John's use of Light, pt. 1

To fully understand John’s use of light in his prologue, we also have to look at how he uses it elsewhere. Let’s look first at the Gospel of John, chapter 3. You may be familiar with John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” We usually just quote that verse, but it is only the first sentence of a paragraph:
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” John 3:17-21
Compare that to the prologue in John 1:1-18. What elements do you see repeated in both passages? Don’t just focus on the “light” verses, 4-5, 7-9. Look at the rest of the passage in John 1 and see what other ideas you can find that repeat in John 3:16-21. I’ll explore them here in my blog, but try to find something for yourself before you read my observations.