Matthew 5:14

Matthew 5:14
	← 5:13 5:15 →
	"Sermon on the Mount", painted by Alexander Bida in 1874.
Book	Gospel of Matthew
Christian Bible part	New Testament

Matthew 5:14 is the fourteenth verse of the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. It is part of the Sermon on the Mount, and is one of a series of metaphors immediately following the Beatitudes.

Content

In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:

Ye are the light of the world. A city

that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

The World English Bible translates the passage as:

You are the light of the world. A city

located on a hill can't be hidden.

For a collection of other versions see BibleHub Matthew 5:14.

Analysis

This verse has a fairly sudden shift of metaphor from "salt of the" to "city on a hill". It may be related to the expression "salt and light", which was then used to describe the Law. This verse is unparalleled elsewhere in the New Testament, but a version of it is found in the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas. In Thomas the focus of the verse is on the city's security and impregnability rather than its symbolism. Gundry notes that at this time cities would frequently have been located on hills for defensive reasons.[1] Schweizer notes that this might be a reference to Mount Zion at the start of Isaiah 2.[2] Scholars are divided on whether this is a specific reference to the idea of a New Jerusalem. Albright and Mann note that Cicero described Rome as light to the world, but that it is unlikely that this verse borrows from him. See also Isaiah 42:6, 49:6, 60:3.[3]

This scripture was cited at the end of John Winthrop's lecture or treatise, A Model of Christian Charity serving as a warning to his fellow Puritan settlers of Boston in 1630 that God and their enemies would be watching if they failed to uphold their covenant: "we shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us." President Ronald Reagan frequently invoked Winthrop's words as the very birth of America's destiny as the exceptional nation of the world, misquoting Winthrop.[4]

Along with Matthew 5:13, this verse became the theme of World Youth Day 2002: "You are the salt of the earth ... you are the light of the world"..

References

Gundry, Robert H. Matthew a Commentary on his Literary and Theological Art. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982.
Schweizer, Eduard. The Good News According to Matthew. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1975
Albright, W.F. and C.S. Mann. "Matthew." The Anchor Bible Series. New York: Doubleday & Company, 1971.
Daniel T. Rodgers, As a City on a Hill: The Story of America's Most Famous Lay Sermon, Princeton University Press, 2018; and Richard M. Gamble, In Search of the City on a Hill: The Making and Unmaking of an American Myth, Continuum, 2012.

Preceded by Matthew 5:13	Gospel of Matthew Chapter 5	Succeeded by Matthew 5:15

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[1] Gundry, Robert H. Matthew a Commentary on his Literary and Theological Art. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982.

[2] Schweizer, Eduard. The Good News According to Matthew. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1975

[3] Albright, W.F. and C.S. Mann. "Matthew." The Anchor Bible Series. New York: Doubleday & Company, 1971.

[4] Daniel T. Rodgers, As a City on a Hill: The Story of America's Most Famous Lay Sermon, Princeton University Press, 2018; and Richard M. Gamble, In Search of the City on a Hill: The Making and Unmaking of an American Myth, Continuum, 2012.