Our age is one where there are lots of different stories and truth claims about the world and our place in it. There is a danger that we can read the Bible and think it is simply another story about this world—a story for us to enjoy, a story that makes sense of things, but not necessarily a story that we must believe. So even if the Bible is coherent and beautiful, even if it is a story that we want to be true, it is arrogant to claim that it is the only true story. I can make sense of the world with another story if I choose to do so. Jesus Christ is simply one light among many.
This relativism, this idea that all religions are equally valid and that we cannot distinguish between them, is the default position of our society. In a city where there are lots of people from different backgrounds, it is simply not permitted to claim that there is such a thing as absolute truth. We must bear with one another; all ideas and philosophies must be treated the same.
Now, a level of toleration is certainly necessary if we are to live in peace with friends and colleagues who worship different gods. But we must never allow the religious pluralism of our day to stop us from recognizing what John is saying in his Gospel.
When John talks about Jesus as the true light, he is not introducing an alternative path to God. He is claiming that Jesus Christ alone is the one who enlightens all mankind. He is the Lord whose path was prepared by John the Baptist. He is the one who reveals true truth about God. He is the world’s only hope for salvation and life everlasting.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.