Matthew 6:22

Post by **_JC** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 3:05 pm

Matthew 6:22-23

"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

Luke 11:34-36

Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be completely lighted, as when the light of a lamp shines on you.

The context of Matthew is right in the middle of a dissusion about money and not placing value on temporal things. The context of Luke is judgement. So my question is two-fold on this topic:

1) What does Jesus mean when he says the eye is the lamp of your body?

2) What is the practical application of this principle?

Post by **_TK** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 6:21 pm

i am wondering if your eyes are synonymous with your "attitude," i.e. how you "view" the world around you. in the matthew text, your attitude towards wordly things will determine how good of a steward you are. in the Luke text, the same would seem to apply-- your attitude toward worldly things will determine whether you will be a creature of darkness, or of light. ( i remember the childrens song "be careful little eyes what you see").

of course i am only surmising. greek scholars will come to the rescue i am sure!

TK

Post by **_Derek** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 8:24 pm

It has to do with generosity (good eye) and greed (evil eye). I think that this is a Hebrew idiom.

Deu 15:9 Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee.

Pro 22:9 He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.

Pro 23:6 Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:
Pro 23:7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.

Pro 28:22 He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him.

Mat 20:15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?

2) What is the practical application of this principle?

How we look at money/possesions greatly affects our spiritual lives.

Got all that from Steve Gregg. It blew my mind frankly. I came up with all these fancy interpretations for such a simple principle. You just can't go wrong comparing scripture with scripture!

God bless,

Post by **_kaufmannphillips** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 10:50 pm

I affirm Derek's/Steve's interpretation. It is a Semitic idiom, which George Lamsa has commented on (not that I embrace all of Lamsa's work).

It is interesting to note that the idiom very much fits its context in Matthew, while somewhat less so in its Lukan placement. Perhaps Luke misunderstood the point of the teaching, so that when he arranged the literary sequence for his researched material, he may have misgauged the appropriate setting for injecting this pericope.

Shalom,
Emmet

Post by **_MoGrace2u** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 9:18 pm

(Luke 11:34-35 KJV) The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness. {35} Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.

Luke puts the eye as the place of entrance for light which is his topic. A single eye is a focused eye whereas an evil eye is double-minded. The evil eye also speaks of covetousness or envy. If the body is to be full of light with no part dark then how you look upon things will have an effect. Thou shalt not covet - why? because evil comes in by that avenue.