Matthew 5:15 Commentary and Bible Study

The word ‘candle’ is better translated as ‘lamp’. Christ now illustrates with a much smaller light source. This is something which we can light or not light, cover or uncover, which suits his purpose in teaching his disciples how they must act. We are saved and it is God who lights the lamp, but for the sake of the illustration, it is us. The illustration is not about what God does but about what we, his disciples, do. Certainly God does not light that lamp in us against our will, but with our entire consent, so that it as if we fully intended to light the lamp ourselves. We have seen the glory of Christ to some degree; we have turned our back on the world and on sin, and we have come to him forever. We wish his light to shine in us, and to be transformed by him, and to represent him to a lost world. But then persecution comes, and it is coming, we realise, because of the light that is shining out of us. Do we love the light, or are we ashamed of it? Are we willing to pay the price of following Christ, or do we regret the decision we made to become his disciples? Every true disciple must count the cost in advance, Christ warns, for it would be terrible to turn back after having begun to follow him. The true disciple grows stronger and overcomes all reluctance. He or she loves the light more than the darkness, and will not return to darkness even to avoid trouble. Who would light a lamp with the obvious intention of being able to see in the home at night, and then take a domestic measuring container and use it to cover the lamp? We can assume that it is night and there would be total darkness without the lamp. Why do such a contradictory thing? Why light the lamp in the first place if you do not intend to benefit from its light? You knew when you lit it that its light would spread throughout the room. You do not make light to travel to every corner of the room, but you take advantage of the way it works. But the lamp hidden under a measuring bowl or some other covering brings no benefit to anyone. There is a wonderful benefit available, but this contradictory action has taken that benefit away. The light giving property of the lamp persists, but it does not exist for its own benefit, but to enable you and all others in the room, in the house, to see by. You therefore put it in a place of prominence, on a stand, where its light will reach the maximum number of people, and to do the most good. Having lit it, you do not minimise its effect, but you maximise it.Although the background to this lesson is the possibility of persecution, that is almost entirely set aside in the logic of Christ’s metaphor. The one lighting the lamp is taken up with its effect, and the believer is taken up not with the trouble that results from following Christ, but with the wonderful beneficial effect of a life lived for the Lord in front of an unbelieving world. If he is faithful, Christ may use him to bring others into the kingdom. This will result in souls being won to Christ for all eternity, a gain which can never be lost. How little we have to do to bring about such eternal profit! All we have to do is live for Christ in front of them, and speak of his dying love on Calvary. We may light the lamp (though really it is God that does even that), but we do not make the light travel through the air to them; we do not illuminate their hearts; we do not bring them under conviction of sin; we do not reveal Christ to their innermost being. God does all that, but he gives us a part to play which makes us co-workers with him. We are like beloved children given a part to play by a loving parent in a task that would be far beyond the child’s capability on its own.