The Passage
John 12:44-50
44 And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. 45 And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. 46 I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. 47 If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. 48 The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day. 49 For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”
Word Work
Put it in your own words. Read the passage or verse slowly, then rewrite each phrase or sentence using your own words.
Word Thoughts:
To Deliver from Darkness. John related at the end of verse 36 that Jesus had hidden himself, but apparently Jesus surfaced briefly to make one final statement (vv. 44–50). As he did in 5:19–30, Jesus asserts his unity with the Father: to believe Jesus is not merely to believe him but is to believe the Father as well, for, as Jesus explained in 5:19–30, he does only what the Father has commissioned him to do.
In 12:45 Jesus articulates a truth he will restate to Philip (14:9), asserting that the one who sees him sees the Father. Those who see Jesus need no imagination or speculation of what it would be to see the unseeable God. Here again the statements Jesus makes about himself provide the foundation for things John said about Jesus in the prologue to his Gospel (1:1–2, 18), and here too is the foundation for Paul’s description of Jesus as “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15) and the author of Hebrews’s statement that Jesus is “the exact imprint of [God’s] nature” (Heb. 1:3).
A shroud of darkness fell over humanity and all creation when Adam sinned and Satan usurped dominion. Jesus came as light to pierce the darkness, with the result that all who believe in him are freed from having to remain in darkness (John 12:46; cf. 1:4–5, 9; 3:19–21; 8:12).
Jesus had stated the purpose of his incarnation in 3:17: “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him,” and he reasserts that reality in 12:47. It was his purpose to come not as judge but as Savior. Those who hear his words but do not keep them (v. 47) will have his word as their judge “on the last day” (v. 48). Jesus has asserted that he will execute judgment at the resurrection (5:27–29), and those who reject him will have his word judge them at the resurrection on the last day (12:48). As in chapter 5, in 12:49 Jesus declares that his message comes from the Father. The Father sent Jesus to speak words of spirit and life (6:63), so when the Father commanded Jesus to speak (12:49), the commandment was eternal life (v. 50). He speaks as instructed by the Father. (1)
Word Reflection:
- What stood out?
- What does Jesus mean when He says he brings us out of darkness?
- What darkness does Jesus deliver us from?
I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.
End in Prayer
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