Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Matthew 5:16

Matthew 5:16. Even Song of Solomon, i.e., like the city on the hill, the candle on the candlestick, not ‘so that they may see,' as the common version might be understood.

Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works. Not professions or teachings, but what men, with all their prejudices against Christ's people (Matthew 5:10-12), are forced to acknowledge as real excellences. The supreme end both of the shining and seeing is added, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. ‘The praise and glory of a well-lighted and brilliant feast would be given, not to the light, but to the master of the house; and of a stately city on a hill, not to the buildings, but to those who built them' (Alford). The exhortation humbles in order to exalt: all good works, light-giving, purifying and preserving influences, come from God, to whom the glory belongs, but He is ‘your Father.' This is the first occurrence of the gospel phrase, ‘Father who is in heaven.' It is taught us by the only begotten Son of God, through whom we become sons of God, who is His Father and our Father. The beatitudes culminated in the promise, ‘for they shall be called sons of God'(Matthew 5:9); the statement of our world to our ‘Father,' from whom our blessings come, shows us that in the world we may cause position in the world, while leading us above the Him to be glorified. Our true glory is in His glory.

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Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

Matthew 5:16

Old Testament

New Testament