For Humanity, Not Just Life, But Light!

John 1: 1-5

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was in the beginning with God. ³All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being ⁴in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

 

Backstory and Sidebar.

            To read the book of Genesis is to read what many scholars have called ‘two’ accounts of creation.  The first, in Genesis 1, is the story of the Week.  In six days, God created the heavens and the earth and on the seventh day, God rested.  The 'second' is found in Genesis 2.  I put that is ' ' because, for me, these are not so much separate accounts, implying they were put together, instead of the second developing from the first.  

Sidebar.

Irrespective, it is from this seventh day, when God rested, it is from God’s hallowing of this day that we have the Sabbath, the day of the Lord.  In Jewish Scripture, this is Saturday, the final day of the week.  In the Christian tradition, we moved the Sabbath to the first day of the week, to Sunday, the day on which Jesus rose from the dead.

Return.

            In Genesis 2, there is another, more focused account of creation.  One of the significant distinctions between the two accounts has to do with humanity.  In Genesis 1, there is no distinction between the creation of plants, animals, birds, fish, and humans, except for the days on which they were created AND the designation that humanity was created 'in the image' of God.  In Genesis 2, there is an added focus on the life of humanity not present in Genesis 1, ⁷then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.  If this were a consideration of Genesis, looking at the connection of God's breath and God's image would be our next step.  But this is about John, so we will stay with John's language.

            “What had come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all the people.”  In Genesis 1, there is life, then, in Genesis 2, we dig down some and there is “people life”, life coming from God ‘breathing’ into the nostrils of man the breath of life.  Why is that important?  In Genesis 1, humanity is distinguished from other animals because they are created in the image of God.  Humanity will become the stewards of God’s creation.  From life comes the light of all the people.  Humans are set apart from the rest of creation.

            It is life, it is light, it came into being through him, through Jesus, it came into being through the one who created us.  It is important, very important because as we go forward, the reference to ‘him’, to Jesus, as the light, is foundational to his presentation in the Gospel.  One of Jesus' titles is 'the Light of the World'.  

            This language takes us back to the very first day of Creation, where God's first command was "Let there be light."  And, as we will see next, where there is light, there is also darkness.