Matthew 5:13 You are the salt of the earth… 14 You are the light of the world.
Traditionally, we have taught these two metaphors at the same time and expressed them in the same breath.Just after the preamble to the Sermon on the Mount – the part commonly labeled the Beatitudes – Jesus expressed what someone referred to as “The Similitudes.”
While the two metaphors of salt and light are similar in that they both apply to all Christians, they are nevertheless different in function.
All Christians are salt; their primary purpose is preservation of the culture.
All Christians are light; yet in this, their primary purpose is revelation to the culture.
This is the same theme that Jesus will return to in the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19, “Go and make disciples of all nations,” and again, in Acts 1:8, “You will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.”
Having dealt with the subject of the Christian as salt in earlier articles, in this article, we will begin taking a look at what Jesus meant when He declared that all Christians are the light of the world.
Creation
Light has always been an important concept in the revelation of God. In fact, we see it from the very beginning of the story of Creation.
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. (ESV)
Take note of that little word “be.” It’s important, and we will revisit the thought in a few moments as we look at Matthew 5.
There was creation, shrouded in darkness, but God took care of that by infusing the creation with light.
Yet we know the story did not stop there.
The Fall
Not long after man’s creation into this light-filled environment, that same man rebelled against the light of God, choosing to walk in the darkness of sin and separation from the Creator.
Nevertheless, just as He did with creation, God had a plan already in place to take care of this effort to overcome the light and restore the darkness. That plan we refer to as the plan of redemption and the coming to Earth of a promised Savior.
In his book, the Prophet Isaiah wrote…
Isaiah 9:2 The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them has the light shined.
Incarnation
That prophecy was fulfilled when Jesus was born in a manger in the Jewish town of Bethlehem.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… 4 In him was life; and that life was the light of men. 5 And the light shined in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
The word “comprehended” has nothing to do with understanding. It means that the darkness was not able to prevent or overcome the light or turn the light around so that it served the purposes of darkness, which is basically what Satan attempted to do in the Garden by his temptation of Adam and Eve.
The Light entered the world, even though the world, yet shrouded in the darkness of the fall, failed to see Him.
Back to Matthew 5
Returning now to verse 14 of Matthew 5, Jesus declared that we – his disciples, those who are born again into the kingdom of heaven – are the light of the world.
Some people feel there is a contradiction in this because Jesus had earlier declared that he is the light of the world. But Jesus explained that apparent contradiction.
John 9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
Because of the way God designed His plan to redeem fallen mankind, Jesus would not be in the world in human form forever. But as in all things, God had a perfect plan to take care of this eventuality, allowing Him to continue to personally inhabit His creation.
This He would do in the person of the Holy Spirit dwelling in his disciples – that is, in all Christians.
Ephesians 5:8 …at one time you (again, all Christians) were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. (ESV)
1 Peter 2:9 …you (all Christians) are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people (God’s special possession); that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Not a Reflection
At one time, I would have taught that the Christian is a light to the world in the same way that the moon is the light of the world in the darkness of night.
While we speak of the moon as shining brightly, in fact, it is only reflecting the light of the Sun, and in like manner, many would say that Christians are the light of the world because they reflect the light of the Son of God.
But there is something fundamentally different about the moon reflecting light and Christians being the light.
For one thing, the moon is not indwelt by the Sun or even the light of the Sun.
One thing that helps to understand the difference is to understand that the new birth is the same thing as a new creation.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
In other words, what happens in salvation – in the new creation – should be understood in light of the original creation.
Remember, as we read earlier from Genesis, that, in the beginning, the earth was covered in darkness, but God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light that filled the entire earth.
Then, as Paul explained in…
2 Corinthians 4:4 (Even though) the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers (the term that applies to everyone before they come to know Christ as Savior), to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 6 (this same) God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face (person) of Jesus Christ.
Verse 6 is the antithesis of verse 4.
The god of this world has made men’s hearts full of darkness.
But Jehovah God, who at the original creation commanded the light to shine and dispel the darkness, has, by that same power, caused light to shine in the heart of a lost person, dispelling the darkness of man’s sin.
This means that the power to save is equivalent to the power to create – that is, the omnipotent power of God.
This is why no person has the power to save themselves. The only one who is able of accomplishing such a miracle is God himself.
Look back again at verse 6 in 2 Corinthians 4. The meaning of the second part of the verse is easy to miss if we are not careful.
A cursory reading appears to say that God shined light into our darkened hearts so that we would gain the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, and while this is true, the verse goes much further.
The full meaning is that God has shined light into our hearts by means of the face or the person or the presence of Jesus Christ – who is himself God – so that we might become the expression of the glory of God in a dark world.
The conclusion, then, is that Christians are not simply reflectors of the light of Christ. Reflectors are passive instruments.
Instead, those who know Christ as Savior are made active transmitters of the light because of the indwelling of Christ in the believer.
Meyer’s NT Commentary expands on the meaning of 2 Corinthians 4:6…
For it is God, the creator of light, who bestowed on us the spiritual light communicated to us, not that we might retain it for ourselves without further communication, but that we should convey the knowledge of the divine glory to others in making this knowledge manifest to them in Christ, whom we teach them to know.
We are called to be active, not only in pursuing the light, but also in disseminating it to the dark regions of the hearts of men. The light of Christ is revealed in us so that it might shine out of us and fill the whole earth.
Thus, we are, by virtue of the new birth, created to be light-bearers and to fill the earth with the glory of God through the revelation of the person of Jesus Christ.
Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus…
Ephesians 5:8 …you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. (LEB)
Notice that this verse does NOT say “you were formerly in darkness, but now you are in the light of the Lord,” which would lend itself to the idea of being a reflector.
Instead, it says “you are light in the Lord.”
Notice once again the use of a form of the verb “to be” – “you (that is, all Christians) are the light in the Lord.”
In the process of salvation and sanctification, it has always been God’s plan that the light of truth so penetrates the believer that they become “light embodied…not just seeing the light, but being the light, not just reflecting, but emitting the light.” [i]
Ephesians 5:8 goes on to say, “Walk as children of light.”
Those who come to know Christ as Savior are not just enlightened concerning the things of the kingdom but are themselves the avenue through which this revelation is made known to other men.
Light Article, Sylvania
An online article on the science of light provided by Sylvania makes several points that are pertinent to this lesson on being the light of the world. [ii]
- Light is “visually perceived radiant energy.”
Applied to the Christian, the light of Christ within us should be visible to the world and the culture around us, even though the world may not comprehend it.
If we are growing in Christ, if we are experiencing transformation through sanctification, if our love for Christ is being demonstrated by our obedience to His commands, then such growth should be obvious, even to a world that is blinded to the righteousness of Christ.
This idea will come into play again when we get to verse 16.
- Light affects our emotions and responses to our environment.
As the light of the world, Christians should have a profound effect on people’s emotions and how they respond to their environment, and how they perceive the world.
We are not only the source of light, but also the only true source of hope and trust and patience and faith in all the world.
- Light allows us to see.
The article by Sylvania says, “As visually perceived radiant energy, light powers the mechanism of sight. It is light, reflected from objects to our eyes, that allows us to see. Of all our senses, sight is the most dominant, controlling and defining how people perceive the world.
When the light of Christ becomes “visually perceived radiant energy” emitted by Christians, the world is enabled to see the glory of God. This is how evangelism and missions become effective.
As the light of Christ shines in and through us, the world comes to know who Christ is. By our testimonies, we – the church – control and define how the world perceives the kingdom of God.
By the way the world perceives of Christ and of God today, I would dare to profess that we have not done a very sufficient job of projecting the person of Christ within our culture.
- Light radiates and dissipates.
The Sylvania article continued, “Any form of electromagnetic energy, including light, radiates outward from its source in straight lines at “the speed of light” …and dissipates as it gets further from its source.
We are called and empowered by the Holy Spirit to radiate outward from the Source to the ends of the earth. That is the image Jesus presents to His disciples and to us His church in Acts 1:8.
However, there is a caution built into the description. That is, that the further we get from the Source, the more the light within us dissipates.
For a moment, let’s go back to the creation story in Genesis.
Back to Creation
Genesis 1:4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. (ESV)
Notice that the light did not destroy the darkness.
The darkness did not go away permanently when light came into the world.
The purpose of the light in the creation was not to destroy the darkness but to reveal all that lay within the darkness that could not otherwise be seen.
Furthermore, if the light is removed or extinguished, the darkness is still there, hovering around the fringes, and immediately returns, doing what darkness does best – preventing us from seeing what is right in front of us.
That is why no person will ever seek after God of his own initiative, because he is unable to realize that God is even there until He reveals himself in light.
Maybe it’s only a matter of perspective, but it does seem to me that the world – and by that, I mean our culture and our society – is a darker place than it once was.
Henry Blackaby once wrote…
If society as a whole seems to be getting darker and darker, it is not the problem of the darkness; the darkness is just acting like its nature. But it is that the light no longer dispels the darkness, and the salt no longer preserves. It is time for the light to say, “if things are darker, the problem is with us. (“Foundation of Revival,” p. 72).
God gave a warning to His chosen people, the nation of Israel through the words of Moses recorded in…
Deuteronomy 8:11 Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, 12 lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, 13 …and all that you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God…
19 And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. 20 Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God. (ESV)
Closing
The article by Sylvania reminded us that light dissipates as it gets further from its source.
That same thing is true for the Christian.
Therefore, we are called to constant renewal and revival through repentance and confession.
2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (ESV)
There are those who say that contemporary Christians cannot appropriate this verse today because the words were spoken to Israel, and the United States is not Israel, and its citizens are not God’s chosen people.
Nevertheless, we who know Christ are certainly a people who are called by the name of our Savior, and I can’t help but believe that if we humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, and turn from wickedness and disobedience, that He, by His grace, will not fail to forgive us of sin, to make of us more effective as salt and light, and that such results cannot help but bring healing to a land that is filled with the disease of unbelief.
NOTES
[i] Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, http://biblehub.com/commentaries/ephesians/5-8.htm
[ii] https://www.sylvania.com/en-us/innovation/education/light-and-color/Pages/the-science-of-light.aspx
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