Scripture Study

Matthew 5:15-16

Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

(Mark 4:21-22; Luke 8:16-17; Luke 11:33)

LLOYD-JONES In looking at the last two verses, we have considered the two positive statements which Jesus made about the Christian: he is the salt of the earth and the light of the world. He was not content with making merely a positive statement; as was customary with Him, He reinforced it by means of certain negatives. He was anxious that those people to whom He was speaking and all Christians in every age should see clearly that we are what He has made us in order that we may become something. That is the thought which runs throughout the Scriptures which is seen perfectly in Peters statement: You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people; that you should show forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light (I Peter 2:9). Paul makes constant use of the comparison of light and darkness to show how the Christian functions in society because he is a Christian. Jesus impresses this upon us. We are to be the salt of the earth, but are good for nothing if we lose our savor. We are the light of the world, but a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. He sums it up with Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. We also need to grasp the fact that it must become the biggest thing in our lives, for the reasons we shall consider.

The first thing to consider is why we as Christians should be like salt and light, and why we should desire to be so. Jesus has three main arguments for this:

1. By definition, we were meant to be such. His very comparisons convey that teaching. The business of salt is to be salt; the characteristic of salt is saltiness. The function of light is to give light. There is no other reason to light a lamp except that it may give light. The whole object is that light may be disseminated and diffused in a particular area. That, therefore, is Christs own definition of a Christian. When we start describing a Christian in our own terms, our definition must never be less than that. These are the essential things about him: salt; light.

2. If we do not act in this way, our position becomes contradictory and somewhat ridiculous. We are to be like a city that is set on a hill, and a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. If we are truly Christian, we cannot be hidden. The contrast between us and others is something which is self-evident and perfectly obvious. But Jesus does not leave it at that, He asks us to imagine a man lighting a light and then putting it under a bushel instead of putting it on a lampstand. Regardless of what kind of container is used for covering (a bushel, a basket, a bowl), the important thing is that it covers the light. For a foolish man to cover the light prevents that quality from manifesting itself. Jesus is speaking about us. There is a danger, or at least a temptation, that the Christian may behave in this completely ridiculous and futile manner and that is why He emphasizes the matter in this way. He seems to be saying: I have made you something that is meant to be like a light, like a city set upon a hill which cannot be hidden and you are trying to conceal it.

3. The last argument is that to do this, we render ourselves utterly useless. Jesus undoubtedly uses these two comparisons to bring out this particular point. Salt without it savor is useless it is good for nothing but to be cast out . . . Nothing is left once it loses the essential quality and purpose for which it has been made. The same is true of light. The essential characteristic of light is that it is light, and gives light. It really has no other function. The moment it ceases to act as light it has no value. Its essential quality is its only quality; and once it loses that, it becomes useless.

According to Christs argument, that is true concerning Christians. There is nothing in Gods universe that is so useless as a merely formal Christian one who has the name but not the quality of a Christian. Paul describes this when he speaks of certain people having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof (2 Timothy 3:5). They want to appear as Christians, but they are not functioning as Christians. The formal Christian is a person who knows enough about Christianity to spoil the world for him, but he does not know enough for it to be of any positive value. The people who live right in the world, the Christians, know that he is trying to be different, and that he is not whole-heartedly with them; he has no real fellowship with the Christians. Such people do not function as worldlings or as Christians. They are outsiders not part of the world and not part of the Christian community.

Of all the people, these are the most pathetic and the warning which we have in this passage is the warning of Jesus against getting into such a state and condition. It is reinforced by those parables in Matthew 25 where we are told of the final shutting out of such people like salt that is thrown out. A mere formal profession of Christianity will ultimately always suffer the fate of the useless salt.

The true Christian cannot be hidden; he cannot escape notice. A person truly living and functioning as a Christian will stand out. He will be like salt; he will be like a city set upon a hill, a candle set upon a candlestick. The true Christian does not even desire to hide his light. God has given him the realization of what it means to be a Christian, who realizes what the grace of God means to him and understands that God has done this so that he can influence others, and he cannot conceal this.

These comparisons and illustrations which Jesus gives are intended to show us that any desire we have to hide the fact that we are Christian is ridiculous and contradictory. If we indulge in it and persist, it may lead to a final casting out. If we have a tendency to put the light under the bushel, we must examine ourselves and make sure it really is light. It is a fact that salt and light readily manifest their essential true quality. The next time you find yourself with the thought to conceal the fact that you are a Christian maybe to ingratiate yourself to somebody or to avoid persecution think of the man lighting his candle and covering it with a bushel. You can immediately see how ridiculous it is, and recognize that the subtle thing offering you the bushel is the hand of Satan.

How are we to ensure that we really do function as salt and light? In the first example Jesus talks about the difficulty the impossibility of a man restoring the quality of saltiness to salt. How foolish we are if we study Scripture in terms of words instead of doctrine. Christs sole purpose here is to show how ridiculous the whole thing is.

The second of the two illustrations is more definite. Two things only are necessary to the lamp the oil and the wick and the two always go together. Without the oil and the wick you will never have a light. Both are essential. The Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13) helps us remember that. The oil is absolutely essential and vital; we can do nothing without it. The whole point of the Beatitudes is just to emphasize that fact we can do nothing without the Holy Spirit. We must receive this life, this divine life. We cannot function as light without it. We are only the light of the world as He who is the Light of the world works in and through us. Therefore, the first thing we must ask ourselves is Have I received this divine life? Do I know that Christ is dwelling in me? Paul prays for the Ephesians that Christ may dwell in their hearts richly by faith, that they may be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:14-19). The whole doctrine concerning the work of the Holy Spirit is to give life and the graces of the Spirit. Only the Holy Spirit of God can give us the divine life.

The first exhortation is that we must seek this constantly. That means constant prayer, which is the action needed to receive the Holy Spirit. We think that once we have been given it, we have it forever. Christ says, Come unto me if you want the water of life; Come unto me if you want the bread of life. We receive it, but it is a supply we must renew [like manna from heaven]. We are to live in contact with Him, and it is only as we constantly receive this life from Him that we shall function as salt and light.

It does not only mean constant prayer, it means we must also hunger and thirst after righteousness -- which is a continuous action. We are filled, but we always want more. We are never static. We go on hungering and thirsting, we go on realizing our perpetual need of Him and of this supply of life and everything He has to give. We continue to read the Word of God, we are constantly seeking to learn more about what He has to offer. Read biographies of others who have obviously been cities set upon a hill which cannot be hidden. You will find that they did not say, I have come to Christ once and for all; here are the great climatic experiences that will last forever. Instead, they tell us that they found it an absolute necessity to spend hours in prayer and Bible Study and meditation. They never ceased drawing the oil and receiving the supply and neither can we.

The second essential needed for the lamp is the wick. To keep that lamp burning brightly the oil is not enough; you must keep on trimming the wick. That is Christs illustration. Many of us have never known anything but the modern world of electricity. But some know how the wick had to be given special attention. Once it began to smoke, it did not give the light; it then required the delicate process of trimming the wick. That means we must constantly remind ourselves of the Beatitudes. We need to constantly remind ourselves that we are poor in spirit, merciful, meek a peacemaker, pure in heart, and so on. There is nothing that is better to keep the wick trimmed than to remind ourselves of what we are by the grace of God and of what we are meant to be.

We are not only to remind ourselves of the Beatitudes, we are to live accordingly. That means we are to avoid everything that is opposed to this character, we are to be entirely unlike the world. Many Christians seem to be living as near as they can to the world. Yet, there is no compromise between light and darkness; it is one way or the other. We should concentrate on being as different from the world as we can.

Positively, it means that we should show this difference in our lives, which can be done in many ways. As the Christian influence is diminishing in this country, the whole tone of society is becoming uglier. The common decencies, even politeness, are less and less evident. The Christian is not to live in that way. We are prone to just say, I am a Christian and then sometimes be rude and inconsiderate. We must remember that these are the things which proclaim what we are. We are to be humble, peaceable, peacemaking in all our talk and behavior and especially in our reactions to the behavior of other persons. The individual Christian has a greater opportunity today to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. People are watching us very closely because we claim to be Christian; they are watching our reactions to people and to the things they say and do to us. How do we react? The Christian should not flare up; he should react differently. The Christian is essentially different.

The last principle is the supreme importance of doing all this in the right way. We have considered why we are to be like salt; we have considered why we are to be like light. We have considered how to be so, how to ensure that we are. Yet it must be done in the right way. Let your light so shine [shine in such a way] before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. The key word in this passage is so. There is to be a complete absence of ostentation and display. It is difficult in practice to draw the line between truly functioning as salt and light, and still not to be guilty of display or ostentation. We are to so live that men may see our good works, but glorify our Father which is in heaven. It is difficult to function truly as an active Christian, and yet not to have any showmanship. As we produce and reveal the gospel in our daily lives, we must remember that the Christian does not call attention to himself. Self has been forgotten in this poverty of spirit, in the meekness and all the other things. Self is to be absent. We are to do everything for Gods sake and for His glory. Not only are you to glorify your Father; you are to do so in order that these other people may glorify Him also.

That leads to the fact that, because we are truly Christian, we are to have great sorrow in our hearts for those other people. We are to realize that they are in darkness. The more we draw our life from Christ, the more we shall become like Him -- and He had a great compassion for the people. He had great sorrow for them in His heart and it is that which determined His conduct and behavior. He was not concerned about Himself; He had compassion for the multitude. That is the way Christians are to live. In all our work and Christian living these three things should always be uppermost: 1) We shall always do it for His sake and His glory. 2) We shall lead men to Him and to glorify Him. 3) All will be based upon a love for them and a compassion for them in their lost condition.

That is the way in which Christ exhorts us to show what He has made of us. We must function as people who have received from Him divine life. He ridicules the opposite. He puts before us this wondrous picture of becoming like Himself in this world. It was as people saw Jesus that they were led to think of God. We read that often after His miracles the people gave glory unto God. We are to live in such a way that, as people look at us, we shall become a problem to them. They will ask why we are different in every way different in conduct and behavior, different in reactions. They will be driven to the only real explanation, which is that we are the people of God, children of God, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ. We have become reflectors of Christ, reproducers of Christ. As He is the light of the world so we have become the light of the world.

PARABLES In this portion, Jesus employs two figures of speech as He continues to illustrate the influence His followers should exert in the world. A lamp . . . on a stand. A city set on a hill. The city, built on an eminent position, is seen by many eyes over a wide area and represents illumination of vast distances. Here we have our corporate relationship and responsibility. As the City of God (Revelation 21:1-3), the Church must be bound together in love, friendship and service in reaching those in darkness.

We have the figure of a shining lamp illuminating all within the home and the world. A lamp or candle is a dark body and can give no light until it is lighted. Likewise, we can give no light until we have received divine grace and enlightenment from the Spirit of God. Once lighted, we are to shine and not hide our light under a bushel or a bed. If the bushel represents trade, commerce, work, and the bed rest and ease, then we must be careful that our business or leisure does not occupy too much of our thought and time and dim the light of our witness.

Once again comparing the figures of salt and light, expressing as they do the dual function of Christians namely, their sanctifying and enlightening influence on others -- there is a distinction to note. According to Irish theologian A. R. Fausset, Salt operates internally, in the mass with which it comes in contact; the light operates externally, irradiating all it reaches. Thus, Christians are warily styled the salt of the earth with reference to the masses of mankind with whom they are expected to mix; but the light of the world with reference to the vast and varied surface which feels its productive and joyful radiance. Thus Jesus ends with the exhortation to let our light shine, a light reflected in good works and resulting in the glory of God. Our lives should be lights, helping to glorify the Father for His redeeming and transforming power; and that by our sanctified and enlightened hearts we should impress those around us with the reality of His redemptive and transforming grace and power.

STOTT As with the salt, Jesus follows the affirmation about light with a condition. Let your light . . . shine before men. We are to allow the light of Christ within us to shine out from us, so that people may see it. We are not to be like a town nestling in a valley whose lights are concealed from view, but like a city set on a hill which cannot be hid and whose lights are clearly seen for miles around. We are like a lamp which is set on a lampstand in a prominent position so that it gives light to all in the house -- and is not stuck under a tub where it can do no good.

As the disciples of Jesus, we are not to conceal the truth we know, or the truth of what we are. We are not to pretend to be other than who and what we are, but we are to live for our Christianity to be visible to all. Bonhoeffer said a community of Jesus which seeks to hide itself has ceased to follow Him. We are to be ourselves, our true Christian selves, openly living the life described in the Beatitudes, and not ashamed of Christ. Then people will see us and our good works, and seeing us will glorify God. For they will recognize that it is by the grace of God that we are what we are -- that our light is His light, and that our works are His works done in us and through us. So, it is the light they will praise, not the lamp which bears it.

B-MT(1) There are two most important things in verse 16:

1. People are to see our good deeds. In Greek, there are two words for good. There is the word agathos, which simply defines a thing as good in quality; and there is kalos, which means that a thing is not only good, but it is also captivating and beautiful and attractive. The word which is used here is kalos. The good deeds of the Christian must be not only good, they must be also attractive. There must be a certain charm in Christian goodness. The tragedy of so much so-called goodness is that in it there is an element of hardness and coldness and austerity. There is a goodness which attracts and a goodness which repels. There is a charm in true Christian goodness which makes it attractive.

2. Our good deeds should not draw attention to ourselves but to God. This saying of Jesus is a total prohibition of what someone has called theatrical goodness. The goodness which is conscious, which draws attention to itself, is not the Christian goodness. Christians never think of what they have done, but of what God has enabled them to do. They never seek to draw the eyes of others to themselves, but always to direct them to God. As long as people are thinking of the praise, the thanks, and the prestige which they will get for what they have done, they have not really begun on the Christian way.

HEB-GRSB Doxazo means to exalt, glorify, give glory, honor, magnify, to be praised. In Matthew 5:16 it is to glorify God, meaning to render glory to Him; to celebrate with praises, worship, adoration.

VINES The rendering of luchnos and lampas by the translators is confusing. Sometimes lampas is translated torch, and sometimes it is incorrectly translated lamp. There is no mention of a candle, candela, in the original Scripture -- either in the OT or in the NT. The figure of that which feeds upon its own substance to provide its light would be utterly inappropriate. A lamp is supplied by oil, which in its symbolism is figurative of the Holy Spirit. Often the distinction between phos, light, and luchnos, lamp, nearly disappears in the various translations

Lampo is translated to give the light of a torch. It is used in Matthew 5:15 in the last portion -- give light to everyone in the house. Some interpretations use shine instead of light.

Luchnos is a portable lamp a hand lamp, fed with oil -- usually set on a lampstand (Matthew 5:15). It is frequently mistranslated as candle.

Luchnia, lampstand, is mistranslated candlestick in every occurrence in the A.V. and in certain places in the R.V.

In the NT Doxazo primarily denotes to magnify, extol, praise, especially of glorifying God in ascribing honor to Him, Acknowledging Him as to His being, attributes and acts.

GT Jesus said, . . . no one lights a lamp and puts it under a vessel, nor puts it in a hidden place. Rather it is put on a lampstand so that each who enters and leaves might see its light (The Gospel of Thomas: Saying 33b).

EBW The OT lamp, ner, was a small clay bowl, holding oil and a bit of flax or linen as a wick. Gods Word is said to be like a lamp to the psalmists feet (Psalms 119:105) this is a graphic image of guidance, as the flickering light revealed only enough of the path for one to safely take the next step. The OT lampstand is the menorah, a seven-branched holder of lamps that was placed in the tabernacle or temple. The lampstand often symbolically represents Gods perfect leadership in showing His people their way. It also represents the Holy Spirit.

In the NT, lamp is lychnos (luchnos) or lampas, and lampstand is lychnia (luchnia). In the Gospels the lamp is usually symbolic. It speaks of the impact of the believers obedience on the world (Matthew 5:15-16; Luke 8:16-18; 11:33-36).

In verse 16, heaven, ouranos, is the spiritual realm the abode of God, where He and His throne are. It is the supernatural realm in which God dwells and over which He exercises direct control. Both Testaments view God as sovereign and as Lord of heaven and earth.

NBC A bushel was a vessel kept in every house for purposes of standard measurement. The Greek word which is incorrectly translated candlestick should be lampstand. To glorify God has the sense of ascribing praise to God.

WYCLIFFE Christs light should shine forth publicly, like the cluster of white stone houses in a Palestinian city. It should also be displayed in our individual private relationships (candle, lampstand, house).

BBNT The small wicker oil lamps of this period gave little light in the average home, which had few windows. They would be most effective by being set on a lampstand. Something large placed over them would presumably extinguish the light altogether.

BC Our light, as mentioned in verse 16, is not our good deeds, but the means by which people see that they are good.

FEB Because the houses were so dark, one of the most important items in any household was the lamp. Throughout the OT period lamps were simply pottery dishes with a lip at one side. Oil was poured into the dish and a wick laid from it to the lip. Such a lamp might stay alight for two or three hours, then need refilling. By NT times potters had learned to make lamps in molds, completely covered, with a small hole for the oil and a spout for the wick. This was safer and more efficient. The wicks were usually strips of flax or rag. Olive oil or animal fat was commonly used, oil from other seed and vegetables being introduced by NT times. Lamps were small enough for a traveler to carry in his hand. This may have been the picture in the psalmists mind when he wrote, your word is a lamp to guide me and a light for my path (Psalm 119:105).

MSB A godly life gives convincing testimony of the saving power of God. That brings Him glory.

CHB The bushel is the one which is kept in the house for measuring the corn or meal for the daily provision of bread.

Let your light shine is not inconsistent with the command to be humble and to do good by stealth, especially as the collective good works of the Christian brotherhood as a whole are chiefly spoken of. St Hilary, 4th century Bishop of Poitiers, said: Our light is to shine forth though we conceal it. Origen and other writers testify that the good works of Christians did more to convert the world than miracles or preaching.

M-MT(1) There are some who feel the Sermon on the Mount is man-centered rather than God-centered. This is incorrect, because it is theocentric or God-centered. Verse 16 says Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. It does not say so they may glorify you. During the Kingdom here on earth, everything which is done and said will be God-centered. During the present age our prime motivation should be to bring glory to God. The aim and purpose of our lives should be to glorify our God.

ASB In Jesus day people used small clay lamps that burned olive oil drawn up by a wick. The common NT mention of lamps is in connection with their household usage (Matthew 5:15; Mark 4:21; Luke 8:16; 11:33). Because they gave off only modest light, they were strategically positioned for maximum benefit. Such lamps were generally placed on a lampstand, often a niche built into the wall. It appears the Hebrews were accustomed to burning lamps overnight in their chambers perhaps because of a dread of darkness, but more likely to keep away prowlers. The use of oil-fed lamps in a marriage procession is mentioned in Matthew 25:1. Since such lamps contained only a few spoonsful of oil, a reserve supply would have been a necessity.

NIVSB In Jesus day people used small clay lamps that burned olive oil drawn up by a wick. The ancient lamp was a small clay saucer with part of its rim pinched together to form a spout from which protruded the top of a wick fed by oil contained in the saucer. The bowl which is mentioned in verse 15 is probably a bowl that held about eight quarts of ground meal or flour.

In verse 16, the good deeds are not to be done in a public way for ones own honor, but for the glory of God. The all-inclusive principle that governs a Christians actions is that God should be glorified in everything that a he does (I Corinthians 10:31; Philippians 1:11). Matthew uses the phrase Father in heaven or heavenly Father 12 times, Mark and Luke only once each, and John not at all.

PCNT(Wesley) The very design of God in giving you this light was that it might shine (Mark 4:21-22; Luke 8:17; Luke 11:33). Seeing your good works, people may be moved to love and serve God as well.

PCCNT(Clarke) Let your light so shine. . . or thus, let your light shine. As the sun is lighted up in the sky to diffuse its light and heat freely to every inhabitant of the earth; and as the lamp is not set under the bushel, but placed upon the lampstand that it may give light to all in the house; thus, every follower of Christ diffuses the light of heavenly knowledge and the warmth of Divine love among his fellow men.

It is not sufficient to have light we must walk in the Light and by the Light. Our whole conduct should be a perpetual comment on the doctrine we have received, and a constant exemplification of its power and truth.

Real Christians are the children of God; they are partakers of His holy and happy nature. They should ever be concerned for their Fathers honor and endeavor to praise Him and His salvation that others may be prevailed on to come to the Light and walk in it. Then God is said to be glorified when the glorious power of His grace is manifested in the salvation of men.

ABC Some interpreters compare Jesus to the lamp and the Christian to the stand, whose chief duty it is to reveal Christ as the Light of men. Paul in his letters re-echoes the light metaphors of Jesus, as when he speaks of the armor of light (Romans 13:12), sons of light (1 Thessalonians 5:5), fruit of light (Ephesians 5:9). In John we have light of the world (John 8:12), and sons of light (John 12:36).

The expression good works in the NT as used in Revelation 2:2, 19 includes not only practical deeds of kindness but also sterling qualities of character.

STOTT The salt and light metaphors which Jesus used have much to teach us about our Christian responsibilities in the world. Three lessons are prominent:

1. There is a fundamental difference between Christians and non-Christians, between the church and the world.

Some non-Christians adopt a deceptive veneer of Christian culture; and some professing Christians seem indistinguishable from non-Christians and so deny their Christian name by their non-Christian behavior. Yet, the essential difference remains. Jesus said that they are as different as light from darkness, as different as salt from decay and disease. We serve neither God, nor ourselves, nor the world by attempting to erase or even minimize this difference.

This theme is basic to the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon issues a call to us to be different. The greatest tragedy of the church may be its constant tendency to conform to the prevailing culture instead of developing a Christian counter-culture.

2. We must accept the responsibility which this distinction puts upon us. It is when in each metaphor we bring the affirmation and the condition together that our responsibility stands out. Each affirmation begins in the Greek sentence with the emphatic pronoun you as though to say you, and only you are the earths salt and the worlds light. Therefore, -- the condition follows with inevitable logic you must not fail the world you are called to serve. You must be what you are. You are salt, and so you must retain your saltiness and not lose your Christian tang. You are light, and so you must let your light shine and not conceal it in any way whether by sin or by compromise, by laziness or by fear.

This call to assume our Christian responsibility -- because of what God has made us and where He has put us is especially relevant to young people who feel frustrated in the modern world. The problems of the community are so great, and they feel so small and ineffective, they begin to feel alienated. They feel strangled by the system; crushed by the machine of modern technocracy; overwhelmed by political, social and economic forces which control them and over which they have no control. It is in such soil that revolutionaries are being bred, dedicated to the overthrow of the system. It is from the same soil that revolutionaries of Jesus can arise, equally dedicated activists, but committed to spread His revolution of love, joy and peace. This peaceful revolution is more radical than any program of violence because its standards are incorruptible and because it changes people as well as structures. Martin Luther said: With His single word I can be more defiant and boastful than they with all their power, swords, and guns.

We are not helpless and powerless. We have Jesus Christ and His gospel, ideals, and power -- Jesus Christ is all the salt and light this dark and rotten world needs but we must have salt in ourselves, and we must let our light shine.

3. We must see our Christian responsibility as two-fold.

Salt and light have one thing in common: they give and expend themselves and thus are the opposite of any and every kind of self-centered religiosity (Helmut Thielicke, a German Protestant Theologian). The kind of service salt and light renders is different. The effects are complementary. The function of salt is largely negative; it prevents decay. The function of light is positive; it illuminates the darkness.

Jesus calls His disciples to exert a double influence on the secular community a negative influence by arresting its decay and a positive influence by bringing light into its darkness. It is one thing to stop the spread of evil; it is another to promote the spread of truth, beauty and goodness. Putting the two metaphors together, it seems legitimate to discern in them the proper relation between evangelism and social action in the total mission of Christ in the world. We are called to be both salt and light to the secular community.

Our first responsibility is as salt. In Romans 1:18-32 Paul paints a grim picture of what happens when society suppresses (out of love for evil) the truth it knows by nature. It deteriorates. Its values and standards decline until it becomes utterly corrupt. When men reject what they know of God, God gives them up to their own distorted notions and perverted passions.

Christians are set in secular society by God to hinder this process. God intends us to penetrate the world. Christian salt has no business to remain snugly in elegant little ecclesiastical salt cellars; our place is to be rubbed into the secular community -- as salt is rubbed into meat to stop it from going bad. When society does go bad, we Christians tend to throw up our hands in pious horror and reproach the non-Christian world but should we not reproach ourselves? One can hardly blame unsalted meat for going bad. The real question is: Where is the salt?

Jesus was teaching somewhere near the Sea of Galilee. Less than a hundred miles to the south the River Jordan flows into the Dead Sea. On its western side there lived at that time the Dead Sea community of Qumran, whose library of scrolls caused such a sensation when it was accidentally discovered a few years ago. They were a monastic community of Essenes who had withdrawn from the wicked world. They called themselves the sons of light, but they took no steps to let their light shine and in their ghetto their salt was as useless as the deposits on the shores of the nearby sea. Is it possible that Jesus was thinking of them?

What does it mean in practice to be the salt of the earth? It means that we Christians should be more courageous, more outspoken in condemning evil. Condemnation is negative, but the action of salt is negative. Sometimes standards slip in a community for want of a clear Christian protest. Luther makes much of this, emphasizing that denunciation and proclamation go hand in hand when the gospel is truly preached: Salting has to bite. Although they criticize us as biters, we know that this is how it has to be and that Christ has commanded the salt to be sharp and continually caustic . . . If you want to preach the Gospel and help people, you must be sharp and rub salt into their wounds, showing the reverse side and denouncing what is not right . . . The real salt is the true exposition of Scripture, which denounces the whole world and lets nothing stand but the simple faith in Christ.

Helmut Thielicke, German theologian, continues the same theme of the necessarily sharp or biting quality of true Christian witness. To look at some Christians, he says: one would think that their ambition is to be the honeypot of the world. They sweeten and sugar the bitterness of life with an all too easy conception of a loving God . . . But Jesus, of course, did not say, You are the honey of the world. He said, You are the salt of the earth. Salt bites, and the unadulterated message of the judgment and grace of God has always been a biting thing.

Alongside this condemnation of what is false and evil, we should take our stand boldly for what is true, good and decent in our neighborhood, in our college, profession or business, or in the wider sphere of national life, including the mass media.

Christian salt takes effect by deeds as well as words. We have already seen that God has created both the state and the family as social structures to restrain evil and encourage goodness. Christians have a responsibility to see that these structures are not only preserved, but are also operated with justice. Too often Christians have interpreted their social responsibility in terms only of helping the casualties of a sick society, and have done nothing to change the structures which cause the casualties. We should concern ourselves with what might be called preventive social medicine and higher standards of moral hygiene. However small our part may be, we cannot opt out of seeking to create better social structures. They are part of Gods purpose for His people. Whenever Christians are conscientious citizens, they are acting like salt in the community. Sir Frederick Catherwood said: To try to improve society is not worldliness but love. To wash your hands of society is not love but worldliness.

However, fallen human beings need more than barricades to stop them from becoming as bad as they could be. They need regeneration, new life through the gospel. Our second responsibility is to be the light of the world. The truth of the gospel is the light. We are called both to spread the gospel and to frame our manner of life in a way that is worthy of the gospel.

Therefore, we should never put our two responsibilities to be salt and light our Christian social and evangelistic responsibilities against each other, as if we had to choose between them. We should not exaggerate either, nor disparage either, at the expense of the other. The world needs both. It is bad and needs salt; it is dark and needs light. Our Christian vocation is to be both. We should not separate what Jesus has united.

A Christians character as described in the Beatitudes and a Christians influence as defined in the salt and light metaphors are intricately related to one another. Our influence depends on our character, but the Beatitudes set an extremely high and exacting standard. Yet, Jesus gives us incentives to righteousness.

1. This is the way we ourselves will be blessed. The Beatitudes identify those whom God declares to be blessed those who please Him and who themselves find fulfillment. True blessedness is found in goodness.

2. This is the way the world will best be served. Jesus offers His followers the immense privileges of being the worlds salt and light if only they will live by the Beatitudes.

3. This is the way God will be glorified. Here towards the beginning of His ministry Jesus tells His disciples that if they let their light shine so that their good works are seen, their Father in heaven will be glorified. At the end of His ministry, in the upper room, He expresses the same truth in similar words: By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples (John 15:8).

This is the great desirability of the good and Christ-like life and so of the Christian counter-culture. It brings blessing to ourselves, salvation to others and ultimately glory to God.