They became "the light" by Jesus Christ in the creation of his ecclesia/congregation made them "the Light." He did not say, ye shall be the light of the world, as if on some future date this would happen. But He called them the Light of the world in his very presences. We conclude three things, (1)that men are in complete and utter darkness, (2) that they are in such a condition because they are spiritually blind, loving their darkness and hating light, and lastly, (3) Christ is the Light. Unless Christ opens the blind man's eyes and the deaf man's ears he shall never see the light or hear the gospel.