"The Identification of the image with reason explains or is supported by a puzzling remark in John 1:9: 'It was the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.' How can Christ, in whom is the life that is the light of men, be the light of every man, when Scripture teaches that some are lost in eternal darkness? The puzzle arises from interpreting light in exclusively redemptive terms.
The first chapter of John is not soteriological only. Obviously there are references to salvation in verses 7, 8, 12, and 13. It is not surprising that some Christians understood verse nine also in a soteriological sense. But it is not true that all men are saved; hence if Christ lightens every man, this enlightening cannot be soteriological. This is not the only non-soteriological verse in the chapter. The opening verses treat of creation and the relation of the Logos to God. If the enlightening is not soteriological, it could be epistemological. Then since responsibility depends on knowledge, the responsibility of the unregenerate is adequately founded.
In order to avoid this interpretation and to retain the idea of salvation here, one exegete suggests that the Light shines on all but does not penetrate all. He might even have quoted earlier verses that the light shines in darkness and the darkness did not grasp or understand it. But the later verse does not speak of darkness in the abstract; it speaks of all men. Can it now be said that the light lights all men without enlightening them?
The verb occurs about eleven times in the New Testament. . . . Subjective enlightenment is also found in Hebrews 6:4 and 10:32." - Gordon H. Clark, The Biblical Doctrine of Man
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