In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
In him was life. From simple creation, or calling into existence, the Evangelist now advances to a higher idea-the communication of life. But he begins by announcing its essential and original existence in Himself, virtue of which He became the great Fontal Principle of life in all living, but specially in the highest sense of life. Accordingly, He is called "The Word of life" (1 John 1:1-2).
And the life was the light of men. It is remarkable, as Bengel notes, how frequently in Scripture light and life, on the one hand, and on the other, darkness and death, are associated: "I am the Light of the world," said Christ: "he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" (John 8:12). Contrariwise, "Yea, though I walk," sings the sweet Psalmist, "in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil" (Psalms 23:4). Compare Job 10:21-22. Even of God, it is said, "Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto" (1 Timothy 6:16). Here "the light of men" seems to denote all that distinctive light in men which flows from the life given them-intellectual, moral, spiritual: "For with Thee," says the Psalmist, "is the fountain of life: in Thy light shall we see light" (Psalms 36:9).