Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; the one who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” (v. 12)

And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. (1 John 5:11)

And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (John17:3)

I mentioned a few times that the Reformation heavily relied on the letter of Paul and the Reformers had limited knowledge. I am not saying that Paul and John had different understandings. They spoke and wrote the same gospel that Christ preached. But people without knowledge always take God’s words out of context and make their own stories about God. And I believe that is what happened in the seventeenth century. Theologians and ministers still discuss about which of the two – faith and works – comes first. It is a meaningless discussion. The gospel works only when one understands God. In other words, one must be united with Christ to know to have faith in God. And there is nothing that we can do on our own initiative to be united with Him. It is a free gift. Only those who have ears can hear God’s words and understand them. The most important role of a church is to proclaim God’s words. Those who are chosen will hear God’s words. They will be united with Christ. They will repent of their sins and turn away from the evil ways. Then they start to make the fruit of God. The fruit of God may not be something visible. Many Christians think that we must show good works to others. And they judge people by works. In this passage, we see the Jews judging Christ by His works and claiming that He broke the Sabbath law. Christ tells them that He does not judge people like others do. He is Truth and knows all things. He is God. And He does not need two witnesses to testify about Him because He is God. Even if He is judged by the law, He is free from sin because He and the Father testify together. But those who put all their hope in the law do not accept their testimony simply because they do not understand. God has shut their eyes and ears.

Jesus answered and said to them, “Even if I am testifying about Myself, My testimony is true, because I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. (v. 14)

Our eternal life is not from the law. It is in the Son. The Son knows, understands, and loves the Father. We become like the Son. We are nothing without the Son. The cross of God is not just forgiveness of our sins. The Son redeemed us and made us the children of God through the cross. However, theologians and ministers love the theology of the Roman Catholic Church and reject this. They say that the cross is not enough. They keep saying that our eternal life is from the Son’s perfect keeping of the law. Therefore, they say that our righteousness is from the law. The gospel of John clearly refutes their claim. Our life is in the Son. He resurrected and lives forever. We, who are united with Him, lives forever. If our righteousness is from the law, we must keep the law perfectly now and forever even in the kingdom of God. One single disobedience will send us to eternal damnation. The Son came to redeem us from the curse of the conditional covenant. We simply cannot please God by works on our own initiative.

So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am, and I do nothing on My own, but I say these things as the Father instructed Me. And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.” As He said these things, many came to believe in Him. (vv. 28-30)