Matthew 5:13-16  The Parables of Salt and Light
                Matthew 5:17-20  Words of Jesus on the Law

         1.   The urging from Christ seems to be for the Christian to
         maintain His commandments to keep from falling away.

         2.   New Bible Dictionary shows significance of salt:
              a)   Salt that was excavated had to have its outer layer
         discarded due to impurities (1056).
              b)   Orientals used salt as a symbol of fidelity and
         constancy in ratifying agreements (1056).
              c)   In Leviticus 2:13 salt typifies the eternal nature
         of the covenant between God and Israel referenced as the
         "covenant of salt" in Numbers 18:19 and 2nd Chronicles 13:5
         (1056).
              d)   Apparently new-born babies were rubbed with salt as
         per Ezekiel 16:4.  This could parallel the believer's "born
         again" experience.

         3.   The word used for lamp in Matthew 5:15 is "lynchnos,"  a
         lamp which gives light to a whole house by being put upon a
         stand according to the New Bible Dictionary (672).  Certainly
         this is consistent with Christ's statement about the lamp
         giving light to all the house (Mt. 5:15) and is symbolically
         appropriate for the disciple to be the "light of the world"
         (Mt. 5:14, 16).

         4.   The lamp seems to be the truth that Christ has delivered
         to His disciples.  Certainly for a lamp to function it must
         have oil.  The oil appears to be the illuminating power of
         the Holy Spirit of God without whom the Christian cannot
         function (John 14:26, 15:26-27, 16:12-15, Romans 8:26-27).  
         This parable of the virgins in Matthew 25:1-13 had not built
         upon the rock as described in the parable of profession
         versus possession (Harper Study Bible, 1215) as described in
         Matthew 7:21-29 and who therefore did not have the Holy
         Spirit of God made available to every believer in Christ as
         described in Acts 2:1-4.

         5.   Jesus shows that the law had a moral root that will
         never be done away with.  The Apostle Paul writes that the
         Christian fulfills the righteousness of the law, according to
         the Spirit in Romans 8:4.  In 2nd Corinthians Paul's writes
         that the letter of the law kills (in condemnation) but that
         the Holy Spirit gives life to the believer (3:6).  In his
         great discourse on the sufficiency of Christ for the believer
         in Colossians, Paul shows that the law was abolished for the
         Christian (as a condemning finger) and that the Christian is
         now part of a captive host of former enemies (of God) that
         were defeated by Christ and are paraded as spoil of battle
         (2:8-15).




                                 Bibliography

              Bible (New American Standard).  Nashville, Tennessee:
         Holman Bible Publishers, 1977.
              Douglas, J. D.  New Bible Dictionary - Second Edition.
         Wheaton, Illinois:  Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1982.
              Strong, James.  The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible.
         Peabody, Massachusetts:  Hendrickson Publishers).
              The NIV Study Bible (New International Version). Grand
         Rapids, Michigan:  Zondervan Bible Publishers, 1985.