ἐν αὐτῷ ζωὴ ἦν, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων·
You know, I had read this passage a hundred times before with nothing, but reading the Greek, I had to slow down. It’s been about 6 years since I have taken Greek, so I had to brush off the rust. Toddlers will do it to you, keep you from staying in the Greek.
I’d like to start by translating this word for word.
In him life was, and the life was the light of men.
So
In him was life, and the life was the light of humanity.
As I have said, I just glossed over the verse reading it like normal, and then something jumped off the page.
In Jesus there was life. The life of Jesus was the light of humanity. His life brought light and illumination. What about his life brought light and illumination that was unique to humanity? Think about it. The virgin birth, the sinless life, the miracles, the innocent death upon the cross in the place of all sinful humanity, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, among other things.
THAT life is what illuminated our world. THAT life was what gave us light in our darkness and darkened understanding.
In Jesus was the light we needed after our rebellion darkened our understanding.