Matthew 6:22-23 - Exposition

The light of the body is the eye, etc. Parallel passage: Luke 11:34-36 , where it immediately follows the illustration of putting a lamp under the bushel ( Matthew 5:15 ). The excessive difficulty of Luke's verse 36 points to Luke having preserved on the whole the more original form of the saying; but it seems quite impossible to say which is its more original position. It suits the context quite as well in Matthew as in Luke, while the mere verbal similarity of λύχνος may have caused it to be placed in Luke after his verse 33 (cf. verse 24, infra , note). The light of the body ; the lamp (Revised Version); ὁλύχνος ( Matthew 5:15 , note). The thought of the power which treasure has of attracting the heart forms the transition to the need of a pure and steady "eye" heavenwards. The bodily eye is taken as the symbol of the outlooking power of the soul, not the soul—the inner man—itself, but its outlooking power. As the body is illuminated by the eye, i.e. as by the eye the bodily constitution learns its environment, and naturally, almost automatically, tends to accommodate itself to it, so is it with the gaze of the soul. If this be upon the things of this world, the soul perceives, and tends to accommodate itself to the things of this world; if upon things in heaven, it perceives, and tends to accommodate itself to, the things in heaven. The Authorized Version "light" is, therefore, imperfect, for the gaze of the soul is not "light" ( φῶς ), but a "lamp" ( λύχνος ) . As the bodily eye is not itself light, but only an instrument for receiving and imparting light, so in the mere gaze of the soul there is no inherent light, but it is the means of receiving and imparting light to the soul. If therefore thine eye be single. The word "single" ( ἁπλοῦς ) presents some difficulty.