesus again unto them , etc.] Syriac fragment of Bishop Ushers, published by Deuteronomy Dieu, prefaces this verse thus, when they were gathered together, Jesus said, etc. that is, the Scribes and Pharisees, who went out and returned again; or some others of them, who came after this, to whom Christ addressed himself thus: I am the light of the world ; which he might say, on occasion of the rising sun, which was now up, and might shine brightly in their faces; (see John 8:2); which is lw[h rwa , the light of the world, as Aben Ezra in ( Psalm 19:8) rightly calls it: thus on occasion of the water in Jacobs well, he discoursed of living water; and upon the Jews at Capernaum mentioning the manna, he treated at large concerning himself as the bread of life: and he might also make use of this character, and apply it to himself, with a view to some passages in the Old Testament, which speak of him under the metaphor of the sun, as ( Psalm 84:11 Malachi 4:2), and represent him as the light; and the Jews themselves say, that light is one of the names of the Messiah; and God himself is called by them, the light of the world f378 : and likewise he may have regard to those pompous titles and characters, which the Jewish doctors assumed arrogantly to themselves, and oppose himself to them; for they not only called Moses their master, lw[h rwa , the light of the world f379 , and also the law of Moses f380 , but their Rabbins and doctors; (see Gill on Matthew 5:14).
By the world here is meant, not the whole world, and all the individuals of it; for though Christ, as the Creator of all things, is the light of men, and does lighten every individual man with the light of nature and reason, yet not in a spiritual and saving manner, as is here intended; nor the whole body of the elect of God, though they are sometimes called the world, being the better part of it, and are made light in the Lord, in a special sense; nor the Jews only, and the chosen of God, among them, though Christ was a great light to many of them, that sat in darkness, and in the shadow of death; but the Gentiles are here designed, who were usually called by the Jews, the world; (see Gill on John 3:16). And these were in gross darkness before the coming of Christ, about the Divine Being, concerning the object, nature, and manner of worship; the Scriptures, the law, and Gospel; the Messiah, and his office and work; the Spirit of God, and his operations of grace; the resurrection of the dead, and a future state; now Christ came to be a light of the Gentiles, as well as the glory of his people Israel: our Lord seems to have respect to the prophecy of him, in ( Isaiah 42:6), as well as alludes to the sun in the firmament; whose light is diffused to all the nations of the earth, and not confined to one spot of land only: but since Christ was the minister of the circumcision, and was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, it may be asked, how could he be the light of the Gentiles? to which it may be replied, that he was so by his apostles, who were sent by him with the light of the Gospel, into all the world; and by his Spirit, who enlightens the minds of men, who were darkness itself, with the light of Christ: for he is not only the author and giver of the light of nature to all men, but also of the light of grace to all his chosen ones, Gentiles as well as Jews; who, in his light, see light; see themselves lost and undone, and him to be the only willing, able, suitable, and complete Saviour; and behold wondrous things in the doctrines of the Gospel, and have some glimpse of glory; and he is likewise the author of all the light of glory the saints enjoy in the other world; the Lamb is the light of that state; he is their everlasting light, and their glory; and happy are they who are his followers now: he that followeth me ; not corporeally, but spiritually, by faith; for as believing is expressed by coming to Christ, so by following after him: compare with this, ( John 12:46); and with love and affection to him, the desires of the soul being unto him, and to the remembrance of him; and in the exercise of every grace and discharge of every duty, in imitation of him; and through a variety of sufferings and tribulations, pressing after him as the guide, captain, and forerunner: and such shall not walk in darkness ; in the darkness of unregeneracy, not knowing what they are, and where they are, and whither they are going; for such know they are in the light; and though they were blind, now they see; they know in whom they have believed, and that they are in Christ, in the covenant of grace, and in the love of God, and are going to heaven and eternal happiness; such shall not walk in the darkness of unbelief; but walk by faith on Christ; nor in the darkness of error, but in the truth of the Gospel, and as becomes it; and though they may sometimes walk without the light of Gods countenance, yet light shall arise to them; and such shall not go into darkness, as the Ethiopic version renders the words, into outer darkness, or the darkness of eternal death: but shall have the light of life ; the grace of God abiding in them now; which as it is a well of living water, springing up to eternal life, so it is a shining light, which increases to the perfect day: as darkness and death, so light and life go together; grace, which is enlightening, is also quickening and comforting, and issues in eternal light and life; a light that will never be extinguished, and a life that will continue for ever, with never fading joys and pleasures; (see Job 33:30).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 12-16 - Christ is the Light of the world. God is light, and Christ is the imag of the invisible God. One sun enlightens the whole world; so does on Christ, and there needs no more. What a dark dungeon would the world be without the sun! So would it be without Jesus, by whom light came int the world. Those who follow Christ shall not walk in darkness. The shall not be left without the truths which are necessary to keep the from destroying error, and the directions in the way of duty, necessar to keep them from condemning sin.
Greek Textus Receptus
παλιν 3825 ADV ουν 3767 CONJ ο 3588 T-NSM ιησους 2424 N-NSM αυτοις 846 P-DPM ελαλησεν 2980 5656 V-AAI-3S λεγων 3004 5723 V-PAP-NSM εγω 1473 P-1NS ειμι 1510 5748 V-PXI-1S το 3588 T-NSN φως 5457 N-NSN του 3588 T-GSM κοσμου 2889 N-GSM ο 3588 T-NSM ακολουθων 190 5723 V-PAP-NSM εμοι 1698 P-1DS ου 3756 PRT-N μη 3361 PRT-N περιπατησει 4043 5692 V-FAI-3S εν 1722 PREP τη 3588 T-DSF σκοτια 4653 N-DSF αλλ 235 CONJ εξει 2192 5692 V-FAI-3S το 3588 T-ASN φως 5457 N-ASN της 3588 T-GSF ζωης 2222 N-GSF
Vincent's NT Word Studies
12. The light of the world (to fwv tou kosmou). Not lucnov, a lamp, as John the Baptist (v. 35). Light is another of John's characteristic terms and ideas, playing a most important part in his writings, as related to the manifestation of Jesus and His work upon men. He comes from God, who is light (1 John i. 5). "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men" (i. 4). The Word was among men as light before the incarnation (i. 9; ix. 5), and light came with the incarnation (iii. 19-21; viii. 12; xii. 46). Christ is light through the illuminating energy of the Spirit (xiv. 21, 26; xvi. 13; 1 John ii. 20, 27), which is received through love (xiv. 22, 23). The object of Christ's work is to make men sons of light (xii. 36, 46), and to endow them with the light of life (viii. 12).In ver. 20, we are told that Jesus spake these words in the Treasury. This was in the Court of the Women, the most public part of the temple. Four golden candelabra stood there, each with four golden bowls, each one filled from a pitcher of oil by a youth of priestly descent. These were lighted on the first night of the Feast of Tabernacles. It is not unlikely that they may have suggested our Lord's figure, but the figure itself was familiar both from prophecy and from tradition. According to tradition, Light was one of the names of the Messiah. See Isa. ix. 1; xlii. 6; xlix. 6; lx. 1-3; Malachi iv. 2; Luke ii. 32.
Walk in darkness (peripethsei en th skotia). This phrase is peculiar to the Gospel and First Epistle.
Shall have (exei). Not only shall see it, but shall possess it. Hence Christ's disciples are the light of the world (Matt. v. 14). Compare lights, or, properly, luminaries (fwsthrev) a name, applied to believers in Philip. ii. 15.
