John 12:46

I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(46) I am come a light into the world . . .—(Comp. Note on John 12:35 and John 3:19; John 8:12; John 9:5; John 9:39; John 12:35-36.)

Should not abide in darkness.—But should by walking according as they had the light become sons of light (John 12:36).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

12:44-50 Our Lord publicly proclaimed, that every one who believed on him, as his true disciple, did not believe on him only, but on the Father who sent him. Beholding in Jesus the glory of the Father, we learn to obey, love, and trust in him. By daily looking to Him, who came a Light into the world, we are more and more freed from the darkness of ignorance, error, sin, and misery; we learn that the command of God our Saviour is everlasting life. But the same word will seal the condemnation of all who despise it, or neglect it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A light into the world - John 8:12; John 1:9; John 3:19.

Walk in darkness - In gross and dangerous errors. Darkness is put for error as well as for sin, John 3:19; 1 John 1:5. It is also used to denote the state when the comforts of religion are withdrawn from the soul, Isaiah 8:22; Joel 2:2; Isaiah 59:9; John 8:12.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

44-50. Jesus cried—in a loud tone, and with peculiar solemnity. (Compare Joh 7:37).

and said, He that believeth on me, &c.—This seems to be a supplementary record of some weighty proclamations, for which there had been found no natural place before, and introduced here as a sort of summary and winding up of His whole testimony.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

I am come a light into the world; this is no more than what our Saviour hath often said, John 3:19, and John 9:5; and it was according to the prophecy of him, Isaiah 42:6.

That whosoever believeth on me shall not abide in darkness; that he who receiveth and embraces me, as his Priest and Prophet, though he may be in darkness naturally, Ephesians 5:8, yet should not abide in a state of ignorance, and sin, and guilt, John 3:36 8:31. Men and women, before they believe in Christ are in darkness; but upon believing, they are translated out of their state of darkness into a state of marvellous light; they do not abide in darkness.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

I am come a light into the world,.... And even as the light of it, being the sun of righteousness, that was to arise, and now was risen, to enlighten men with the light of the living; see John 3:19;

that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness; God's elect themselves, whilst in a state of unregeneracy and unbelief, are in darkness; when Christ shines in upon them, and infuses the light of faith into them, they are no longer in darkness; the darkness is past, at least in a great measure, and the true light shines; in which they see light, see glory and grace of Christ, and the invisible realities of another world: nor do they continue in the darkness of sin, ignorance, and unbelief; but walk in the light of truth, faith, and holiness, until the perfect day comes, when all the shadows of remaining darkness will flee away.

Geneva Study Bible

I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

John 12:46. Comp. John 8:12, John 9:5, John 12:35-36.

ἐγώ] I, no other, I am the light, as possessor and communicator of the divine truth of salvation, come into the world, etc.

μὴ μείνῃ] as he is, in a state of unbelief, but that he may be enlightened. Comp. John 12:36; John 1:4 ff.

Expositor's Greek Testament

John 12:46. ἐγὼ φῶς … μείνῃ. “I am come into the world as light,” and in the connection, especially as light upon God and His relation to men. The purpose of His coming was to deliver men from their native darkness: ἵνα … ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ μὴ μείνῃ, “should not abide in the darkness”; cf. John 1:9, John 8:12; John 3:18-19, John 9:41; also 1 John 2:9; 1 John 2:11.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

46. I am come] Emphatic; ‘I and none other.’ Comp. John 12:35-36, John 8:12, John 9:5.

abide in darkness] Till the Light comes, all are in darkness; the question remains whether they will remain so after the Light has come.

Bengel's Gnomen

John 12:46. Φῶς, a light) The idea of the discourse is continued from John 12:36, “While ye have light, believe in the light,” etc.—μὴ μείνῃ, should not abide) We were therefore in darkness.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 46. - The revelation of God becomes the light of the soul and the light of the world. The evangelist had said, in his prologue, "In him was life," and the Life (the eternal Logos of life) was "the Light of men." All true understanding, all purifying, gracious influence shed on human affairs, nature, or destiny, are the issue and result of the Divine Life which, under every dispensation, has wrought in humanity. Above all, "the Light that lighteth every man," namely, that which has always and which ever will radiate from the life conferred on our humanity by the Logos, the life of God in mind and conscience, "came into the world" - came, that is, in a new and more effective form, came in the radiance of a perfect human life. The evangelist has sustained his teaching by quoting the solemn words of Jesus in John 3:19; John 8:12; also John 9:5, where a special narrative of miraculous love typified both the need in which the human family, the sacred Israel, and even his own disciples, stood of light, and of the light which he could pour upon the sightless eyeballs. And now the connection of this passage is - You could not behold me if light did not stream forth from me. I have come, and am come (ἐλήλυθα, this has been and is my abiding purpose; cf. John 5:43; John 7:28) a Light into the world, and my object has been and is that whosoever believeth on me - whoso-ever sees by the inward eye that which I really am, sees how my life stands related to the Father, whosoever assents to the new revelation thus given, even over and above the "inward light" of the Logos - should not abide in the darkness which enwraps all souls; for, as said in the prologue, "the Light" (the archetypal Light) shineth upon the darkness of human nature, and the darkness comprehendeth it not." It should be especially noticed that in 2 Corinthians 4:6 St. Paul had grasped and uttered the fullness of this thought. John 12:46