This text is from the 19th-century German theologian Augustus Bisping and his "Exegetical Handbook to the Gospels." It provides a commentary on Matthew 5:13–16, focusing on the metaphors of "Salt of the Earth" and "Light of the World." The translation was done using Gemini.
The Offices in the Christian Kingdom of God According to their High Calling (Matt 5:13–16)
Mt 5:13: “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt has become flat, with what shall it be salted? It is good for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men.”
The connection of thought with the preceding verses is: You must allow yourselves to be made discouraged or unfaithful to your calling by insults and persecutions all the less, because of how important this calling of yours is (the Makaioi—the Beatitudes). Similar words appear in other contexts in Mark 9:50 and Luke 14:34f.
Salt has a double property:
First, it protects against rot, or where rot has already set in, it drives it away.
Second, it seasons food and makes it flavorful.
Therefore, salt was also used in Old Testament sacrifices to present them, as it were, as flavorful food to God (cf. Exod. 30:35; Lev. 2:13; Ezek. 43:24). The Apostles are now meant to be for humanity what salt is for food: they are to drive away the spiritual rot of sin and preserve the morals of others from rot, so that all might be a well-pleasing sacrifice before God.
The genitive tēs gēs (of the earth) designates humanity in general, the good as well as the evil. The subject of halisthēsetai ("shall it be salted") is the salt itself, as is clear from Mark 9:50. If the salt itself becomes stale and flat, there is no means to free it from its lack of saltiness; there is no salt to make the flat salt salty again—“non datur sal salis” (there is no salt of salt). The application of the image is easily given. It is unnecessary to take halisthēsetai impersonally as "with what shall one salt?", as Luther and many Catholic translators do. Such flat salt is good for nothing more; for corruptio optimi pessima (the corruption of the best is the worst).
Mt 5:14-15: The Savior calls the Apostles “the light of the world” insofar as they had the calling to communicate the light received from Christ—divine truth—to humanity. In the strictest sense, of course, Christ alone is the light of the world (John 1:4, 9; 8:12; 9:5), and the Apostles and their successors are actually only the phōstēres (light-bearers/stars, Phil. 2:15); yet as those enlightened by Christ, they are also light in their own right (cf. Eph. 5:8).
By virtue of this high destiny, the Apostles should not hide their light out of fear of persecution, but should shine before all. This thought is made vivid through the double comparison of a city set on a hill and a lamp:
“A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor do they light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.”
In the first comparison of the high-lying city lies the thought that the Divine carries its own height and majesty within itself and, wherever it reveals itself, it is seen—provided one does not intentionally close one's eyes against it. In the second comparison, the thought is indirectly included that for the person who does not let his light shine, but holds it back and covers it out of fear of persecution, this light will eventually be extinguished entirely, like a lamp placed under a bushel.
The word modios (from the Latin modius) designates the common Roman grain measure. The article before "bushel" and "stand" refers to the specific bushel and lampstand found in the house.
Mt 5:16: Here is the application of the preceding comparison: “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” The Apostles and their successors should let their light shine in teaching and life, not for the sake of their own honor, but so that God may be glorified in them. When the Savior says later (Matt. 6:1, 3) that one should not perform prayers and good works before men, this does not contradict what is said here. There is a time to perform good works in silence and secrecy, and a time to step forward publicly with them; and whoever has only the glory of God and not himself in view will know the right time for one or the other.
"If we all strove to let our light shine before men in the right way—that is, to live as true Christians—there would soon be no more unbelievers," says Chrysostom. It says “your Father who is in heaven,” for although the true God is omnipresent, He has His special seat in heaven; heaven is the special dwelling and throne of His glory (Isa. 66:1; Ps. 2:4; 103:19), from where He sends His Spirit and reveals Himself to men.
CONTINUE
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