John 1:5

John 1:5. And the light shineth in the darkness. The darkness here spoken of is not an original darkness coexistent with created being (John 1:3). It belongs to the development of thought begun at John 1:4, and is coexistent only with the moral process of rejecting the Word, implied, though not expressly stated, in that verse. The Word through whom all come into being offers Himself at the same time to all as their light. Let them acknowledge and accept Him, they have life (chap. John 8:12); let them reject Him, they are in a darkness for which they are responsible, because they have chosen it. It is a fact, however, that many always did, and still do, reject the light; and thus the darkness has been and is a positively existing thing. Yet the Light has not forsaken the world. No merely present point of time is indicated; in that case John could not have immediately added the past tense, overcame. The idea is general. The Light, as it had existed, had shone; as it exists, it shines, always seeking to draw men into the full brightness of its beams.

And the darkness overcame it not. Such is the most probable meaning of these words, and so were they understood by the most ancient Christian writers. The verb which we have rendered ‘overcame' occurs not unfrequently in the New Testament; but (when used, as here, in the active voice) it has not, and cannot have, the meaning comprehend (i.e. understand), which is given to it in the Authorised Version. The most important guide to the meaning is chap. John 12:35, where the same word is used, and where also the metaphor is similar: ‘Walk... lest darkness overtake you,' come over you, seize you. In the verse before us we read of light shining in the darkness; the darkness, ever antagonistic to the light, yet does not overtake or come over the light. The idea of seizing, in connection with this figure, is equivalent to overcoming or intercepting the light. Even if ‘comprehend' were possible as a translation, it would be nothing to tell us that the darkness did not comprehend the light. That is implied in the fact that the darkness is self-chosen (comp. on John 1:4). But it is much to tell us that, in the conflict between the darkness and the light, the darkness failed to overcome (or eclipse) the light. The light, though sometimes apparently overcome, was really victorious; it withstood every assault, and shone on triumphantly in a darkened world. So far, therefore, from our finding here a ‘wail' (as some have said), we have a note of exultation, a token of that victory which throughout the whole Gospel rises to our view through sorrow.

We thus close what is obviously the first paragraph of the Gospel; and although it relates to the Pre-incarnate Word, and expresses the principles of His dealings in their most general form, the development of thought is precisely the same as that which the history of the Incarnate Word will be found to present. Through the Word all things have come into being. To all He offers Himself, that He may make them not only exist in Him, but, in the free appropriation of what He offers, live in Him. Some receive Him, and He becomes their light; others reject Him, and are immersed in the darkness which they choose. The darkness opposes and seeks to destroy the light, but the light shines on to victory.