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THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

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John 8:12

12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." 

NIV

Because Jesus was in the temple courts when the Pharisees brought that woman they say was caught in adultery, although we might be of the opinion it was all a setup because we wonder just how did all those men find this woman in the act of committing adultery. Did they have a co-conspirator who convinced this woman to commit this act with him, knowing his friends would show up at the exact moment they were engaged in the act? Who knows how it happened, and maybe that debate over the authenticity of those verses has something to do with that same reason. Whatever the case, Jesus is still in the temple courts and that engage with the Pharisees and the woman must have gathered a crowd. So after Jesus dealt with those hypocritical men who attempted to trap him, but instead he trapped them, he spoke to the crowd, which had to be amazed as who how swiftly and wisely he handled those Pharisees. Now, if in fact those verses 7:53 thru 8:11 were not part of the original gospel then Jesus would still be in the temple courts and he would have just said: “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within”. This statement was what caused the crowd to be divided over who he was, and that the temple guards when to the chief priests and Pharisees without having arrested Jesus. It had to be a nasty scene between the Pharisees, chief priests, and the guards. However, back in the temple courts where Jesus was, whether then the scene included this case of the woman caught in adultery happened or not, the next words Jesus spoke to the crowd were about him being the light of the world. Here we are again at the comparison between light and darkness. There is no middle ground, no grey area, we either walk in the light or we walk in the dark. This gives us another clue about all of the truth. There is no grey area in the scripture, it is either all true or all false, there is no middle ground. It is either/or, it is not both. It is a black and white case, open and shut, light or darkness. If we follow Jesus we will walk in the light. But what does that mean to follow Jesus? Can everyone who says they are a Christian be walking in the light? Does just saying we are Christians mean we are a follower of Jesus? Can people say they believe in God and still be walking in the dark? There has to be something more than just saying we believe and being a follower of Jesus. Again, no middle ground, no grey area. If we are going to follow Jesus, walk in the light, then we have to follow him, walk where he walks, not only listen but apply what he says. Yes, we confess our sins and ask Him into our hearts, and then we are saved. Yes, if we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouth, that Jesus Christ is Lord, we will be saved. But does that mean we then are no longer walking in the dark? There has to be some kind of transition we make once we believe and confess our faith in him. We become disciples, learners, changing our way of thinking about everything. His light exposes every aspect of our heart and life and as we are shown the truth, we make adjustments. If we refuse, being stubborn, sticking to what we always thought was correct, we may not actually be as much a follower as we think we are. So let us simply follow Jesus, walk in the light and have life.