John 8:12 Study Bible: Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life."

◄ John 8:12 ►

Once again, Jesus spoke to the people and said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life."

Study Bible

When Jesus spoke again to the people
This phrase sets the scene for a significant teaching moment. The context is crucial; Jesus is in the temple courts during the Feast of Tabernacles, a time when large crowds gathered in Jerusalem. The phrase "spoke again" suggests continuity in His teaching, emphasizing His role as a persistent and patient teacher. Historically, the temple was a place of learning and revelation, making it a fitting backdrop for Jesus to reveal profound truths.

He said, 'I am the light of the world.'
The declaration "I am" (Greek: ἐγώ εἰμι, ego eimi) is a powerful assertion of divinity, echoing God's self-identification to Moses in Exodus 3:14. "The light of the world" is a metaphor rich with meaning. Light in the ancient world was essential for life, safety, and guidance. In the Hebrew Scriptures, light often symbolizes God's presence and truth (e.g., Psalm 27:1, Isaiah 60:19-20). Jesus positions Himself as the ultimate source of spiritual illumination and truth, fulfilling prophecies like Isaiah 9:2, which speaks of a great light for those walking in darkness.

Whoever follows Me
The invitation to "follow" (Greek: ἀκολουθέω, akoloutheō) implies discipleship and commitment. In the historical context, following a rabbi meant more than just physical proximity; it involved adopting the teacher's way of life and teachings. Jesus calls for a relationship that goes beyond mere acknowledgment, urging a transformative journey of faith and obedience.

will never walk in darkness
"Darkness" (Greek: σκοτία, skotia) represents ignorance, sin, and separation from God. The promise that followers "will never walk in darkness" assures believers of guidance and protection from spiritual blindness and moral confusion. This echoes the assurance found in Psalm 23:4, where God's presence dispels fear even in the darkest valleys.

but will have the light of life
The "light of life" signifies the illumination that leads to eternal life. In the biblical narrative, life (Greek: ζωή, zōē) is not merely biological existence but a quality of life that is abundant and eternal, as seen in John 10:10. This phrase encapsulates the promise of salvation and the transformative power of Christ's presence in a believer's life. The light of life is both a present reality and a future hope, guiding believers through the temporal world and into eternal communion with God.

Persons / Places / Events

1. Jesus
The central figure in this passage, Jesus declares Himself as the "light of the world," a profound statement of His divine identity and mission.

2. The People
The audience to whom Jesus is speaking. This group likely includes His disciples, followers, and possibly some Pharisees or other religious leaders who often challenged Him.

3. The Temple
While not explicitly mentioned in this verse, the context of John 8 suggests that Jesus was teaching in the temple courts during the Feast of Tabernacles, a time when the imagery of light was particularly significant due to the festival's lamp-lighting ceremonies.

Teaching Points

Jesus as the Light
Jesus' declaration as the "light of the world" signifies His role in revealing truth, guiding humanity, and dispelling spiritual darkness.

Following Jesus
To follow Jesus means to live in His teachings and example, which leads to a life illuminated by His truth and presence.

Light vs. Darkness
This passage contrasts the spiritual states of light and darkness, encouraging believers to choose the path of righteousness and truth.

The Light of Life
Jesus offers not just guidance but life itself, a life that is abundant and eternal, found only in Him.

Daily Walk
Believers are called to walk in the light daily, making conscious choices that reflect their faith and commitment to Christ.

Bible Study Questions

1. What does it mean for Jesus to be the "light of the world," and how does this impact your understanding of His role in your life?

2. How can you actively follow Jesus in your daily life to ensure you are walking in the light and not in darkness?

3. In what ways does the imagery of light in the Bible enhance your understanding of God's nature and His relationship with humanity?

4. How do the additional scriptures connected to John 8:12 deepen your understanding of Jesus' declaration and its significance?

5. Reflect on a time when you felt you were walking in darkness. How did turning to Jesus as the light change your perspective or situation?

Connections to Other Scriptures

Genesis 1:3-4
The creation account where God says, "Let there be light," establishing light as a fundamental element of creation and life.

Psalm 27:1
David refers to the Lord as his light and salvation, highlighting the protective and guiding nature of God's light.

Isaiah 9:2
A prophecy about the coming Messiah, describing a great light shining on those living in darkness.

John 1:4-9
The prologue of John's Gospel introduces Jesus as the true light that gives light to everyone.

1 John 1:5-7
Discusses walking in the light as God is in the light, emphasizing fellowship and purity.

Sermons

The Light of the World	B. Thomas	John 8:12
The Light of the World	D. Young	John 8:12
The World's True Light	J.R. Thomson	John 8:12
Excluded from the Destination of Jesus	D. Young	John 8:1-23
Chest the Light of the World	Phillips Brooks, D. D.	John 8:12-20
Christ an Unsetting Light		John 8:12-20
Following Christ	J. Vaughan, M. A.	John 8:12-20
Following Christ	J. Vaughan, M. A.	John 8:12-20
Following Christ the Path of Life	H. C. Trumbull, D. D.	John 8:12-20
He that Followeth Me Shall not Walk in Darkness	Archdeacon Watkins.	John 8:12-20
Light Brings Power	C. Vines.	John 8:12-20
Light for Us	W. Hoyt, D. D.	John 8:12-20
Light Intercepted	H. C. Trumbull, D. D.	John 8:12-20
Light the Emblem of Gladness	C. Vines.	John 8:12-20
Moderated Light		John 8:12-20
Perpetual Daylight for the Christian	Brentius.	John 8:12-20
Rays from the Sun of Righteousness	Richard Newton, D. D.	John 8:12-20
Revelations of Light	W. H. Van Doren, D. D.	John 8:12-20
The Believer's Life is a Walk	C. H. Spurgeon.	John 8:12-20
The Connection of Christ's Discourse with the Previous Incident and the Feast	R. Besser, D. D.	John 8:12-20
The Effects of Sunlight	H. W. Beecher.	John 8:12-20
The Force of the Allusion	Archdeacon Patter.	John 8:12-20
The Incident	C. Vince.	John 8:12-20
The Light of Life	F. B. Meyer, B. A.	John 8:12-20
The Light of the World	Bp. Ryle.	John 8:12-20
The Light of the World	Homilist	John 8:12-20
The Light of the World	T. Mirams.	John 8:12-20
The Light of the World	W. M. Taylor, D. D.	John 8:12-20
The Light of the World	A. Maclaren, D. D.	John 8:12-20
The Light of the World	W. Hawkins.	John 8:12-20
The Light of the World	Noah Porter, LL. D.	John 8:12-20
The Light of the World	E. Bersier, D. D.	John 8:12-20
The Light of the World	J. M. Randall.	John 8:12-20
The Light of the World	A. McAuslane, D. D.	John 8:12-20
The Relation of the Light of the World to the Incarnation	I. Williams, B. D.	John 8:12-20
The Safety of Light	H. B. Hooker.	John 8:12-20
The Saving and Health-Giving Influence of Light	W. Birch.	John 8:12-20
Walking in the Light	Clerical Library	John 8:12-20
We Must Follow Christ		John 8:12-20
We Must not Refuse the Light	Bp. Villiers.	John 8:12-20
We Must Walk in the Light		John 8:12-20

People

Jesus, Disciples

Places

Jerusalem, Mount of Olives

Topics

Addressed, Certainly, Dark, Darkness, Followeth, Follows, Saying, Spake, Spoke, Walk, Walking

Dictionary of Bible Themes

John 8:12

     2018   Christ, divinity
     2203   Christ, titles of
     2357   Christ, parables
     4020   life, of faith
     4811   darkness, symbol of sin
     4835   light, spiritual
     4918   dawn
     5135   blindness, spiritual
     5409   metaphor
     7621   disciples, calling
     8117   discipleship, benefits
     8120   following Christ
     8402   claims
     8419   enlightenment

Library

Ascension Day
Eversley. Chester Cathedral. 1872. St John viii. 58. "Before Abraham was, I am." Let us consider these words awhile. They are most fit for our thoughts on this glorious day, on which the Lord Jesus ascended to His Father, and to our Father, to His God, and to our God, that He might be glorified with the glory which He had with the Father before the making of the world. For it is clear that we shall better understand Ascension Day, just as we shall better understand Christmas or Eastertide, …
Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other Sermons

December 18 Evening
Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.--JOHN 8:32. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.--The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.--If the Son . . . shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. Brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.--Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

September 15 Morning
Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.--ROM. 6:14. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.--My brethren, ye . . . are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.--Being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ.--The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

February 27 Evening
God . . . giveth . . . liberally, and upbraideth not.--JAS. 1:5. Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. The grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many . . . The free gift is of many offences unto justification. God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

December 10 Evening
The perfect law of liberty.--JAS. 1:25. Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

February 28 Evening
The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord.--PROV. 20:27. He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her . . . And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last. Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.--If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

April 9. "I do Always those Things that Please Him" (John viii. 29).
"I do always those things that please Him" (John viii. 29). It is a good thing to keep short accounts with God. We were very much struck some years ago with an interpretation of this verse: "So every one of us shall give an account of himself to God." The thought conveyed to our mind was, that of accounting to God every day of our lives, so that our accounts were settled daily, and for us judgment was passed, as we lay down on our pillows every night. This is surely the true way to live. It is the …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

The Light of the World
'... I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.'--JOHN viii. 12. Jesus Christ was His own great theme. Whatever be the explanation of the fact, there stands the fact that, if we know anything at all about His habitual tone of teaching, we know that it was full of Himself. We know, too, that what He said about Himself was very unlike the language becoming a wise and humble religious teacher. Both the prominence given to His own personality, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

'Never in Bondage'
'We... were never in bondage to any man: how gayest Thou, Ye shall be made free!'--JOHN viii. 33. 'Never in bondage to any man'? Then what about Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Syria? Was there not a Roman garrison looking down from the castle into the very Temple courts where this boastful falsehood was uttered? It required some hardihood to say, 'Never in bondage to any man,' in the face of such a history, and such a present. But was it not just an instance of the strange power which we all have and exercise, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Three Aspects of Faith
'Many believed on Him. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him....'--JOHN viii. 30,31. The Revised Version accurately represents the original by varying the expression in these two clauses, retaining 'believed on Him' in the former, and substituting the simple 'believed Him' in the latter. The variation in two contiguous clauses can scarcely be accidental in so careful a writer as the Apostle John. And the reason and meaning of it are obvious enough on the face of the narrative. His purpose …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

July the Fifth the Discipleship that Tells
"He that followeth Me." --JOHN viii. 12-20. Yes, but I must make sure that I follow Him in Spirit and in truth. It is so easy to be self-deceived. I may follow a pleasant emotion, while all the time a bit of grim cross-bearing is being ignored. I may be satisfied to be "out on the ocean sailing," singing of "a home beyond the tide," while all the time there is a piece of perilous salvage work to be done beneath the waves. To "follow Jesus" is to face the hostility of scribes and Pharisees, to …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

On the Words of the Gospel, John viii. 31, "If Ye Abide in My Word, Then are Ye Truly My Disciples," Etc.
1. Ye know well, Beloved, that we all have One Master, and are fellow disciples under Him. Nor are we your masters, because we speak to you from this higher spot; but He is the Master of all, who dwelleth in us all. He just now spake to us all in the Gospel, and said to us, what I also am saying to you; but He saith it of us, as well of us as of you. "If ye shall continue in My word," not of course in my word who am now speaking to you; but in His who spake just now out of the Gospel. "If ye shall …
Saint Augustine—sermons on selected lessons of the new testament

Believing on Jesus, and Its Counterfeits
The Lord Jesus also told the contradicting sinners that the day would come when cavillers would be convinced. Observe how he put it: "When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself." Cavillers may have a fine time of it just now; but they will one day be convinced either to their conversion or their confusion. Let us hope that many will see the truth before they die--early enough to seek and find a Saviour. But many in our Lord's day who discovered …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 37: 1891

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Lent
Of the power of the Word of God, of fiery desires, and the essence of self-renunciation. John viii. 47.--"He who is of God heareth the words of God." DEAR children, ye ought not to cease from hearing or declaring the word of God because you do not alway live according to it, nor keep it in mind. For inasmuch as you love it and crave after it, it will assuredly be given unto you; and you shall enjoy it for ever with God, according to the measure of your desire after it. There are some people who, …
Susannah Winkworth—The History and Life of the Reverend Doctor John Tauler

Morgan -- the Perfect Ideal of Life
George Campbell Morgan, Congregational divine and preacher, was born in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, England, in 1863, and was educated at the Douglas School, Cheltenham. He worked as a lay-mission preacher for the two years ending 1888, and was ordained to the ministry in the following year, when he took charge of the Congregational Church at Stones, Staffordshire. After occupying the pulpit in several pastorates, in 1904 he became pastor of the Westminster Congregational Chapel, Buckingham Gate, London, …
Various—The World's Great Sermons, Volume 10

Freedom.
The Truth shall make you free.... Whosoever committeth sin, is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.--John viii. 32, 34-36. As this passage stands, I have not been able to make sense of it. No man could be in the house of the Father in virtue of being the servant of sin; yet this man is in the house as a servant, and the house in which he serves is not the house of sin, …
George MacDonald—Unspoken Sermons

Of the Imitation of Christ, and of Contempt of the World and all Its Vanities
He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness,(1) saith the Lord. These are the words of Christ; and they teach us how far we must imitate His life and character, if we seek true illumination, and deliverance from all blindness of heart. Let it be our most earnest study, therefore, to dwell upon the life of Jesus Christ. 2. His teaching surpasseth all teaching of holy men, and such as have His Spirit find therein the hidden manna.(2) But there are many who, though they frequently hear the Gospel, …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

Tobacco.
Tobacco wastes the body. It is used for the nicotine that is in it. This peculiar ingredient is a poisonous, oily, colorless liquid, and gives to tobacco its odor. This odor and the flavor of tobacco are developed by fermentation in the process of preparation for use. "Poison" is commonly defined as "any substance that when taken into the system acts in an injurious manner, tending to cause death or serious detriment to health." And different poisons are defined as those which act differently upon …
J. M. Judy—Questionable Amusements and Worthy Substitutes

Messianic Claims Met by Attempt to Stone Jesus.
(Jerusalem. October, a.d. 29.) ^D John VIII. 12-59. ^d 12 Again therefore Jesus spake unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life. [The metaphor of light was common, and signified knowledge and life; darkness is opposed to light, being the symbol of ignorance and death.] 13 The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest witness of thyself; thy witness is not true. [They perhaps recalled the words of Jesus …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Sin.
The time was when there was no sin in this world. At that time it was an Eden. By man transgressing God's holy law sin entered this world. "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Rom. 5:12. This is the origin of sin in this world and the awful consequence. God's design was that his creation be sinless and pure, but by disobedience sin has marred the scene of God's creative purity. The following texts will …
Charles Ebert Orr—The Gospel Day

The Course of the World.
Unmistakably there exists a wide gulf of separation between the children of God and the children of the world. Christ is the only avenue of escape from the world. The wide, open door of salvation is the exit. He who would return from the blissful shores of Christianity to the beggarly elements of the world can do so only on the transporting barges of Satan. As a tree is known by its fruits, so is a true follower of Christ. The fruit borne by a Christian is directly opposite in its nature to the fruit …
Charles Ebert Orr—The Gospel Day

The First Chapter: Imitating Christ and Despising all Vanities on Earth
HE WHO follows Me, walks not in darkness," says the Lord (John 8:12). By these words of Christ we are advised to imitate His life and habits, if we wish to be truly enlightened and free from all blindness of heart. Let our chief effort, therefore, be to study the life of Jesus Christ. The teaching of Christ is more excellent than all the advice of the saints, and he who has His spirit will find in it a hidden manna. Now, there are many who hear the Gospel often but care little for it because they …
Thomas À Kempis—The Imitation of Christ

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