Church Fathers Commentary John 1:4

"In him was life; and the life was the light of men." — John 1:4 (ASV)

John 1:4a

The Venerable Bede: The Evangelist had said that every creature was made by the Word. So that no one might think His will was changeable, as if He suddenly decided to make a creature which He had not made from eternity, the Evangelist was careful to show the following: although a creature was made in time, it had been arranged from eternity in the Wisdom of the Creator what and when He would create.

St. Augustine of Hippo: The passage can be read this way: What was made in Him was life. Therefore, the whole universe is life, for what was not made in Him? He is the Wisdom of God, as it is said, In wisdom have you made them all. All things, therefore, are made in Him, just as they are by Him. But if whatever was made in Him is life, then the earth is life, and a stone is life. We must not interpret it so unsoundly, lest the sect of the Manicheans creep in and say that a stone has life and a wall has life. For they insanely assert this, and when corrected or refuted, they appeal as if to Scripture and ask why it was said, That which was made in Him was life?

Instead, read the passage this way: place the pause after What was made, and then continue, In Him was life. The earth was made, but the earth itself, as a created thing, is not life. In the Wisdom of God, however, there is a spiritual "Reason" according to which the earth is made. This Reason is Life.

For example, a chest as a physical object is not life, but a chest in the mind of the artisan is life, because the mind of the worker, where that original pattern exists, is alive. In this sense, the Wisdom of God, by which all things are made, contains in His art all things that are made according to that art. Therefore, whatever is made is not life in itself, but it is life in Him.

Origen of Alexandria: The passage can also be divided this way: That which was made in Him; and then, was life. The meaning is that all things made by Him and in Him are life in Him and are one in Him. That is, they existed in Him as the cause before they existed in themselves as effects.

If you ask how all things made by the Word subsist in Him vitally, immutably, and causally, take some examples from the created world. See how all things within the arch of the sensory world have their causes subsisting simultaneously and harmoniously in the sun, the world's greatest luminary. See how countless crops of herbs and fruits are contained in single seeds, how the most complex variety of rules in the art of the craftsman and the mind of the director are a living unit, and how an infinite number of lines coexist in one point.

Contemplate these examples, and you will be able, as if on the wings of natural science, to penetrate the secrets of the Word with your intellectual eye. You will see, as far as a human understanding is allowed, how all things that were made by the Word live in Him and were made in Him.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: Alternatively, it can be understood this way. Since the Evangelist had said, without Him was not anything made, one might be perplexed and ask: "Was something made by another, which was nevertheless not made without Him?" If so, then although nothing is made without Him, not all things are made by Him—since it is one thing to make, and another to be with the maker.

For this reason, the Evangelist declares what it was that was not made without Him: namely, that which was made in Him. This, then, is what was not made without Him: that which was made in Him. And that which was made in Him was also made by Him, for all things were created in Him and by Him.

Now, things were made in Him because He was born God the Creator. For this reason also, things that were made in Him were not made without Him: because God, in that He was born, was life, and He who was life was not made life after being born. Therefore, nothing that was made in Him was made without Him, because He was the life in whom they were made; because God who was born of God was God—not becoming God after being born, but being God in being born.

St. John Chrysostom: To give another explanation, we will not place the pause as the heretics do. Wishing to prove the Holy Spirit is a creature, they read, That which was made in Him, was life. But it cannot be understood this way. First, this was not the place to mention the Holy Spirit. But even if we suppose it was and take the passage according to their reading, we see it leads to a difficulty.

When it says, That which was made in Him, was life, they say the life spoken of is the Holy Spirit. But this life is also light, for the Evangelist continues, The life was the light of men. Therefore, according to them, he calls the Holy Spirit the light of all men. But the Word mentioned above is the one he consecutively calls God, Life, and Light. And the Word was made flesh. It would follow, then, that the Holy Spirit was incarnate, not the Son.

Dismissing that reading, we adopt a more suitable one with the following meaning: we pause after All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. Then we begin a new sentence: In Him was life. The phrase without Him was not anything made that was made means "anything that could be made." You see how, with this short addition, he removes any potential difficulty.

By introducing without Him was not anything made and adding, that was made, he includes all invisible things and excepts the Holy Spirit, for the Spirit cannot be made. After mentioning creation, he moves to providence: In Him was life.

Like a fountain that produces vast depths of water and yet is not diminished at its source, so the Only-Begotten works. However great His creations may be, He Himself is no less because of them. The word "life" here means not only creation but also the providence by which created things are preserved. But when you are told that in Him was life, do not suppose He is a composite being; for, as the Father has life in Himself, so has He given to the Son to have life in Himself. Just as you would not call the Father a composite being, neither should you call the Son one.

Origen of Alexandria: Or consider this: Our Savior is said to be some things not for Himself but for others, and other things for both Himself and others. When it says, That which was made in Him was life, we must ask whether this life is for Himself and others, or for others only—and if for others, for whom?

Now, the Life and the Light are the same Person. He is the light of men; He is therefore their life. The Savior is called Life here not for Himself, but for others, whose Light He also is. This life is inseparable from the Word from the time it is joined to it. For Reason—that is, the Word—must first exist in the soul, cleansing it from sin, until it is pure enough to receive the life, which is then engrafted or inborn in everyone who makes himself fit to receive the Word of God.

Hence, observe that although the Word Himself was not made in the beginning (for the Beginning was never without the Word), yet the life of men was not always in the Word. This life of men was made in that it was the light of men, and this light of men could not exist before man existed, since "the light of men" is understood in relation to men. Therefore, he says, That which was made in the Word was life, not "That which was in the Word was life."

Some copies read, not incorrectly, "That which was made, in Him is life." If we understand the life in the Word to be He who says later, I am the life, we must confess that no one who does not believe in Christ lives, and that all who do not live in God are dead.

John 1:4b

Theophylact of Ohrid: He had said, In Him was life, so that you might not suppose the Word was without life. Now he shows that this life is spiritual and is the light of all rational creatures. And the life was the light of men means it is not a perceptible light, but an intellectual light that illuminates the soul itself.

St. Augustine of Hippo: Life itself gives illumination to men, but not to cattle, for they do not have rational souls by which to discern wisdom. In contrast, man, being made in the image of God, has a rational soul by which he can discern wisdom. Hence, that life by which all things are made is a light, not for all animals whatsoever, but for men.

Theophylact of Ohrid: He did not say "the Light of the Jews only," but of all men. For all of us, insofar as we have received intellect and reason from the Word who created us, are said to be illuminated by Him. The reason that is given to us, which makes us the rational beings we are, is a light directing us on what to do and what not to do.

Origen of Alexandria: We must not fail to notice that he puts the life before the light of men. It would be a contradiction to suppose a being without life could be illuminated, as if life were an addition to illumination.

But to proceed: if the life was the light of men, meaning only men, then Christ would be the light and life of men only—a heretical supposition. It does not follow, when something is predicated of a group, that it is predicated of them alone. For of God it is written that He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and yet He is not the God of those patriarchs only. In the same way, the "light of men" is not excluded from being the light of others as well.

Furthermore, some contend from Genesis, Let us make man in our image, that "man" here means whatever is made in the image and likeness of God. If so, "the light of men" is the light of any rational creature whatsoever.