If a person rejects Jesus’ light (truth) for another so-called light, he or she will discover that that other light brings no true illumination. Normally people’s eyes respond to light by admitting it, and the result is their illumination. That is how Jesus wanted His hearers to respond to His teaching because the result would be spiritual illumination. read more
This verse presents the alternative to the situation described in the preceding verse. It concludes Jesus’ exhortation on a positive note. Jesus, of course, used the body to represent the whole inner person, the personality, in the parable. The person who believes all of Jesus’ teaching will experience full illumination. read more
11:33 corn-measure, (e-15) Translated 'bushel' in Matthew 5:15 ; Mark 4:21 . read more
The Lord’s Prayer. The Sign of Jonah1-4. The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-15). See on Mt. If the Lord’s Prayer was given only once, St. Luke is probably right as to the occasion. His version, however (as in the case of the Beatitudes), is manifestly inferior to St. Matthew’s. Of the seven petitions he omits two—the third (’Thy will be done,’ etc.), and the seventh (’but deliver us from the evil one’: see the RV). In place of Mt’s beautiful opening, ’Our Father in the heavens,’ he has simply,... read more
(33, 34) No man, when he hath lighted a candle, . . .—See Note on Matthew 5:15. Here also it seems, on the whole, more probable that we have a portion of our Lord’s previous teaching repeated by Him in almost identical terms, than that a fragment of that teaching has either been torn from its proper context by St. Luke, or artificially woven into a discourse to which it did not belong by St. Matthew. Better, as in St. Matthew, lighted a lamp . . . under the bushel. . . on the lampstand. read more
(34) The light of the body is the eye.—See Note on Matthew 6:22. In some respects the sequence of thought in St. Luke differs from that in St. Matthew, and seems somewhat closer. In the Sermon on the Mount, the company of Christ’s disciples are the light, and each of them is as the lamp on its proper stand, and the teaching as to the “light of the body,” and the corresponding “‘eye” of the soul, is separated from that illustration by our Lord’s comment on the corrupt traditional interpretations... read more
(35) Take heed therefore that the light . . .—Better, See to it whether the light that is in thee be darkness. This takes the place in St. Luke’s report of St. Matthew’s (Luke 6:23) “If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” The warning is one which calls men to self-scrutiny. They need to examine their primary beliefs, their very intuitions of right and wrong, lest all they do should be vitiated at its very source. The call to do this implies that they must have a... read more
(36) If thy whole body therefore be full of light.—The statement reads at first like an identical proposition. “If thy whole body be full of light, it shall be full of light all over.” The apparent truism is, however, the most expressive utterance of a truth. If the “whole body”—life in all its various manifestations—is illumined by the divine light; if the character is in its measure perfect, as that of the Father is perfect, who is Light, and in whom is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5); if... read more
Christ's Lessons in Prayer Luke 11:1 The disciples had all prayed many times, and yet they came to Jesus with this request. For they were not satisfied with their praying. Their hearts were full of longings for which they could not find utterance, and the silence in which they dwelt oppressed them. For answer, Jesus began by teaching them how not to pray. It may well be, that with such bad examples of devotion in their synagogues and streets, the very habits of devotion which they had formed... read more
Get Bible verse every day in your inbox
Read on Mobile
Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Luke 11:34-36
The parable of the bad eye 11:34-36 (cf. Matthew 6:22-23) read more