How strange and exaggerated such language must have sounded to that rude and rough company which first heard it. Commentary on Matthew 5:3-12 (Read Matthew … These words proclaim the moral grandeur of His sentiments. What are the limits of lawful showing of our deeds, so that we may not break the law which bids us be secret? If you are not warming the world, the world is freezing you. Beyond is the vast plateau of the Hauron, faintly shading with its rocky ranges the utmost horizon eastward. I. (See the note on Matthew 5:5;). The light will shine, that is its nature, if pains be not taken to hide it.— , etc. “But,” said he, “there was one argument in favour of Christianity, which I could never refute-the consistent conduct of my own father.” (Anecdotes.). A city set on a hill cannot * be hidden; (NASB: Lockman) Greek: Humeis este to phos tou kosmou. The prohibition is of religious acts from a wrong motive, “that they may be seen of men.” The reproof of ostentation does not apply when the motive is already good. Nature, in her lower and more rigidly prescribed arrangements, cannot extinguish the light of her world; but man's spirit may extinguish the light of his. God is glorified by our repentance-faith-charity. Jump to: Bible Study Tools • Parallel Bible Verse • Bible Contextual Overview • Bible Verse Review • Gill's Bible Notes • Clarke's Bible Notes • Barnes' Bible Notes In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that … II. Examples. So must the church give forth its light. Search StudyLight.org. And as under the figure of salt the danger warned against was that of becoming insipid, so here the danger to be avoided is that of obscuring the light. p. 115. Punshon.). Safed is truly a high tower, on which to set the watchmen of Zion. II. “A city set on a hill cannot be hid.” Jesus’ idea is that the city has been set there by God, just as He has now set the disciples in the world as His witnesses. It is better adapted to good than bad. A lamp must be fed with oil, or it will not keep alight. The city upon the hill is thrust upon the notice of all. A.). For the body itself serves to make doctrine shine more clear, while the voice and other motions of the body in good works serve to recommend it to them that learn. [10] H. Leo Boles, Commentary on Matthew (Nashville, Tennessee: The Gospel Advocate Company), p. 128. This is a general assertion, made to support the particular promise made Matthew 18:19 to his apostles. οὐ δύναται.…] Of course it is possible that our Lord may have had some town before Him thus situated, but not Bethulia, whose very existence is probably fabulous, being only mentioned in the apocryphal book of Judith. God said, "Let there be light, and there was light;" and from that first day to this the natural light of this world has never failed. Stanley and Thomson (‘Sinai and Palestine,’ p. 429: ‘The Land and the Book,’ p. 273), have thought that, notwithstanding the fact shewn by Robinson, that the actual city of Safed was not in existence at this time, some ancient portion of it, at all events its fortress, which is ‘as aged in appearance as the most celebrated ruins in the country’ (Thomson), may have been before the eye of our Lord as He spoke. Matthew 5:14. Here, it almost certainly stands for the world’s opportunity to perceive the truth about Jesus. Their song, like that of the cuckoo, is a constant repetition of their own name, and the listener is wearied with its iteration. Note, however, that the first mention speaks of their responsibility to their Father. Were the light to go out from my inattention, in six months news would arrive from every part of the coast, that such ships and crews were lost through my neglect! ‘Kalos’ means good in the sense of being attractive. Their actions could not be hid. The object of light is to disclose what would be otherwise unseen. exalted unto heaven, Matthew 11:23 or to the city of Jerusalem, which was situated on a very considerable eminence. 3. Here are beveled stones, as heavy, and as aged in appearance, as those of the most celebrated ruins in the country; and they prove that this has been a place of importance from a remote age. The rewards of a right discharge of our duties as true disciples. May we not suppose that Christ alludes to this city, in these words of his, A city set on a hill cannot be hid?" Observe, 2. We know our weakness. Not only the honour but the progress of religion depend upon your examples. I am not come to destroy Every man has a light peculiar to himself. There lies Gennesaret, like a mirror set in framework of dark mountains and many-faced hills. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. It is as much as if our Saviour should have said, You had need be holy, for your conversation cannot be hid, any more than a city can that is built upon a hill, which is obvious to every eye. you are the salt of the world. ‘A city set on an hill.’ Yes, the city is there with its baptismal gate and its sacramental table. It is visible afar off; it overtops the lower country, so that the people cannot, if they wish, shut their eyes and refuse to see it. What does this teach us of the Church of Christ? III. ), A good life the great means of glorifying God. So good ministers (as fixed stars in the Church’s firmament) by the influence of their lips, feed; by the regular motion of their lives, confirm; and by the light of both, enlighten many. No image could so vividly set forth the calling of the Church of Christ as a visible society. God is in Heaven and they are on the earth. The corn-measure aptly denotes the things of the body, whether because our reward shall be measured out to us, [2 Corinthians 5:10] as each one shall receive the things done in the body; or because worldly goods which pertain to the body come and go within a certain measure of time, which is signified by the corn-measure, whereas things eternal and spiritual are contained within no such limit. Certainly they are quite sufficient to suggest the name. Christ's words and actions showed the … A. Be as the stars at least; which are said to affect these inferior bodies by their influences, motion, and light. This rule may serve for some external direction in this perplexed case. But the words that probably lie at the root of Jesus’ idea here are those of Isaiah 60:3 where Israel’s light is to shine out because the glory of God has come upon them (they have been ‘blessed’ as in Matthew 5:3-9) in order that they might shine out of darkness and be a light to the nations. "kosmos" = "mankind." ccclxxx.7 (vol. II. Hilary: He means not that we should seek glory of men, but that though we conceal it, our work may shine forth in honour of God to those among whom we live. It consecrates a man entirely to the service of light.giving. “You are the light of the world. (Read the entire sermon - Matthew 5:14-16 Christians the Light of the World) You are the light - Not " a " light, but " the " light. (See Scofield "Matthew 4:8") 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. They do not put a corn measure over it. Aug.: Or, the mountain is the great righteousness, which is signified by the mountain from which the Lord is now teaching. Their Father is in Heaven. II. Maundrell, Jowett, and others suppose that the Sermon on the Mount was delivered in the vicinity of the present city of Safed, or “the Horns of Huttin” (see the notes at Matthew 5:1), and that this city may have been in his eye, and may have been directly referred to by the Saviour when he uttered this sentiment. I. i. pp. The nature and property of light is to radiate. A.). (W. M. 5. I. Some think the allusion is to the small city of Safed, which stood on a hill, so visible at the mount of Beatitudes that the Saviour might have pointed to it. Notice some of the instances in Scripture in which light is spoken of in reference to the people of God. 9. ); the disciples mediate (Ephesians 3:9), as the mediators of His divine truth to men; and all Christians in general are, as those who are enlightened, also, on their part, bringers of light, and light in the Lord (Philippians 2:15; Ephesians 5:8). ... (Romans 5:14) is a positive violation, a transgression, conscious stepping aside or across. The Christian must show that he is earnest about religion. 2. : And therefore let none shut up his faith within the measure of the Law, but have recourse to the Church in which the grace of the sevenfold Spirit shines forth. The world is “in the dark” about God, but Christians “turn on the lights”. The first thing to be done with a lamp is to light it. And now, the basis of discipleship having been sorted out, we can move on to the detail. (Dr. (3) But to a still higher reach we are conducted by the Apostle when he says to believers, "Ye are light in the Lord." We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. The world would be in total darkness without them. quoad sens. And the purpose of that light is to reveal God, and what He is like, to men on earth. (Matthew 5:15) In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Commentary on Matthew 5:3-12 (Read Matthew … How shine. It matters not though we be unseen, if but the light be clear; for then we are fulfilling the command. Of this Dr. Thomson (The Land and the Book, vol. Verse 20. Matthew 5:14 “You are the light of the world. Before the eyes of men we must pass as types of what Christianity means. Here is a distinction of persons-“Ye.”, 3. ii.). Consider text as a description of Christianity. In one point of view it is a secret principle, working noiselessly in the soul of a man, subduing gradually his evil propensities, weakening and destroying his corrupt appetites. But the people of God in general are to be zealous of more ordinary ‘good works’ because they are God’s own possession (Titus 2:14), and good works are regularly urged on God’s people throughout the New Testament. Although we must abound in good works that men may see them, yet not to be seen of men. A city placed on a mountain cannot be concealed; and a candle, when it has been lighted, is not usually concealed, (verse 15.) It has freely received, and it freely gives. How can men, the creatures, be said to glorify the creator? 16; 1 Thessalonians 2:19), the approval of God (ver. Matthew 7:7. I. And having built a stately palace there, where formerly had stood the palace of Julian the Apostate (the Romans being much against it), he gave up the work. Theophanes, Zonaras, and Cedrenus report the like of Constans, nephew to Heraclitus, 340 years before Otho. As a member of the Church of Christ he must show good will. 4. Matthew 8:3 Matthew 8 And Jesus said to him, See that you tell no one, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift which Moses commanded, for a testimony to them. Cussing. This is also applicable to Christians in general; and to excite them and all Christians to diligence in dispensing the salutary influences of their doctrine and example, he bade them call to mind, that a city which is set upon a mountain cannot be hid; or, that the disciples of Jesus Christ, and all Christians, being appointed to profess and preach the Gospel, the eyes of all men would be upon them, and so, their faults being by this means known and observed, might stop the progress of the Gospel: compare Philippians 3:17. Seen of men ; also the most revolting immorality disciples against the policy of obscuration together in his he. 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