Recently, I have been intriguied by the concept of shining God's light into other's lives. The thoughts startered when I heard a sermon on part of 2 Corinthians 4. The specific verse that intrigued me was verse 6:
"For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ."
Matthew 5:16 was then referenced:
"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."
My question was; is the light that God "shone in our hearts" the same light that we are supposed to "shine before men"?
Here is what I found.
After doing a mini word study on light, I discovered that there are many Greek words for light. In the passage, Matthew 5:14-16, there are four references to light and 3 of them are different in the original Greek.
"You are the light of theworld. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put i under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it give light to all who are in the house.
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."
1,4: The Greek words of first and fourth light are phos, which is a contraction of phaos which means light or daylight. So, in verses 1 and 4, light can be translated as light or daylight.
2: The Greek word of the second light is kaio which means to kindle or burn.
3: The Greek word of the third light is lampo which can be translated to mean give light or shine.
In the 2 Corinthians passage,
"One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ"
the Greek word for light is photismos which is translated illumination, but which is also from the Greek word photizo which means to shine or give light. Interestingly, this is the only use of photismos in the New Testament.
After digesting all this information (it took time), I came to understand the Matthew passage in a new and very exciting way.
In verse 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.
Jesus seems to be saying that we should we should let our phos (daylight) lampo (shine) like a lamp. In combination with 2 Corinthians 4:6, the message seems to be that we should lampo the photismos (illumination) that Christ has shone on our hearts.
It will still take time to digest all this, but I thought I would share a piece of what I just learned. :)
