A Simple Commentary John-1:4
In him was
life; and the life was the light of men, John 1:4. In I Corinthians 15:45 we
read “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last
Adam a quickening spirit. Was made; is left out by the writer because it is
italicized in the King James Version which means it was added for clarity by
the translators. The reason the writer has omitted the words mentioned is
because the original text is more accurate, the last Adam (is and was and
always shall be) a quickening spirit. In I Corinthians 15:45, Adam is mentioned,
and a last Adam is mentioned. Adam, in that verse is the first created man, who
was the covenant head of all his posterity, that is all the race of men, the
last Adam as mentioned in the verse is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Word
made flesh, John 1:14, the God man, and mediator (I Timothy 2:5) of the
everlasting covenant of grace.
All of
Adams race were in the loins of Adam when he sinned, and so, all of Adams race sinned in Adam, Romans 5:12. Now in I Corinthians
15:22 we read “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made
alive. Adam was a figure of Christ in that he was a covenant head of a people,
Romans 5:14. The people, of whom Adam was covenant head is all the natural race
of men. Now the race of natural men died spiritually in Adam, because of a
legal bond to Adam in a covenant of works, “But of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest
thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:17) or dying thou shalt die. In the
day that Adam ate of the forbidden fruit he began to die physically, and he
died spiritually. The result of all this is that of natural men and women, none
are born in this world with spiritual life, we are born into this world in a
state of spiritual death, and under the curse and sentence of death inherited
through Adam. “In Adam all die”.
In the same verse there is a promise
or statement of truth, “even so in Christ shall all be made alive” again this
promise is in I Corinthians 15:22, see above. The promise is that all who are
in Christ shall be made alive, but who is in Christ before they are made alive?
That is who is in Christ before they are made spiritually alive? The answer is
quiet clear and very simple, those who are in Christ before receiving spiritual
life are, those who have covenant interest in Christ, those who have been
chosen in Christ from everlasting, or before the world was made (Ephesians 1:4)
They are the entire election of grace, and because they are the children of God
by eternal election they shall be taught of God and come to Christ; and in
Christ they shall live, or be made alive. “And all thy children shall be taught
of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children” Isaiah 54:13, we
send our children to school because they are our children, we do not send our
children to school to make them our children but because they are our children.
In the New Testament the apostle John quoted this scripture from Isaiah thus,
“It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man
therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me, John
6:45. And they shall be all taught of God, that is, all the children (Isaiah
54:13) shall be taught of God, because they are God’s children by election of
grace, and so because they are children and taught of God they come to Christ
because of life, that is, because they have been given life. To confirm the
same truth see Galatians 4:6 “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the
Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father”. In this verse, those
who received the Spirit of God’s Son were already sons and God gave them the
Spirit because of that already present relation, but you may ask how were they
already sons? And the answer is the same, these were chosen of God in his
eternal decree of election before the foundation of the world. The last
confirmation of this truth the writer will offer at this time will be found in
Hebrews 2:14 “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
he also himself took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him
that had the power of death, that is, the devil”; here, they who were children
took art of flesh and blood, they were already children when they took part of
flesh and blood. These were children by divine election.
Because of
eternal union in Christ, and with Christ, the children of God are brought to
Christ, and in Christ shall all be made alive. See Psalms 139:16, “Thine eyes
did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were
written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of
them”. Compare this with I Corinthians 12:27 “Now ye are the body of Christ, and
members in particular”. These members in particular of the body of Christ are
they, the children of God, who were written in his book from everlasting. In
Christ the children of God are given life, in Christ shall all be made alive.
In Christ
the Word, was life, spiritual life as above, and all forms of life as a
fountain of life. Whether it be natural human life, animal, plant, angelic,
spiritual, eternal, or what so ever kind of life, it is from the Lord of life,
Christ the Word, Wisdom and Power of God.
“And the
life was the light of men” Physically living persons with their faculties of
natural life in tact perceive natural light, they hear the sounds of nature,
smell the smells of this world, they have living and functioning receptors
tuned to the sights, sounds, and smells of earth. Those who are already in the
grave do not see; first, because there is no natural light in the grave; and
second, because they have not a living receptor of natural light their eyes are
in a state of physical death with the rest of their body. The dead do not hear,
nor do they have any functioning receptor to the things of this life. Death
reigns over their natural body so that they have no faculty of physical life.
The naturally dead body does not see, hear, nor understand any of the things
that pertain to this life. The dead body lies in cold and silent darkness.
In Adam all died, that is, we all
died spiritually in Adam, because of our covenant interest in Adam. Just as
natural death brings an end to natural perception so, spiritual death brings an
end to spiritual perception, so that we in spiritual death do not hear, see,
nor understand the things of life unto God. The members of our race are born
into this world physically living and spiritually dead Ephesians 2:1; Colossians
2:13 John 5:25. We have no spiritually seeing eye, nor spiritually hearing ear,
and our minds though intelligent in things of earth, have no spiritual
understanding, and all this condition is caused by spiritual death which reigns
over us through our fall in Adam.
Now the Word finds his covenant
people in this state of spiritual death and speaks unto them the word of life.
His word of life, is the command of life, and with the command comes the thing
commanded, life. Thus is the case in Ezekiel 16:6, And when I passed by thee,
and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, (dead in sin and trespasses) I said
unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou
wast in thy blood, Live. The one who was dead is now alive, through the Word
commanding life, and of course has a spiritually living eye, and a spiritually
living ear, and a spiritually living mind and heart to understand. Thus is life
in the Word, light to men, for “In him was life, and the life was the light of
men”. “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear” Matthew 13:9.
A.J. Ison
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