{"id":343,"date":"2014-08-11T12:00:40","date_gmt":"2014-08-11T12:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/?p=343"},"modified":"2014-07-29T20:54:05","modified_gmt":"2014-07-29T20:54:05","slug":"matthew-513-16-salt-and-light-word-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/08\/matthew-513-16-salt-and-light-word-study.html","title":{"rendered":"Matthew 5:13-16; Salt and Light (Word Study)"},"content":{"rendered":"

It seems significant that, in Matthew 5:16, Jesus commanded his followers to \u201clet<\/em> your light shine before men.\u201d Notice that Christ didn’t command people to \u201cmake<\/em> your light shine before men,\u201d or even to \u201cignite<\/em> your light before men.\u201d<\/p>\n

The emphasis appears to be on our response to the light, not our manufacturing or maintenance of it.<\/p>\n

The Greek text of Matthew 5:16 lends credence to this perspective. The word used for \u201clet\u201d is apol\u00fa\u014d<\/em>, and it means literally \u201cto unbind\u201d or \u201cto let go free.\u201d It was used in the context of releasing a prisoner from jail, or taking chains off a captive.<\/p>\n

In the spiritual sense, the light of Christ that burns within us is a flame that cannot be extinguished. We did nothing to ignite it, we can\u2019t make it brighter or dimmer\u2014it already burns brighter and farther than we can perceive. But, if Jesus\u2019 metaphor is accurate (and I believe it is), we can actively try to keep it captive, hiding his light of goodness from those around us, perhaps through inauthentic lifestyles or deliberate sinfulness.<\/p>\n

Our job, then, is not to attempt to create light for Christ, nor to try to stoke greater intensity of his spiritual light. Instead, we are to let<\/em> his light shine through us\u2014to focus on living a transparent daily relationship with him that \u201clets go free\u201d the warming light of his Spirit into our world.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Works Cited<\/a>:<\/p>\n

[NSC, 1566; CWD, 233]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2126\u2126\u2126<\/p>\n

About: For Bible Study Nerds\u2122<\/a><\/p>\n

About: Mike Nappa<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2014 to present by\u00a0Nappaland Communications Inc<\/a>. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It seems significant that, in Matthew 5:16, Jesus commanded his followers to \u201clet your light shine before men.\u201d Notice that Christ didn’t command people to \u201cmake your light shine before men,\u201d or even to \u201cignite your light before men.\u201d The emphasis appears to be on our response to the light, not our manufacturing or maintenance…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":571,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,15],"tags":[16,81,111,120],"class_list":["post-343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-matthew","category-wordstudies","tag-jesus","tag-light","tag-sermon-on-the-mount","tag-shine"],"yoast_head":"\nMatthew 5:13-16; Salt and Light (Word Study) - For Bible Study Nerds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2014\/08\/matthew-513-16-salt-and-light-word-study.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Matthew 5:13-16; 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