Verse of the Day
Author Spotlight
Loading featured author...
Report Issue
See a formatting issue or error?
Let us know →
Even so, let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
Verse Takeaways
1
For God's Glory, Not Yours
Commentators unanimously stress that the motive for letting your light shine is crucial. Good works are to be seen not to bring praise to yourself, but so that others will 'glorify your Father in heaven.' Scholars like John Calvin note this isn't a contradiction to Jesus' later command to do good deeds in secret (Matthew 6:4). The key is the intention: avoid personal ostentation and aim for God's glory in all public actions.
See 3 Verse Takeaways
Book Overview
Matthew
Author
Audience
Composition
Teaching Highlights
Outline
+ 5 more
See Overview
11
18th Century
Presbyterian
Let your light so shine, etc. Let your holy life, your pure conduct, and your faithful instruction be everywhere seen and known. Always, i…
Even so (ουτως). The adverb points backward to the lamp-stand. Thus men are to let their light shine, not to glorify themselves, b…
19th Century
Anglican
Let your light so shine — The English phrasing of this sentence is somewhat misleading or ambiguous. It does not simply mean, “Let…
Your support helps us maintain this resource for everyone
Baptist
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Not that they ma…
Jesus drives the metaphor home. His disciples must show their “good works”—i.e., all righteousness, everything they are and do that reflects the mi…
16th Century
Protestant
Let your light shine before men. After He taught the apostles that, because of the rank in which they are placed, both their vices and the…
Get curated content & updates
17th Century
Reformed Baptist
Let your light so shine before men Here Christ applies the foregoing simile to his disciples, and more fully opens t…
You are the salt of the earth. Mankind, lying in ignorance and wickedness, was like a vast heap, ready to putrefy; but Christ sent forth h…
13th Century
Catholic
A city seated on a mountain cannot be hid. The city is the congregation of the faithful, namely…
