Commentary on John 1:9

John 1:9 teaches that the Light, which is both Jesus and the Holy Spirit, gives light; that is, spiritual insight, to every person who has ever lived. The Holy Spirit can directly witness about Christ to a person and save him by grace as He did with the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus. But in a more general sense, this verse means that God influences every person to choose to live a good life and eschew sin as much as possible. God desires that every human live in accordance with his being in the image of God. God will reward those who choose to be good and do good by recreating them to live a blessed life on His new earth in a form that will be similar, but not the same, as their former identities and personalities when they lived on the old earth. The extent to which each recreated person will retain their former selves will belong to the judgment of Christ. That part of all humans who deliberately choose to be evil and do evil can never be saved. Total evil can never repent. These are the evil dead whom God will consign to the lake of fire forever. What few good works the evil dead did while on the old earth will be recovered by God to be recreated, but these evil dead will completely lose their former identities and personalities. God will allow only those saved by grace to retain most of their former identities and personalities. That which absolutely and completely divides God's goodness from the Devil's evil will be the shed blood and water of Christ in the case of those saved by grace, and the consuming fire of God for the rest of humanity. Matthew 16:24-27; I Corinthians 3:12-15; Revelation 22:11-12; Revelation 21:3-8; Hebrews 12:25-29.