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Am having trouble with Matthew 6:22-23. Can see it's a metaphor, but not really sure what the metaphor is. Read the commentaries, but don't feel solid with them. Feedback, anybody? Thoughts and guesses welcome.
Gigi, your comment is very relevant. Wasn't looking at the context of the two passages which come before and after the statement. They help to contextualize where our sights should be set.
So, as for 6:22-23, Jesse has answered you well. The eye is often thought of as the window to your soul. In these verses the eye is said to be a light into one's body, so perhaps in this instance, if your eye is evil it reveals the darkness in your being, but if it is single, then it shows the light/goodness in your being. I understand that by saying that the eye is 'single" Jesus means without deceit, malice, or ill will towards one's neighbor or rebellion towards God. Truly, only believers in Christ can have a 'single' eye because non-believers are in darkness of sin and separated from the eternal light and life of God. But in Christ, we are in the light as He is in the light and have our consciouses cleansed by the removal of our sin by Christ's sacrifice. Therefore, a believers has the light of Christ in our beings and His eye was truly "single", without any semblance of actual sin in Himself. He was truly the light of the world and when we are in Him, we too have that eternal light of life in us, too. We, too, can love God and our neighbor as Jesus is explaining in this Sermon on the Mount.
Matthew 6 is a continuation of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus expounded on the Law of Moses, bringing out nuances and deeper meaning and therefore both external and internal responsibilities to obedience.
In verses 22-23 Jesus is speaking of contentions between siblings or fellow believers (brother). He is saying that we are to settle disagreements and offenses with each other right away with sincerity and love. We are not to hold grudges or continue to "grind" about an offense, nor are we to resort to name-calling (fool) as this is not loving your neighbor as oneself.
He is also telling us that we are to restore this relationship before bringing and offering before and unto God, speaking of the OT offerings of fellowship and/or sin.
So, we cannot expect to have right fellowship with God if our fellowship with a brother in Christ is broken. This does not mean we have to have restored fellowship with those who live wickedly or who refuse right fellowship in Christ. But it does mean that we are to work at keeping our Christian relationships clean of offenses and grudges, bickering, gossiping, etc.
This is very difficult to do, so, like the other admonitions Jesus gave in this Sermon, He explained how one is to keep a law from the heart, which only He could truly do. His emphasis was that when we examine our lives and hold them up to the standards He laid out in this Sermon, we see our utter hopelessness in being perfectly aligned with the demands of the law. Therefore, we see our need for a Savior, as we realize that our heart is still sinful even if we keep the law outwardly. We deserve to not enter the kingdom of God on our own merits. But, in Jesus, we have the forgiveness of sins and the power of the Holy Spirit to become more and more like Jesus..
I think that these verses remind me that we can always improve on how we treat others, either in privated or publically, in what we do or say, and in what we think or desire in our hearts.
In Matthew Chapter 6 Verses 22 and 23, Jesus talks about the eye.
He said the light of the body is the eye: and therefore if your eye is single, the whole body is full of light. But if the eye is evil, the whole body shall be full of darkness. Therefore if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness.
Here's what that means from a Hebrew standpoint:
First of all the word "single" has to do with focus, for the good eye is a generous person. The bad eye is a stingy person in the eyes of the Jews.
So if you have a good eye, and you are generous, then your focus is right. If you have a bad or corrupt eye, you are stingy and your focus is in the wrong place.
In other words, when it is focused on the single object of the light, then your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your body also is full of darkness.
That is a Hebraism by the way. The Jews used to say that a person who had a single eye, a good eye, is a generous person. They are focused on one thing and that's the need of other people. But a person who has an evil eye is a selfish person and is only looking to get for themselves.
Jesus is using this concept again for the body. Your mind, your intake that ministers to your mind and feeds information to your mind, is the eye. If your body is full of light, if it is light then your whole body is full of light. And when it is evil your body is dark.
This was helpful, as I noticed that one of the translations for what the eye should be is related to the word for generous, or also candid. Could it possibly translate as trusting, as opposed to cynical? Don't know the Hebrew word for either of these.
Hi , I used to struggle with this also . Finally I've come to this conclusion , though I may have it wrong and I'll be interested to hear any other explanations , it's about what we are focused on , the previous verses are talking about the difference between worldly things and heavenly things , if we are focused on heavenly things then we will be full of light and others might even see our light which comes from Christ in our hearts , if we are focused on worldly things , money , gain , greed etc then we will show that to the world and we will not be full of light but full of darkness . I only have to spend a short time with atheists , listening to their worldly conversation about cars and houses and holidays and money and I know I'm in the wrong company . I'm sure atheists find me a very boring person to be around as I'm not interested in the same things as they are so I don't have much to talk to them about . Hope that helps , I'm looking forward to reading some better replies than mine :) .
Thanks for taking the time to reply. I think what was confusing me was the way the statement is structured. Just looking at light doesn't really make your body full of light in any concrete way, or your heart either. Just looking at evil doesn't make your body full of darkness. But if you take it in the context of the passage that comes before (don't store up treasures on earth), and the passages that comes after (no one can serve both God and finance and don't worry about your earthly needs), it becomes more clear that the eye focused on the hereafter has different priorities than the eye focused on getting ahead in the world.
I commented on 5:22-23
So, as for 6:22-23, Jesse has answered you well. The eye is often thought of as the window to your soul. In these verses the eye is said to be a light into one's body, so perhaps in this instance, if your eye is evil it reveals the darkness in your being, but if it is single, then it shows the light/goodness in your being. I understand that by saying that the eye is 'single" Jesus means without deceit, malice, or ill will towards one's neighbor or rebellion towards God. Truly, only believers in Christ can have a 'single' eye because non-believers are in darkness of sin and separated from the eternal light and life of God. But in Christ, we are in the light as He is in the light and have our consciouses cleansed by the removal of our sin by Christ's sacrifice. Therefore, a believers has the light of Christ in our beings and His eye was truly "single", without any semblance of actual sin in Himself. He was truly the light of the world and when we are in Him, we too have that eternal light of life in us, too. We, too, can love God and our neighbor as Jesus is explaining in this Sermon on the Mount.
.
Matthew 6 is a continuation of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus expounded on the Law of Moses, bringing out nuances and deeper meaning and therefore both external and internal responsibilities to obedience.
In verses 22-23 Jesus is speaking of contentions between siblings or fellow believers (brother). He is saying that we are to settle disagreements and offenses with each other right away with sincerity and love. We are not to hold grudges or continue to "grind" about an offense, nor are we to resort to name-calling (fool) as this is not loving your neighbor as oneself.
He is also telling us that we are to restore this relationship before bringing and offering before and unto God, speaking of the OT offerings of fellowship and/or sin.
So, we cannot expect to have right fellowship with God if our fellowship with a brother in Christ is broken. This does not mean we have to have restored fellowship with those who live wickedly or who refuse right fellowship in Christ. But it does mean that we are to work at keeping our Christian relationships clean of offenses and grudges, bickering, gossiping, etc.
This is very difficult to do, so, like the other admonitions Jesus gave in this Sermon, He explained how one is to keep a law from the heart, which only He could truly do. His emphasis was that when we examine our lives and hold them up to the standards He laid out in this Sermon, we see our utter hopelessness in being perfectly aligned with the demands of the law. Therefore, we see our need for a Savior, as we realize that our heart is still sinful even if we keep the law outwardly. We deserve to not enter the kingdom of God on our own merits. But, in Jesus, we have the forgiveness of sins and the power of the Holy Spirit to become more and more like Jesus..
I think that these verses remind me that we can always improve on how we treat others, either in privated or publically, in what we do or say, and in what we think or desire in our hearts.
In Matthew Chapter 6 Verses 22 and 23, Jesus talks about the eye.
He said the light of the body is the eye: and therefore if your eye is single, the whole body is full of light. But if the eye is evil, the whole body shall be full of darkness. Therefore if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness.
Here's what that means from a Hebrew standpoint:
First of all the word "single" has to do with focus, for the good eye is a generous person. The bad eye is a stingy person in the eyes of the Jews.
So if you have a good eye, and you are generous, then your focus is right. If you have a bad or corrupt eye, you are stingy and your focus is in the wrong place.
In other words, when it is focused on the single object of the light, then your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your body also is full of darkness.
That is a Hebraism by the way. The Jews used to say that a person who had a single eye, a good eye, is a generous person. They are focused on one thing and that's the need of other people. But a person who has an evil eye is a selfish person and is only looking to get for themselves.
Jesus is using this concept again for the body. Your mind, your intake that ministers to your mind and feeds information to your mind, is the eye. If your body is full of light, if it is light then your whole body is full of light. And when it is evil your body is dark.
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