“I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” (John 8:12)1
Before the cross, Jesus implored the people to follow Him to the cross where He would die their death, and then they would enter into His resurrection life. Since the cross, He implores every person to believe that we have been reconciled to God through the cross so that we receive the free gift of His righteousness. Today we don’t need to be afraid of His light because when we enter that light in the new birth, we enter Christ Himself. That light does not expose our sin. It reveals the perfection of Christ’s blood in washing our sin away.
In this verse, we find the phrase “shall not walk in darkness…” Today for the believer who is in Christ, it is impossible to walk in darkness ever again. We still sin, but we will never be in darkness again.
Let’s look at 1 John 1:7 for more clarity on this truth.
But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)
This scripture says, “If we walk in the light…” If we have a performance or works mindset and we see a phrase like this, we will automatically assume it is talking about behavior. This phrase is not referring to how we walk. It’s referring to where we walk. To say it is talking about behavior would not make sense. It would mean “if we behave ourselves like Jesus behaves Himself (‘as He is’), the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.” Why would we need the blood of Jesus to cleanse us from sin if we never sinned?
If it were true that we were only in the light when we behaved perfectly, and then we were in the dark when we misbehaved, then we would switch back and forth from the light to the dark many times a day! The only way to stay in the light would be to never sin.
This scripture is talking about the realm we are in as a believer, not the way we are performing. We are in the light because we have been cleansed from all our sin.
…giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:9-10)
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10)
If you are a believer, you are in the LIGHT, and you walk where God is because you are in Christ, and He is in you.
That’s incredibly Good News!
(from pages 50-52 of Unveiling Jesus)
Want more from Tricia Gunn? Check out excerpts from the Unveiling Jesus 20-part series!
Unveiling Jesus, by Tricia Gunn, is a verse by verse study of the pure gospel of grace. It’s an amazing journey of love, identity, and freedom in Christ.
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1 All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New King James Version. Scripture is taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
