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the light of the body is the eye??

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newgene87:
Can someone please help me on this "the light of the body is the eye" scripture?? Like I'm a heavy Rotherham, Youngs Literal and interlinear Greek bible user so I like to study the words and usage of them but this is one of the many verses which draw a blank for me. Like i know the word light there is lamp but even that doesnt explain. Even it's surrounding verses don't help me understand it. What did Jesus mean by this?? Greatly appreciate it.
Mat 6:22-23
22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. 23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
� KJV

Dave in Tenn:
I think the surrounding verses do shed light on what Jesus is teaching with this parable.  

As a simple saying illustrating a greater spiritual truth, I'm not sure there's any huge significance to what's pretty clear in the illustration.  The light/lamp of the body is the eye.  Everybody who understands physical sight understands light enters through the eye.  That's the set-up.  The point of the parable, as is the point of ALL the parables, has to do in some way with the Gospel of the Kingdom--somewhere in them all is the distinction between the called and the chosen, the many and the few.

So the Spiritually significant part of the passage is the last part of vs. 23 "If, then, the light that is in you is darkness, how dense is the darkness!"  I don't know if 'sarcasm' is the right word, but Jesus is saying that 'light' can be darkness, which is foolishness if we're looking at it naturally.  I have no trouble believing that what is presented as light--that other gospel--is not light, but darkness.  

Joh 1:9-13 (CLV) It (the Word) was the true light - which is enlightening every man - coming into the world.  In the world He was, and the world came into being through Him, and the world knew Him not.  To His own He came, and those who are His own accepted Him not.  Yet whoever obtained Him, to them He gives the right to become children of God, to those who are believing in His name, who were begotten, not of bloods, neither of the will of the flesh, neither of the will of a man, but of God."

That's the Word, the world, the called/many and the elect/few all in a few verses.

The rest of John 1 talks a lot about the light and is a great companion passage to explain the meaning of this parable.

Gene, that's maybe more of a sermon than a bible lesson.  I can only see what I see.  Maybe that helps you a little.

Deborah-Leigh:
Once God made himself known to Job, then only did Job concede that before, he had only known OF God.

First comes the natural, then the spiritual.

1Jn 3:2  Dear friends, we are now God's children, but what we are to be in the future has not yet been fully revealed. We know that if Christ reappears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.
 
God makes darkness into light.

Psa 18:25  With the merciful, You will show Yourself merciful; with an upright man You will show Yourself upright;
Psa 18:26  with the pure You will show Yourself pure; and with the crooked You will show Yourself perverse.
Psa 18:27  For You will save the afflicted people, but will bring down high looks.
Psa 18:28  For You will light my candle; Jehovah my God will make my darkness light.

Arc

adiamondintheson:
My husband and I read in the forum every day... and enjoy studying with you all.  This was a really good post and definitely deeper than it would appear in light reading of the Word.  We used our Sword Searcher Software and found this in the Pulpit Commentary.  Thought it might be good to add in here.

 The light of the body; the lamp (Revised Version); o lucnoV.1 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" (jwV), but a "lamp" (lucnoV). 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" (aplouV) presents some difficulty.
(1) If it meant "undivided," it would doubtless continue the illustration of the lamp, with an undivided as contrasted with a divided wick, but it has no such meaning.
(2) It states the opposite, not to divisions, but to folds (vide Trench, 'Syn.,' §56); it is "single" as opposed to "plicate," and therefore can hardly contain any direct reference to the lamp. Its meaning rather appears to be purely metaphorical, and the word seems to be applied 'directly to the functions of the eye in relation to the body. If the eye be "single" and (to use another but related metaphor) straightforward in its working, then the body receives through it the light that it ought to receive. So is it with the gaze of the soul in its effect on the inner man.
(3) Perhaps, however, aplounh is here used in the sense of non-compound (cf. Plato, 'Rep.,' 547. E); in this case free from any foreign substance to bar the light from passing through it. Thy whole body shall be full of light (jwtino). Well-lighted in itself, and bright in appearance to others.2 The word chosen seems to indicate, not merely that the body is, through the eye, lighted, but also that it itself becomes in measure, like the eye, full of light for others. All one's powers become illumined with the Divine light, and the illumination shines through. But if thine eye be evil, etc. Evil (ponhroV); ver. 13, note. Vitiated, worthless. As an eye that does not fulfil its natural function, so is that gaze of the soul which is directed only earthward. To limit tiffs, with Lightfoot ('Hor. Hebr.'), to covetousness, is far too partial an interpretation. Such an earthward and selfish gaze of the soul may often issue in selfishness as regards money,3 but the full meaning of the phrase includes very much more. Thy whole body shall be full of darkness. What the heart craves to see it sees; but in this case, not light makes its entrance, but darkness, which, as in the case of the light, permeates the frame. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness; rather, is darkness; the change here to the indicative (ei... estin) indicating that the last preceding clause is assumed as fact. The light that is in thee. Our Lord does not say, "the light that comes through the eye," for he means more than this, viz. that the very information, so to speak, brought first by the outlook of the soul, comes into us and remains in us. He assumes that this, which ought to be light, is darkness. How great is that darkness! i.e. the darkness (Revised Version)just spoken of, which comes through the eye. So, probably, Lu 11:35. If the gaze which should bring light brings only darkness, how terrible in its nature and effects must that darkness be! It is, however, possible to understand our Lord to refer in this verse to the natural darkness of the soul before it looks out of itself. In this case the thought is—you need a fixed gaze heavenwards; if your gaze is not heavenwards, it brings darkness instead of light; how black, then, must be the natural darkness!

Lord, help us to keep our gaze HEAVENWARD!!!
God bless your day
Connie

indianabob:
Dear friend Connie,

Welcome to the opportunity to learn. I have been here a while and I also continue to be amazed at how much my understanding has been helped by Ray Smith and the scholars on the forum.

Regarding your contribution from the "sword searcher software", it is very comprehensive, but also difficult to understand or to glean understanding from. I have read it twice and still don't understand what you were desiring to share by quoting the whole article. Maybe I could relate to the article better if I knew the source. If you wish you could send it to me in a PM.
May I suggest that you try to put these things in your own words for the edification of those of us who don't have your background of knowledge.
Thanks very much for any help you can provide.

Kindly, Indiana Bob

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