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NASB | Matthew 5:16 "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 5:16 "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good deeds and moral excellence, and [recognize and honor and] glorify your Father who is in heaven. |
Subject: Light and Good Works |
Bible Note: Hi Firedup, and welcome to the Forum! I agree that moral excellence in very important. Christ saved us to be holy people of good works. And there are other important truths in God's word. The importance of these truths are not what we are concerned with in this passage, but with the meaning of the term "light" in this context. Let your light shine that your good works may be seen. So the light is not the good deeds of our life. It is the good deeds of our life that Christ wants the light to shine on. It is the gospel that enlightens men to see our good deeds aright, that is, as the product of God's grace and not anything in us. Natural man has ingrained in his mind that it is our good works that save us, that make us acceptable to God. Therefore it is imperative that men see our good works as they really are, in "light” of the gospel. The gospel teaches that it is, "by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Eph 2:8-10) The good works are not in us or from us, and the gospel light will help men see this and glorify the Father and not us. If the good works are not seen in the gosple light, men will glorify us for our good works and not the Father. If light in this passage means life or good works then, (1) it makes the words "good works" in the passage redundant, (2) it ignores the meaning of light as knowledge as used in other passages of Scripture. (3) it ignores the illuminating analogy of knowledge, and (4) it ignores the fact that men already see (visually) our good works, but they don't see (understand) our good works. 2 Tim. 1:10, “but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,” Peace, P.S. I'm curious; how did you come upon this post, since it is not a recent entry, and this is your first post? |