<p>1:4 <em>In it was life, and that life was the light of men</em>- &quot;Life&quot;, <em>zoe</em>, in John's Gospel means spiritual life, the life which is eternal in the sense that it is the kind of life we shall eternally live. Many times, John records the Lord offering eternal life to us now. We shall of course die, but we can live today the life we shall eternally live. The &quot;it&quot; or &quot;he&quot; here is clearly to be understood as the Lord Jesus; He was &quot;the word made flesh&quot; according to :14, but even before :14 the idea is presented to us. The prologue to John's letter states that the Lord is &quot;the word of life&quot; (1 Jn. 1:1). The life was &quot;in&quot;, within, the Lord Jesus in the sense of 5:26: &quot;The son has life in Himself&quot;. &quot;Eternal life... is in His Son&quot; (1 Jn. 5:11,20). He was the life as He was the light; &quot;I am the life... I am the light&quot; (11:25; 14:6). His Spirit, His mind within, was the life which is to be the light of our whole existence. In this sense the believer in Him, through receiving His Spirit of life and living, has life within (6:53).</p><p>The real life was lived in the human Jesus. His life was the life which we shall eternally live in God's Kingdom. It's why such a relatively large percentage of the New Testament is taken up with the four Gospel records of His life. It is that life which is the light of men, i.e. those who believe. For John goes on to lament that many in the Jewish world had refused that light and life. Indeed, they had sought to kill that life in crucifixion. The light of our lives is to be the life the Lord lived and still lives. Our focus is to be wholly upon Him. This is the essence of Christianity, Christ-ness; and not true theology in itself. The connection between the life and 'seeing' it is found several times later in John. Those who disbelieve in the Son of God do not &quot;see life&quot; (Jn. 3:36). His life is not their light. Those who follow Him have &quot;the light of life&quot; (8:12). John's Gospel consistently speaks of &quot;life&quot; being given to the believer by the Lord; but the &quot;life&quot; in view is His own life. This is another way of expressing the gift of the Spirit.</p><p>&quot;The light&quot; is used by the Lord in John's Gospel to refer to His living amongst men. His brief life in first century Palestine was the time when &quot;the light&quot; was seen by the world; but He urged men to believe in Him whilst they had that light. His life was the light- the believer will &quot;have the light of life&quot; (Jn. 8:12), the Lord's life. As long as He was in the Jewish world, He was the light to that world (9:5). They were to walk after Him whilst they had that light (12:35); &quot;while you have light, believe in the light&quot; (12:36). And yet there are clear statements that the light continues to shine now in the lives of the believers. The paradox is resolved by connecting it with the promise of the Holy Spirit comforter. The Lord comforted the disciples that although He was indeed physically leaving them, yet through the gift of His Spirit it would be as if He were still present amongst them. And so indeed the Lord was &quot;the light&quot; during His mortal life, lived amongst the darkness of men in Palestine. But that light continues to shine, in that He is present amongst the believers, and they live as if in the light of His presence. To join in the first century disciples in following the Lord Jesus, focused on living His life, having His Spirit, thinking His thoughts... is to &quot;walk in the light&quot;. And that is the closest the NT ever comes to offering a 'basis of fellowship'; if we walk in the light, then we have fellowship with one another (1 Jn. 1:7), even if we may have differences of interpretation and theology. Or as Paul puts it, we are &quot;of one mind&quot; if we strive to have the one mind, that of the Lord Jesus. John's later work, Revelation, concludes by speaking of how the light of the Lord Jesus shines both now and eternally. Our living in the light of Him is what shall eternally continue, and defines the nature of our eternal experience. It is utterly critical, therefore, that in this life we come to a total focus upon Him.</p>