John 1:9 (WEB)
The true light that enlightens everyone was coming into the world.
Catechism · 1
“Having received in Baptism the Word, "the true light that enlightens every man," the person baptized has been "enlightened," he becomes a "son of light," indeed, he becomes "light" himself:” — Catechism footnote: Jn 1:9; 1 Thess 5:5; Heb 10:32; Eph 5:8.
Fathers and councils · 64
Augustine of Hippo
“For, as one says, “that was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”” — editor's note: John i. 9
Read the whole comment““For Thou wilt light my candle; the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness; and “of His fulness have all we received,” for “that was the true Light which lighted every man that cometh into the world;” for in Thee there is “no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”” — editor's note: John i. 9.
Read the whole comment“For we are not that Light, which lighteth every man, but we are enlightened by Thee, that we, who were sometimes darkness, may be light in Thee.” — editor's note: John i. 9.
Read the whole comment“And that the soul of man, though it “bears witness of the light,” yet itself “is not that light; but the Word of God, being God, is that true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”” — editor's note: John i. 9.
Read the whole comment“…own intelligence, and from habit drew away my thoughts, withdrawing itself from the crowds of contradictory phantasms; that so it might find out that light by which it was besprinkled, when, without all doubting, it cried out, “that the unchangeable was to be preferred before the changeable;” whence also it knew…” — editor's note: That light which illumines the soul, he tells us in his De Gen. ad Lit. (xii. 31), is God Himself, from whom all light cometh; and, though created in His image…
Read the whole comment“But, they, desiring to be light, not “in the Lord,” but in themselves, conceiving the nature of the soul to be the same as that which God is, are made more gross darkness; for that through a shocking arrogancy they went farther from Thee, “the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”” — editor's note: John i. 9.
Read the whole comment“Why should he trouble me, as if I could enlighten any “man that cometh into the world?”” — editor's note: John i. 9; see p. 76, note 2, and p. 181, note 2, above.
Read the whole comment“But the shadow consisteth of light and body: and further, The “Word” that “was in the beginning,” that true Light, in order that a noonday shadow might be made for us; “the Word,” I say, “was made Flesh, and dwelled in us.”…” — editor's note: John i. 9.
Read the whole comment“But whence comes the light of which it is said, “Ye are the light of the world,” unless from Him concerning whom it is written, “That was the true light, which lighteth every man coming into the world”?” — editor's note: John i. 9.
Read the whole comment“…light, wherewith He enlightens every man that cometh into this world, and in virtue of which He shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehends Him not.” — editor's note: John i. 5–9.
Read the whole comment“…and, “He was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world:” and this light, “the Word,” was “with God;” but “the Word also was God;” and “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all:” but a light that is not corporeal, but spiritual; yet not in such way spiritual, that it was wrought by…” — editor's note: John i. 9, 1
Read the whole comment“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.”” — editor's note: John i. 1–14
Read the whole comment“…Light which none but the pure hearts of the faithful see; as it is written, “That was the true Light, which lighteneth every man that cometh into the world.”” — editor's note: John i. 9.
Read the whole comment“Jesus Himself indeed shone as the sun, signifying that “He is the light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”” — editor's note: John i. 9.
Read the whole comment“Where John added, “the True,” there art thou looking out for a lie.” — editor's note: John i. 9.
Read the whole comment““The true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world,”—this Light lighteth also every pure angel, that he may be light not in himself, but in God; from whom if an angel turn away, he becomes impure, as are all…” — editor's note: John i. 9.
Read the whole comment“And on the same principle we interpret the expression in the Gospel: “The true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world:” not that there is no man who is not enlightened, but that no man is enlightened except by Him.” — editor's note: John i. 9
Read the whole comment“…from whence shall come our help; but still, since they were men who wrote the Scriptures, they did not shine of themselves, but “He was the true light, who lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”” — editor's note: John i. 9.
Read the whole comment“They were also called light: “Ye are the light of the world;” but in another sense is He called so, concerning whom it was said, “That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”” — editor's note: John i. 9.
Read the whole comment“He understands not what he hears from the Lord, understands not what he hears from the Light, “which lighteth every man that cometh into this world.”” — editor's note: John i. 9.
Read the whole comment“Of John the Baptist, indeed, it had been said, “He was not the light, but that he might bear witness of the light.”” — editor's note: John i. 9.
Read the whole comment“…said both to see the light, whereof it is said, “That was the true light;” and to hear the word, whereof it is said, “In the beginning was the Word;” and to be susceptible of smell, of which it is said, “We will run after the smell of thy ointments;” and to drink of the fountain, whereof it is said, “With…” — editor's note: Chap. i. 9, 1.
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Origen
- Origen, Against Celsus VI.59Book VI
“In the Gospel according to John especially, we may frequently find the regions of earth termed “world,” as in the passage, “He was the true Light, which lighteneth every man that cometh into the ‘world;’” as also in this, “In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”” — editor's note: Cf. John i. 9.
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Gregory of Nyssa
“Next he says:—“As Son of God, quickening the dead, the true light, the light that lighteneth every man coming into the world, good, and the bestower of good things.”” — editor's note: Cf. S. John i. 9
Read the whole comment“For if they say that the Father is greater than the Son because He is true God, by the same showing the Son would be acknowledged to be greater than the Father, because the former is called “true Light,” and the latter not so.” — editor's note: S. John i. 9
Read the whole comment“And Moses, seeing God in the light, and John calling Him the true Light, and in the same way Paul, when our Lord first appeared to him, and a Light shone round about him, and afterwards when he heard the words of the Light saying, “I am Jesus, Whom thou persecutest,”—is he not a competent witness?” — editor's note: S. John i. 9
Read the whole comment- Gregory of Nyssa, On Virginity On Virginity.11On Virginity
“…to Christ’s true light, if we leave this dark atmosphere of the earth and dwell above; and we shall be light, as our Lord says somewhere to His disciples, if the true Light that shineth in the dark comes down even to us; unless, that is, any foulness of sin spreading over our hearts should dim the brightness of…” — editor's note: S. John ix. 5; i. 9.
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Tertullian
“Immediately there appears the Word, “that true light, which lighteth man on his coming into the world,” and through Him also came light upon the world.” — editor's note: John i. 9.
Read the whole comment“…its nature: for it conveyed nothing celestial, but it fore-ministered to things celestial; being, to wit, appointed over repentance, which is in man’s power.” — editor's note: It is difficult to see how this statement is to be reconciled with Acts v. 31. [i.e. under the universal illumination, John i. 9.]
Read the whole comment“…course of the end up to the beginning; so that every economy, ending in Him through whom it began,—through the Word of God, that is, who was made flesh,—may have an end correspondent to its beginning.” — editor's note: See John i. 1–14.
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Athanasius of Alexandria
“And He indeed has gained nothing from us for His own promotion: for the Word of God is without want and full; but rather we were promoted from Him; for He is the ‘Light, which lighteneth every man, coming into the world.’” — editor's note: John i. 9.
Read the whole comment“And again: ‘And this is the condemnation’ of him who believeth not on the Son, ‘that light hath come into the world,’ and they believed not in Him, that is, in the Son; for He must be ‘the Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.’” — editor's note: Ib. i. 9.
Read the whole comment“Now they being without understanding, and deceitful, and lovers of sin, walk still as in darkness, not having that ‘Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.’” — editor's note: John i. 9.
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Ambrose of Milan
“It is Truth, Righteousness, the Power of God: not dumb, for it is the Word; not insensible, for it is Wisdom; not vain and foolish, for it is Power; not soulless, for it is the Life; not dead, for it is the Resurrection.” — editor's note: Christ the Word: S. John i. 1–18. Wisdom: 1 Cor. i. 24, 30. Life and Resurrection: S. John xi. 25.
Read the whole comment“Is He not good, Who exalted earth to heaven, so that, just as the bright companies of stars reflect His glory in the sky, as in a glass, so the choirs of apostles, martyrs, and priests, shining like glorious stars, might give light throughout the world.” — editor's note: Cf. S. Matt. xiii. 43; Dan. xii. 3. The radiance of these heavenly choirs is the reflection of Him Who is the Light of the World, the True Light.—S. John i. 9;…
Read the whole comment“Now, did the Father say on that occasion, “Let there be such light as I Myself have made,” or “Let there be light”—light having as yet not existed; or did the Son ask what sort of light the Father made?” — editor's note: Or “what sort of thing He made it to be.” How could the Son ask such a question, being Himself the true Light? S. John i. 9.
Read the whole comment“That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into this world.”” — editor's note: S. John i. 9.
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John Chrysostom
“…except the Father draw him” ( c. vi. 44 ); the Apostle has in this place anticipated an objection, and declared that it is He (the Son) who “giveth light” ( ver. 9 ); that although you hear a saying like this concerning the Father, you may not say that it belongs to the Father only, but also to the Son.” — the author cites it
Read the whole comment“John i. 9” — the author cites it
Read the whole comment“John i. 9” — the author cites it
Read the whole comment“…his own person, doth not so, but leadeth up his language to greater sublimity, saying, “All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made” ( c. i. 3, 4, 9, 11 ); and that He was “Life”; and that He was “Light”; and that “He came to His own”: he saith not, that He would not have had power, had He not…” — the author cites it
Read the whole comment“For that thou mightest learn that neither the light nor the darkness which he speaks of are sensible, in discoursing of the light, he called it not merely light, but “a great light” which elsewhere he expresses by the word, True:and in describing the darkness, he termed it, “a shadow of death.”” — editor's note: John i. 9.
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Theodoret of Cyrus
“And again, “That was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”” — editor's note: John i. 9
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Basil the Great
“Those that are confined in the darkness of ignorance He enlightens: for this reason He is true Light.” — editor's note: John i. 9.
Read the whole comment“For it is not said through the Spirit, but by the Spirit, and “God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth,” as it is written “in thy light shall we see light,” namely by the illumination of the Spirit, “the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”” — editor's note: John i. 9.
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Hilary of Poitiers
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the Only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” — editor's note: St. John i. 1–14.
Read the whole comment“…in the beginning was the Word, and since the Word was with God, and since He was the true Light, and since God Only-begotten is in the bosom of the Father, and since Jesus Christ is God over all.” — editor's note: St. John i. 1, 9, 18.
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Gregory of Nazianzus
“The Other Comforter was the True Light which lighteneth every man coming into the world.” — editor's note: John i. 9.
Read the whole comment“…come, and which we are celebrating to-day, has for its origin the Baptism of my Christ, the True Light That lighteneth every man that cometh into the world, and effecteth my purification, and assists that light which we received from the beginning from Him from above, but which we darkened and confused by sin.” — editor's note: John i. 9.
Read the whole comment“V. God is Light: the highest, the unapproachable, the ineffable, That can neither be conceived in the mind nor uttered with the lips, That giveth life to every reasoning creature.” — editor's note: John i. 9.
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Leo the Great
“Confine the material light to your bodily senses, and with all your mental powers embrace that “true light which lighteth every man that cometh into this world,” and of which the prophet says, “Come unto Him and be enlightened, and your faces shall not blush.”” — editor's note: S. John i. 9.
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Hippolytus of Rome
“But if any one, he says, is blind from birth, and has never beheld the true light, “which lighteneth every man that cometh into the world,” by us let him recover his sight, and behold, as it were, through some paradise planted with every description of tree, and supplied with abundance of fruits,…” — editor's note: John i. 9; ix. 1.
Read the whole comment“And this, he says, is that which has been stated in the Gospels: “He was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”” — editor's note: John i. 9. [See translator’s important note (1), p. 7, supra.]
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Clement of Alexandria
“He is so lovely, as to be alone loved by us, whose hearts are set on the true beauty, for “He was the true light.”” — editor's note: John i. 9.
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Cyprian of Carthage
“He was in this world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.”” — editor's note: John i. 9, 10.
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Catena Aurea on John
- Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on John
What Light it is to which John bears witness, he shews himself, saying, That was the true Light.
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on John
Or thus; Having said above that John had come, and was sent, to bear witness of the Light, lest any from the recent coming of the witness, should infer the same of Him who is witnessed to, the Evangelist takes us…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on John
Wherefore is there added, true? Because man enlightened is called light, but the true Light is that which lightens. For our eyes are called lights, and yet, without a lamp at night, or the sun by day, these lights…
Read the whole comment - Theophylact of OhridCatena Aurea on John
Let the Manichean blush, who pronounces us the creatures of a dark and malignant creator: for we should never be enlightened, were we not the children of the true Light.
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on John
Where are those too, who deny Him to be very God? We see here that He is called very Light. But if He lighteneth every man that cometh into the world, how is it that so many have gone on without light? For all have…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on John
Or the words, lighteneth every man, may be understood to mean, not that there is no one who is not enlightened, but that no one is enlightened except by Him.
Read the whole comment - BedeCatena Aurea on John
Including both natural and divine wisdom; for as no one can exist of himself, so no one can be wise of himself.
Read the whole comment - OrigenCatena Aurea on John
Or thus: We must not understand the words, lighteneth every man that cometh into the world, of the growth from hidden seeds to organized bodies, but of the entrance into the invisible world, by the spiritual…
Read the whole comment - Theophylact of OhridCatena Aurea on John
Or thus: The intellect which is given in us for our direction, and which is called natural reason, is said here to be a light given us by God. But some by the ill use of their reason have darkened themselves.
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Cross-references · 51
Cited together in Exposition of the Christian Faith IV.6.
Cited together in Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews I.8.
Cited together in Confessions IV.15.
Cited together in Homilies on John Homily 7.
Cited together in On Virginity On Virginity.11.
Cited together in Exposition of the Christian Faith IV.6.
Cited together in Exposition of the Christian Faith IV.6 and 1 other place.
Cited together in Homilies on John Homily 7.
Cited together in Confessions VII.17 and 1 other place.
Cited together in Confessions VIII.10.
Cited together in Catechism §1216 and 2 other places.
Cited together in Catechism §1216.
Cited together in Homilies on John Homily 6 and 1 other place.
Cited together in The Enchiridion Chapter 103.
Cited together in Against Eunomius XII.3 and 1 other place.
Cited together in Confessions IV.15.
Cited together in Confessions VIII.10.
Cited together in Exposition of the Christian Faith IV.6.
Cited together in Exposition of the Christian Faith IV.6.
Cited together in Catechism §1216.
Cited together in Exposition of the Christian Faith IV.6 and 2 other places.
Cited together in Exposition of the Christian Faith IV.6.
Cited together in Against Praxeas Chapter 12.
Cited together in Against Praxeas Chapter 12.
Cited together in Against Praxeas Chapter 12.
Cited together in On Virginity On Virginity.11.
Cited together in The City of God XI.9.
Cited together in Confessions IV.15.
Cited together in Homilies on John Homily 6.
Cited together in Confessions VIII.10.
Cited together in On Virginity On Virginity.11.
Cited together in Confessions VIII.10.
Cited together in Confessions IV.15.
Cited together in Confessions IV.15.
Cited together in The City of God XI.9.
Cited together in The City of God XI.9.
Cited together in The City of God XI.9.
Cited together in The City of God XI.9.
Cited together in Exposition of the Christian Faith IV.6.
Cited together in Exposition of the Christian Faith IV.6.
Cited together in Homilies on John Homily 6.
Cited together in Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews I.8.
Cited together in Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews I.8.
Cited together in Homilies on John Homily 6.
Cited together in Homilies on John Homily 6.
Cited together in On Virginity On Virginity.11.
Cited together in Homilies on John Homily 7.
Cited together in Homilies on John Homily 7.
Cited together in The Enchiridion Chapter 103.
Cited together in Homilies on John Homily 7.
Cited together in Homilies on John Homily 7.