Texts in Conversation
John draws on a theme from the Wisdom of Solomon where the Torah is called light for the world. Both use light to describe God’s teaching that drives out darkness, and John places Jesus in that role to show continuity with this Jewish tradition.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Wisdom of Solomon 18:4
Deuterocanon
3 Therefore you provided a burning pillar of fire, to be a guide for your people’s unknown journey, and a harmless sun for their glorious exile. 4 For the Egyptians well deserved to be deprived of light and imprisoned by darkness, they who had imprisoned your children, through whom the incorruptible light of the law was to be given to the race of men. 5 After they had taken counsel to kill the babes of the holy ones, and when a single child had been abandoned and saved to convict them of their sin, you took away from them their multitude of children, and destroyed all their army together in a mighty flood.
Date: 50 BCE – 50 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
John 8:12
New Testament
10 Jesus stood up straight and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” 11 She replied, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you either. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”]] 12 Then Jesus spoke out again, “I am the light of the world! The one who follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” 13 So the Pharisees objected, “You testify about yourself; your testimony is not true!”
Date: 90–110 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... In verse 12, Jesus proclaims that he is “the light of the world,” an image usually ascribed to God, as in Psalm 27:1. The light of life that his followers will have resonates with a passage in one of the Dead Sea Scrolls from Qumran (1QS 3:7) concerning God, as well as their self-description as “the sons of light.” This proclamation is in the context of the Sukkoth ceremony of light (m. Sukkah 5:1-4). Four huge menorah or candlesticks were placed in the Court of the Women, and it was said that the light was sufficient to illuminate all Jerusalem, calling to mind Zechariah 14:6. The Torah was described in terms of light for the world in Wisdom of Solomon 18:4; Proverbs 6:23; Psalm 119:105; and Baruch 4:2, as well as in the rabbinic tradition ..."
Daniel Durken, ed., The New Collegeville Bible Commentary: In One Volume (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2017), 2063.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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