Notes. John VIII. 12—20.
Before beginning the notes on this section, I will ask any one who doubts the genuineness of the first eleven verses of the chapter, to consider how very awkwardly the twelfth verse would come in if it immediately followed the 52nd verse of the seventh chapter. — The omission of the disputed passage about the woman taken in adultery, however necessary some may think it, undoubtedly makes a breach in the connection which cannot be reasonably explained.— Omit the passage, and our Lord appears to break in upon the angry council of tiie Phari- sees, foiled in their attempt to take Him, and vexed with Nico- demus for pleading for Him. This is surely very improbable, to say the least. — Retain the disputed passage, on the other hand, and the whole connection seems plain. A night has passed away. A sunrise is over the whole party assembled in the tem- ple court. And our Lord begins again to teach by proclaiming a beautiful truth, appropriate to the occasion, — "I am the light of the world."
12. — {Then spake Jesus again... them.'] The expression " spake again " exactly fits in with the preceding narrative. It carries us back to the 2nd verse, where we read that our Lord was sit- ting in the temple and teaching the people, when the woman taken in adultery was brought before Him. This naturally in- terrupted and broke off His teaching for a time. But when the case was settled, and both accuser and accused had gone away, He resumed His teaching. Then the expression comes in most naturally, " He spake again." Once admit that the narrative of the woman is not genuine and must be left out, and there is really nothing with which to connect the words before us. We are obliged to look back as far as the 37th verse of the last chapter.
The same remark applies to the word "them." The natural application of it is to " the people " whom our Lord was teach- ing, in the 2nd verse, when the Scribes and Pharisees interrup- ted him. Leave out the narrative of the woman, and there is nothing to which the word "them " can be referred, except the angry council of the Pharisees at the end of the seventh chapter.
[I am... light... world .] In this glorious expression, our Lord, we cannot doubt, declares Himself to be the promised Messiah or Saviour, of whom the prophets had spoken. The Jews would remember the words, — " I will give thee for a light of the Gen- tiles." (Isai. xlii. 6 ; xlix. 6.) So also Simeon had said, he would be a " light to lighten the Gentiles." (Luke ii. 32.) Why He used this figure, and what He had in His mind in choosing it, is a point on which commentators do not agree. That he referred to something before His eyes is highly probable, and in keep- ing with His usual mode of teaching.
(1) Some think, as Aretius, Musculus, Ecolampadius, Bull- inger,and Bp. Andrews, that He referred to the sun, then rising
JOHN, CHAP. vni. 79
while He spoke. What the sun was to the eaith, that He came to be to mankind.
(2) Some think, as Stier, Olshausen, Besser, D. Brown, and Alford, that He referred to the great golden lamps which used to be kept burning in the temple courts. He was the true light, able to enlighten men's hearts and minds. They were nothing but ornaments, or at most, emblems.
(3) Some think, as Cyril and Lampe, that He referred to the pillar of cloud and fire which gave light to the Israelites, and guided them through the wilderness. He was the true guide to heaven, through the wilderness of this world.
The first of these three views seems to me most probable, and most in harmony with the context.
Rupertus remarks, that two grand declarations of Christ fol- lowed each other on two successive days at Jerusalem. On the last day of the feast He said, — "If any man thirst let him come unto Me and drink." (John vii. 37.) The very next day He said,—" I am the light of the world."
[He that followeth me."] This means " following " as a disci- ple, servant, traveller, soldier, or sheep. What the teacher is to the scholar, the master to the servant, the guide to the trav- eller, the general to the soldier, the shepherd to the sheep, that is Christ to true Christians. " Following" is the same as " be- lieving." See Matt. xvi. 24; xix. 21; John x. 27; xii. 26. Fol- lowing here, we must always remember, does not mean copying and imitating, but trusting, putting faith in another.
Musculus and Henry observe, that it is of no use that Christ is the light of the world if we do but follow Him. " Following " is the point on which all turns. It is not enough to gaze upon and admire the light. We must " follow" it.
[Shall not walk in darkness.] The expression "darkness" in the New Testament sometimes denotes sin, as 1 John i. 6, and sometimes ignorance and unbelief, as 1 Thess. v. 4. Some have thought that our Lord referred to the woman taken in adultery, and to such deeds of moral darkness as she had been guilty of. The meaning would then be, — "He that follows Me and be- comes my disciple, shall be delivered from the power of dark- ness, and shall no longer commit such sins as you have just heard of." — Others, on the contrary, think that ouir Lord only referred to the intellectual darkness and ignorance of man's mind, which He had come to illuminate. The meaning wrould then be, — " He that follows Me as my disciple shall no longer live in ignorance and darkness about his soul." I decidedly pre- fer this second view. The promise seems to me to have a special reference to the ignorance in which the Jews were, about everything concerning Christ, as shown in the preceding chapter.
[Shall have.. .light of life.] This expression means, — " He