What does John 1:4 mean?

John proclaims Christ's role as the giver of eternal life. John will spend much more time later in his gospel explaining Jesus' role in bringing life to mankind. This verse also refers to Jesus using the second of John's seven names for Jesus: "the Light." To a Hebrew, "light" was the ultimate value. All good things were said to be "light," and evil was "darkness." A modern parallel to this might be how Americans idealize all things in relation to "freedom."

Light implies revealing. Jesus not only exposes our sinfulness, but He also illuminates a way to be saved from it. Light implies knowledge and awareness. Darkness is ignorance. For some, darkness is a deliberate choice. They know that what they do is wrong, so they prefer to hide from the truth. Light guides and comforts, but it can be infuriating to someone who wants to stay in the shadows. The light, in this case, is specifically for mankind. Jesus will later proclaim Himself as "the light of the world" (John 8:12).