John 8:12Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Still, they wished to refute even this, since it meant far more than the words, "He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness." By light and darkness He means them spiritually, that such a man will not remain in error.

Here He also draws Nicodemus and encourages him, since he had shown great boldness. He also praises the servants who acted in the same way. The fact that He cried out, cf. Jn 7:37, "and cried, saying," shows that He wanted them too to hear.

At the same time He shows that they, the Jews, weave plots in secret, in darkness and error, but they will not overcome the light. He also reminds Nicodemus of the words He had spoken to him earlier: "Everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed," Jn 3:20.

Since the Pharisees had said that none of the rulers had believed in Him, He says: "He who does evil does not come to the light." By this He shows that they did not come because of the corruption of their will, not because of any weakness in the light.

In many Greek Gospel texts, unlike the Latin, verses 7:53-8:11 are omitted. Therefore St. John connects 7:52 with 8:12.

From Homily 64: By the words, "that all may honor the Son as they honor the Father," Jn 5:23, and by the words, "whatever He does," these the Son also does likewise, Jn 5:19, Christ shows that He is equal to Him Who begot Him.

He shows this also by calling Himself the resurrection and the life, Jn 11:25, and the light of the world. He confirms the very conclusion which the Jews had formed about Him.

Listen to what Christ Himself says about Himself: "I am the light of the world," Jn 8:12. For this reason the Apostle called Him radiance, to show that the same thing is said there also, namely that the Son is from the Father as light from light.

Yet this is not the only thing shown here. It is also shown that He has enlightened our souls. By the word "radiance," the Apostle expresses equality according to essence and closeness to the Father.

Indeed, we are sons of light, that is, of the evangelical word spoken by the mouth of God: "I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life," Jn 8:12.

That word is the word of light. If we believe in it, it makes us sons of light. Therefore the Savior also says: "While the light is with you, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light," Jn 12:36.

For what this sensible light is to the body, the spiritual light, the word of God, is to the soul. What darkness is at night, ignorance is to erring souls. Therefore blessed David writes of such people: "They do not know, nor do they understand; they walk in darkness," Ps 81:5.

He who was seen as man was Himself also the Son of God and the light of the world. It is not as Nestorius vainly babbled, as though the Son of God dwelt in a mere man.

No. The Son of Mary and the Son of God, as has been said, was one.

“He who follows Me,” He says, “shall not walk in darkness.” That is, he will not remain in error, but will be freed from error and darkness.

By this He also approves Nicodemus and the officers as acting rightly and therefore being in the light. He hints to the Pharisees that they are in error and darkness, and are secretly weaving plots.

Therefore He sets forth the cause of their senselessness and cries: “I am the light of the world.” He says, “You have gone through all Holy Scripture and think you are investigating what was said of Me through the prophets.

“Yet you wander far from the way of life.” There is nothing astonishing in this. You do not have the One who reveals mysteries, who illumines the whole world.

You do not have Him who, like the sun, sends rays into the hearts of those who receive Him. Whoever does not have the divine and spiritual light within himself must certainly walk in darkness.

For this reason he falls into many errors. The Only-begotten is Light by nature, since He has shone forth from the Light by nature, God the Father.

We have already explained this at length in the first book, when interpreting the saying: “He was the true Light” (Jn 1:9).

Again we must note that He calls Himself the “Light” not of the Israelites specially and separately, but of the whole “world.” This, He says, is entirely true for the following reason.

We affirm that He is the One who sends spiritual light to the whole nature. As a seedlike germ, He sows into every human being called into existence the reason proper to him.

This accords with what is said of Him: “He was the true Light, who enlightens every man coming into the world” (Jn 1:9).

Yet I think there is also something pointed in this saying. If the statement did not contain something of this kind, He would have had to say only, “I am the light.”

But since He added “of the world,” He now wishes, I think, to express something hidden, like the following. God was known only in Judea, and His name was great in Israel alone (Ps 75:2).

All the rest of the earth was filled, as it were, with deep darkness. None of those dwelling in the world possessed the divine and heavenly light, except Israel alone.

While all the Gentile nations in this world were deprived of the knowledge of God and stood as though in a separate rank, “the Lord’s people appeared as His portion, Israel as the lot of His inheritance” (Deut 32:9).

Thus, when the spiritual Sun passed again to the whole world, the Light departed from the Israelites and was transferred to the Gentiles. Israel found itself outside all the nations.

For “when they waited for light, darkness came to them,” as it is written, and “while they looked for brightness, they walked in gloom” (Is 59:9).

Therefore the Savior did not say to the Pharisees without purpose: “I am the light of the world.” By this He nobly expresses a threat.

He says that He will depart from Israel and transfer grace to the whole world. At last He will spread the ray of the knowledge of God to all the other nations.

It should be observed that, although to His hearers He appears as a man and with flesh, He does not say, “In Me is light,” but, “I am the light.”

He says this so that no one may divide Christ after His becoming man into two sons. For there is one Lord Jesus Christ, as Paul says (1 Cor 8:6).

He is one before the flesh and with the flesh. He is the one and only true Son from God the Father, the Word, even when He became man.

The temple He received from the Woman was not divided into parts. It was His own body. Therefore, after the Incarnation, to divide Him wholly with respect to sonship is not free from blasphemy against Him.

Yet one must know that, although we say “He was incarnate,” we do not assert that the Word of God was clothed only with flesh. By the name of flesh we indicate the whole man.

“He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

Again He urges them from every side to acquire zealously what is profitable. He urges them to be guided more readily by His teachings than to resolve to follow their own ignorance and be deprived of eternal life itself.

He shows how great the benefit will be for those who obey Him. For He is good by nature and “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4).

Since, as God, He again knew that they would object, He fashions a figurative saying. He uses the events of old for this purpose.

From what happened to their fathers, He clearly proves that the desire to follow Him will bring them great profit. This is what is written about the Israelites:

“He guided them by a cloud by day, and all night by a light of fire” (Ps 77:14). As they were passing through the vast wilderness and hastening toward the promised land, a cloud hung over them by day like a roof.

By divine will, it plainly tempered the heat of the sun. At night a pillar of fire went before them, illumining the darkness and showing those who journeyed the surest path.

Therefore, just as those who then followed the guiding and preceding fire escaped wandering and went by a straight road into the holy land, giving no attention to darkness or night, so also “he who follows Me” shall do likewise.

That is, the one who walks in the footsteps of My teachings shall by no means be in darkness. He shall acquire the “light of life,” that is, the revelation of the mysteries concerning Me.

This revelation is able to guide him to eternal life.

Again the Lord shows Himself a skillful craftsman in speech. He does not provoke the Pharisees, who were already beginning to rage and grow frenzied, by clearer speech saying that they will remain in darkness and die in their unbelief.

Rather, He again expresses this figuratively, changing direct speech into an image for their benefit. By promising that the one who resolves to follow Him “will have the light of life,” He indicates something hidden.

Those who refuse to follow will not have the light that can raise them to life. Is it not evident to all, and entirely beyond dispute, that those who flee the good things of the soul must fall into the opposite condition?

Thus the word of our Savior proves true, and the thought skillfully expressed in it is beyond dispute.

He sets forth the cause of their senselessness and cries: “I am the light of the world.” “You have gone through,” He says, “all Holy Scripture and think you are investigating what was said of Me through the prophets.

“Yet you wander far from the way of life.” There is nothing astonishing in this. You do not have the One who reveals mysteries, who illumines the whole world.

You do not have Him who, like the sun, sends rays into the hearts of those who receive Him. Whoever does not have the divine and spiritual light within himself must certainly walk in darkness.

For this reason he falls into many errors. The Only-begotten is Light by nature, since He has shone forth from the Light by nature, God the Father.

It is necessary to observe carefully that He says He is Light not for the Israelites only and separately, but for the whole world.

Although the darkness persecutes Him, it does not comprehend Him (cf. Jn 1:5). This means the opposing power, which shamelessly approaches the visible Adam but yields the victory.

Therefore, having put off darkness, let us draw near to the light. Then, as children of the perfect Light, let us become perfect light.

“Arise, shine,” the great-voiced Isaiah foretold, “O Jerusalem, for your light has come” (Is 60:1). In another place he says, “Behold, I have given You as a covenant of the people, as a light to the nations” (Is 49:6).

Likewise, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Upon those who dwell in the land and shadow of death, a light shall shine” (Is 9:2).

These words of the Savior declare the same thing, namely, that He is true God. For who else can be the light of the world except God?

Who, except God, enlightens every man coming into the world, granting him the light of mind, judgment, and reason? And who among the saints from all ages ever said of himself, “I am the light of the world”?

The Lord added the following words in explanation of what He had said: “He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

That is, whoever believes in Me and keeps My commandments escapes the darkness and condemnation of sin, and passes into the unwaning light of life and the Kingdom.

Now He uses an image from another miraculous event during the wandering of the Hebrews in the wilderness, in memory of which the Feast of Tabernacles was established.

This is the image of the miraculous pillar of fire, which guided the camp of the Hebrews in the wilderness, illuminated their way by night, and guarded the Hebrew camp (Ex 11:21-22; Ex 40:36-38 and parallels).

According to Moses, the Angel of Jehovah was in this pillar. Since divine attributes are ascribed elsewhere to the Angel of Jehovah, the Fathers and Teachers of the Church saw in Him the second Person of the Holy Trinity.

And now the Lord Himself directly applies this image to Himself, as the light of the world. In what sense He is the light of the world, see the comment on Jn 1:6-9.

Light, as the spiritual illumination of the world by the true divine light, is the opposite of darkness, understood as the world’s spiritual ignorance and sinfulness.

Christ is called “light, as the brightness of souls purified in mind and life” (Gregory the Theologian).

“He who follows Me,” and so forth. Those who followed the pillar of fire in the wilderness were not in darkness even at night, and their path was illumined for them.

So also he who follows the Lord with faith, receiving His teaching as the teaching of the Messiah, the Son of God, will not wander in the darkness of ignorance of divine truth and in the darkness of sin.

Rather, he will have within himself the light of life. In the believer in Christ, who precisely by faith does not remain in darkness (Jn 12:46; Eph 5:8; Col 1:13), Christ Himself lives, and therefore the light of life lives in him.

In the preceding discourse (Jn 7:37-38), Christ pointed to Himself as the source of living water and promised to make the believer also a source of such water.

So here, having presented Himself as the light of life for the world, He promises to make the believer such a light as well, in the same sense.

He set in the firmament of heaven the sun that illumines the universe, which is only a faint reflection of His ever-existing light.

By His wisdom He formed the first man, the most excellent work of His hands, the crown of all His works. He breathed into his face the breath of life (Gen 2:7), and with it communicated rays of His divine light.

Walking in His light, innocent man beheld God in himself, in His image according to which he was created (Gen 1:27). He beheld God in his pure and light-bearing heart as clearly as a face is seen in a clean mirror.

He penetrated the nature of things so exactly and so deeply that with one glance he named all the animals (Gen 2:19), according to their properties.

As long as our forefather walked faithfully in the light of the commandments of the Son of God, darkness did not dare to touch him.

His departure from this light caused his terrible fall from the blessed realm of light into the unhappy and destructive realm of darkness.

Yet the ever-existing and boundless Light shines even in the darkness (Jn 1:5). The source of light, the Only-begotten Son of God, stretches forth His justly merciful voice to the fallen man lying in darkness.

In his humble and contrite heart He kindles a light-bearing ray of faith in the promised Savior. This Savior is the blessed Seed of the woman, Himself the Son of God and Son of the Virgin.

By His manifestation He will crush the head (Gen 3:15) of the serpent, the deceiver. He will shatter the kingdom of the prince of darkness, the devil.

He will lead that prince’s unhappy captives out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Pet 2:9).

Walking in the light of faith in this first Gospel of the Lord, the promised Savior of the world, the ancient holy Patriarchs passed without stumbling from the realm of darkness into the blessed dwellings of light.

In this light Enoch walked before God and, without tasting death, was translated to heaven, into the ever-existing kingdom of light (Gen 5:24).

In this light Noah walked. Amid universal corruption and the shadow of death, he was saved himself, and he saved the remnant of the human race from the flood in the ark (Gen 7:1).

In this light Abraham walked. Amid the deep darkness of idolatry, guided and nurtured by the Lord’s light, he became the father of believers in every age (Gen 12:1-3).

Illumined by the life-giving power of this light, Moses led the Church of God, the chosen people of Israel, out of the dark realm of Egypt (Ex 13:14).

By the radiance of this light in the pillar of cloud, he led them through the gloomy wilderness to the promised land (Ex 16:19-20).

In this light he spoke with God face to face (Ex 33:11), as a friend speaks with a friend. He brought the law of God back into the light.

That law had been erased from the corrupted hearts of men and covered by the darkness of the iniquities of all the sons of Adam. Inscribed by the hand of the Lord on tablets of stone (Ex 34:1), it was given to the Church.

It was given so that it might illumine her path through the dark realm of this age toward the eternal dwelling of light.

Illumined by this light, the God-inspired Prophets exposed the secrets of human hearts. They penetrated the darkness of distant future times and became lamps shining in a dark place (2 Pet 1:19).

They shone amid the vain wisdom of the sons of this age. Yet all these lights shone not with their own light, but with borrowed light.

They were only the dawn that preceded the manifestation on earth of the Sun of righteousness Himself, the Only-begotten Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ.

He is “the brightness of the glory and the image of the hypostasis” (Heb 1:3) of God the Father. According to His ineffable love for mankind, He came to earth, which was covered with the darkness of sin.

He concealed the rays of the unapproachable light of His Godhead beneath the humble garment of human flesh.

Upon those sitting in darkness and the shadow of death (Mt 4:16), He poured the gentle and beneficent radiance of His light. With His own divine lips He preached the Gospel of the Kingdom of God throughout the land of Israel.

By His death on the Cross He accomplished the salvation of the human race on earth. By His divine guidance He prepared worthy vessels of His light, His disciples and Apostles.

After His most glorious Resurrection, with His glorified flesh He ascended again to the Father and was hidden in the cloud of the unapproachable light of the Godhead.

Having sat down at the right hand of the throne of majesty in the heavens (Heb 1:3), He poured life-giving rays of divine light into the pure hearts of the Apostles, as worthy receptacles of it.

He did this by sending them the Holy Spirit, who proceeds eternally from the Father of lights.

And these light-bearing eagles, clothed with power from on high, passed through many and distant lands, everywhere pouring out the radiance of the light of Christ.

And did not the Church, built upon the firm rock of the confession of Christ, triumph by His power and light over all the powers and snares of the prince of darkness?

She has as her Head and King the Lord of hosts and King of glory.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and unto the ages (Heb 13:8). The light-bearing word of His Gospel is preached in all tongues and will be preached until the end of the age.

Then He Himself, the true Light, will come again to judge the living and the dead. He will bring to manifestation the secrets of hearts.

He will finally crush the head of the serpent, the prince of darkness, and will separate the sons of darkness forever from the sons of light.

Thus the Lord and our sweetest Savior Christ is the light of the spiritual world and of the elemental world, of the present age and also of the age to come.

Christians, in His ineffable mercy the Lord has called us also out of darkness into His marvelous light. By the water of baptism and His life-giving word, He has regenerated us also as sons of light.

But truly to be such and to have communion with God, one must walk faithfully in the light of His commandments.

The holy Apostle John the Theologian speaks very expressively: “This is the promise which we have heard from the Lord and declare to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

“If we say that we have communion with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not do the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He Himself is in the light, we have communion with one another.

“And the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from every sin” (1 Jn 1:5-7).

Everyone walks in darkness who does not unwaveringly follow the light-bearing footsteps of our Savior and Lord in all the paths of his life.

Everyone walks in darkness who either does not know the most holy and imitable life and the life-giving words of Jesus Christ, or who knows them yet prefers to follow the dark pattern of this evil and adulterous world.

Such a man prefers the suggestions of the passions of his corrupted heart rather than to walk in the light of the Lord’s commandments.

“He who follows Me,” says the Savior, “shall not walk in darkness.” The life and words of Jesus Christ are in the spiritual and moral world what the sun is in the elemental world.

Let the sun cease to shine. What then will happen? Deep and impenetrable darkness will cover the whole earth, and no animal and no plant will be able to live.

So also, when the Sun of righteousness, Jesus Christ, does not shine in our souls, what remains for them? The darkness of sin and death.

“He who follows Me,” says the Savior, “shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (Jn 8:12).

Only those walk in the light who have no other light for their mind except the light of Christ. They have no other rule for their heart except the commandments of His love.

They have no other instruction for their life except the pattern of His most holy life. With unwavering eyes, in the struggle of their pious and virtuous life, they look to Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of faith (Heb 12:2).

But Jesus Christ ascended from earth to heaven. A cloud hid Him even from the pure eyes of His beloved disciples.

And from us sinners He is further hidden by the thick cloud of the scandals of this evil world. He is hidden by the cloud of our own errors of mind and heart.

He is hidden by the cloud of the dark suggestions of the prince of darkness, the enemy of our salvation. This enemy does not sleep, but, according to the Apostle, “walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet 5:8).

The darkness of sin covers us. Yet let us marvel at the ineffable mercy of the Lord our Savior. The inexhaustible source of light has shone in the darkness of all ages, and He shines also in the darkness of our time.

He shines for all who do not voluntarily turn away or close their eyes from His radiance. He speaks to all who do not willfully stop the ears of their heart from hearing His life-giving words.

Even now His sheep hear His voice (Jn 10:27). He ascended into heaven, but left us the treasure of His light, the Gospel, written by His Apostles through the Holy Spirit.

From heaven He sent us such a gift that His boundless love for His Church could not have devised anything more precious.

In this Gospel His life, His deeds, His sufferings and death, the whole divine economy of our salvation, and His commandments are set forth so fully and exactly that we can desire nothing more for our salvation.

But note, brethren, that the Gospel is a treasure (Mt 13:44). The Savior Himself calls it this. Every earthly treasure too is deeply hidden in the bowels of the earth.

Ordinary stones are found everywhere on the surface of the earth. They can be taken and used for one’s benefit without labor.

But gold and silver and other precious things are hidden deeply. To dig them out and use them, great labor is needed. So also the Gospel is a spiritual treasure.

To understand it, to find the manna hidden in it for one’s soul, and truly to nourish one’s heart with this life-giving food, diligent, reverent, and attentive instruction in it is needed.

It is the acquisition of this treasure of light that I desire for you, beloved brethren in the Lord. Moved by this pastoral desire, and calling upon the Lord Savior for help, I have resolved to set forth what I can.

I will set forth what the four holy Evangelists wrote in their God-inspired books.

My talks will be offered in church every Sunday, as on a day which God Himself sanctified and set apart for service to Him and for instruction in His law.

As I approach this important labor, I have no need to persuade you to attend to my discourse. Being fully assured of your pious love for the words of the Lord Jesus, I ask one thing from your piety.

Help me by your prayers, “that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, with boldness to make known the mystery of the Gospel of Christ” (Eph 6:19). Amen.

The Lord teaches that the God in three hypostases created the world by His word and provides for it. This is divine light, illumining the dark paths of our life with a light not of earthly consolation.

Whoever preaches what is contrary to this leads into comfortless darkness. He is an obscurantist.

The Lord teaches that God created man according to His image and likeness and appointed him to live in paradise. When man sinned, God justly drove him from paradise to live on this earth, full of sorrows and needs.

Yet He was not angered with him to the end. He was pleased to arrange salvation for him through the death on the Cross of the incarnate Only-begotten Son of God.

This too is spiritual light, illumining the moral darkness that surrounds our souls. Whoever preaches what is contrary to this leads into darkness and is an obscurantist.

The Lord teaches: believe, receive the power of grace in the divine Mysteries, live according to My commandments, and you will be saved.

This is the only way for the light of God to enter us and make us enlightened. Whoever teaches the contrary wishes to keep us in darkness and is therefore an obscurantist.

The Lord teaches: enter by the narrow gate of a strict, self-denying life. This is the only path to the light.

Whoever leads onto the broad path of self-pleasing leads into darkness, and he is an obscurantist.

The Lord teaches: remember the last things, death, judgment, Hades, and paradise. This is light that illumines our future.

Whoever teaches that death is the end of everything casts darkness over our lot, and is therefore an obscurantist.

Lovers of the light, learn from this to discern where darkness is, and turn away from it.