John 1:9 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

That was the true light,— "The true light of which he spake, was Christ, even that Sun of righteousness and source of truth, which coming into the world, enlighteneth every man; dispersing his beams, as it were, from one end of the heavens to the other, to the Gentile world, which was in midnight darkness, as well as to the Jews, who enjoyed but a kind of twilight." See John 3:19; John 12:46. Hensius would read the 8th, 9th, and 10th verses, thus: He, John, was not that light, but he was, (that is, he existed or came, taking the ην at the beginning of the 9th verse,) that he might bear witness to that light:—ver. 9. The true light which, &c. John 1:10. Was in the world, &c. Some read John 1:9. The true Light, who came into the world, to enlighten every man, &c. John 1:10. And the world had been made by him, but, &c. To these interpretations it has been objected, that where Christ is said to have come into the world, that expression seems to refer to the manifestation of him to the world, or his appearance in the flesh. Now this appearance of Christ seems to be expressed by St. John, in the two next verses, by the past tense; He was in the world, He came unto his own: whereas the use of the present tense, in the verse before us, rather leads us to think of that spiritual illumination which Christ still imparts,—though no longer manifest in the flesh,—to all who will receive him; according to that of St. Paul, Ephesians 5:14. To which may be added, that as the original word ερχομενον, rendered cometh, immediately follows the word ανθρωπον, man, it seems rather more natural to construe it with that word, than with a word more remote. It may be added further, that this construction is more suitable to St. John's particular design, which was to oppose the doctrine of Cerinthus, who asserted, (article 1.) that the most high God was entirely unknown before the appearance of Christ; in opposition to which the evangelist asserts, that men had received such lights on this head, under the various dispensations through which they passed, as rendered them inexcusable if they remained ignorant. And though this heretic had pretended, (article 7.) that his Demiurgus was the peculiar God and protector of the Israelites; yet is it here shown, that the true Christ had pity and affection for the rest of mankind; and that the light to be diffused by him, was not to be confined to the narrow circle of the Jewish commonwealth, but, like that of the sun, communicated to every man that cometh into the world.