ACC ~ John 1 v8

JOHN IS A FORERUNNER OF THE LIGHT

ORIGEN: The Baptist’s leaping for joy in the womb of Elizabeth at Mary’s greeting was a testimony about Christ. [1] He was testifying to the divinity of Christ’s conception and birth. For what indeed is John, except everywhere a witness and forerunner of Jesus? He precedes his birth and dies a little before the death of the Son of God, that, by appearing before the Christ not only to those in birth but also those awaiting the freedom from death through Christ, he might everywhere prepare for the Lord a prepared people….

Now since there was the beginning in which the Word was… and since the Word also existed, and life was made in him, and the life was the light of people… why then did he not come “to give testimony of the life,” or “to give testimony of the Word,” or “of the beginning,” or of any other aspect of the Christ whatsoever? Consider whether it is not [because] “the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light” [2] and because “the light shines in the darkness” and is not overcome by it. Those who are in darkness, that is, men and women, need light. For if the light “shines in the darkness”—there is no activity of darkness at all there—we shall share in other aspects of the Christ in which we do not now participate. COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 2.224-27. [3]

[1] Lk 1:44.

[2] Mt 4:16; cf. Is 9:2.

[3] FC 80:155-56*; SC 120:360-62.

CHRIST IS THE TRUE LIGHT

PSEUDO-ATHANASIUS: It follows that the Word is the Son. But if the Son is the Light that has come into the world, beyond all dispute the world was made by the Son. For in the beginning of the Gospel, the Evangelist, speaking of John the Baptist, says, “He was not that Light, but that he might bear witness concerning that Light.” For Christ himself was, as we have said before, the true Light that enlightens everyone that comes into the world. For if “he was in the world, and the world was made by him,” [1] of necessity he is the Word of God, concerning whom also the Evangelist witnesses that all things were made by him. For either they will be compelled to speak of two worlds, that the one may have come into being by the Son and the other by the Word, or, if the world is one and the creation one, it follows that Son and Word are one and the same before all creation, for by him it came into being. FOURTH DISCOURSE AGAINST THE ARIANS 19. [2]

[1] Jn 1:10.

[2] NPNF 2 4:440*.

JOHN THE LAMP, CHRIST THE LIGHT

AUGUSTINE: How right it was for the Lord to call [John] a lamp. This is what the Lord said about John: “He was a burning and a shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to exult in his light.” [1] What, though, does John the Evangelist say about him? “There was a man sent by God, whose name was John; this man came for witness, to bear witness about the light; that man was not the light.” Who? John the Baptist. Who says this? John the Evangelist. “That man was not the light.” You say “that man was not the light,” while the light itself says about him, “That man was a burning and a shining lamp?”But I know,” he says, “what sort of light I am talking about; a light, I am well aware, in comparison with which a lamp is not a light.” Listen to what comes next: “That was the true light that enlightens everyone coming into this world.” John does not enlighten every person; Christ does. And John recognized himself as a lamp, in order not to be blown out by the wind of pride. A lamp can both be lit and be put out. The word of God cannot be put out; a lamp always can. SERMON 289.4. [2]

[1] Jn 5:35.

[2] WSA 3 8:122*.