Christian Pure

Matthew 5:14-16 Meaning: “Ye Are the Light of the World” (Be the Light)

Christian Pure Team

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Summary

  • Jesus calls his disciples the light of the world and tells them to let their good works be seen, so that people glorify their Father in heaven (Matthew 5:14-16).
  • The verses come in the Sermon on the Mount, after the Beatitudes and straight after “Ye are the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13).
  • In the King James Version a “candle” is a small clay oil lamp, a “bushel” is a grain measure that would cover it, and a “candlestick” is a lampstand.
  • Matthew 6:1 forbids doing good in order to be seen, and Augustine, Calvin and Matthew Henry all explain that the two verses differ in aim, because Matthew 5:16 sends the praise to God.
  • Jesus also says “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12), and Augustine explained that Christ is the light that enlightens, while his followers are lamps lit from him.
  • The Catholic Catechism links the baptismal candle to these words, and in the Church of England a candle may be given at a christening with the words “Shine as a light in the world to the glory of God.”

In these verses Jesus tells his disciples that they are the light of the world. The good they do is meant to be seen, the way a lamp is lit to light the whole house, so that people give glory to God. The praise their light draws belongs to their Father in heaven, and not to them. He begins with what we are before he tells us what to do. Then he pictures us as a lamp, a small clay…

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Bibliography (Click to show)
  • Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (Matthew 5:1, 5:11, 5:13-17, 6:1-2; Mark 4:21; John 1:8-9, 5:35, 8:12; Ephesians 5:8; Philippians 2:15; 1 Peter 2:12), from BibleGateway.
  • John Chrysostom, Homily 15 on Matthew, sections 11-12, trans. George Prevost, rev. M. B. Riddle, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 10 (1888), via New Advent.
  • Augustine of Hippo, Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, Book I, sections 17-18, and Book II, section 2, trans. William Findlay, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 6 (1888), via New Advent.
  • Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on the Gospel of John, Tractate 2, section 6, and Tractate 23, section 3, trans. John Gibb, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 7 (1888), via New Advent.
  • John Calvin, Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists, Matthew 5:13-16, trans. William Pringle, Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
  • Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, Matthew 5, Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
  • International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915), entries Bushel, Candle; Candlestick and Lamp; Lampstand, with the American Tract Society Bible Dictionary and Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary on the bushel, via Bible Hub.
  • Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, luchnos and phōs, via Bible Hub.
  • John Winthrop, A Modell of Christian Charity (1630), from Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society (1838), Hanover Historical Texts Project.
  • Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1243.
  • Church of England, Christening service step by step.

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