Matthew 5:14 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

You that are to be my apostles are so eminently, but all you that are my disciples are so also. Christ is the Light of the world 1 Thessalonians 1:4,9; but though the sun be the light of the world, yet it doth not follow that the moon and the stars also are not so: he is the original Light, the great Light who hath light from and in himself. The ministers of the gospel are the lights of the world also; the angels of churches are stars, Revelation 1:20, and holy persons are children of light, 1 Thessalonians 5:5. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. The church is often called the city of God. Christ compares his people here not to a city, but to a city upon a hill; so that all for which our Saviour mentions a city here, is the conspicuity of a city so built. It is as much as if our Saviour should have said, You had need be holy, for your conversation cannot be hid, any more than a city can that is built upon a hill, which is obvious to every eye. All men's eyes will be upon you.