Matthew 6:22
Matthew 6:22 | |
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← 6:21 6:23 → | |
Book | Gospel of Matthew |
Christian Bible part | New Testament |
Matthew 6:22 is the twenty-second verse of the sixth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament, and is part of the Sermon on the Mount.
Content
In the King James Version of the English Bible the text reads:
- The light of the body is the eye:
- if therefore thine eye be single,
- thy whole body shall be full of light.
The World English Bible translates the passage as:
- “The lamp of the body is the eye.
- If therefore your eye is sound, your
- whole body will be full of light.
The Novum Testamentum Graece text is:
- Ὁ λύχνος τοῦ σώματός ἐστιν ὁ ὀφθαλμός
- ἐὰν οὖν ᾖ ὁ ὀφθαλμός σου ἁπλοῦς,
- ὅλον τὸ σῶμά σου φωτεινὸν ἔσται
For a collection of other versions see here: Matthew 6:22
Translation
The
Interpretation
By lamp, this verse may mean that the eye is a metaphorical window by which light enters the body. Alternatively the lamp might not be meant as a source of light, but rather as a guide through darkness, just as the eye is a guide through life. In this case the verse is almost certainly speaking of a spiritual eye rather than the literal organ. Harold Fowler suggests that in this verse eye is a metaphor for the conscience and moral vision of the individual, both of which serve as guiding lights.[2]
What is meant by the word ἁπλοῡς, haplous, translated as single in the KJV and sound in the WEB, is uncertain. This term can mean generous,[citation needed] and its opposite in the next verse clearly means miserly.[citation needed] This verse can thus mean one is "full of light" if one's eye, i.e. conscience, is generous. This wording links this verse to the idea of the evil eye, which was often termed the "ungenerous eye". By this interpretation the good spiritual eye is one that is generous and can perceive God, and thus allows illumination into the entire body. However, in the Septuagint, haplous is used to translate the Hebrew term for Singleness of heart or "singleness of purpose".[citation needed] If the author of Matthew was using this translation this verse would be extolling the eye that is solely focused on one thing, i.e. God. This second interpretation as Singleness of heart links closely with the neighbouring sections where Jesus is warning his followers not to deviate from their focus on God by concerning themselves with worldly things. Both Fowler and R. T. France speculate that this ambiguity is deliberate, and that the verse is speaking about both generosity and single mindedness, as both ideas are discussed in this part of Jesus' sermon.[3]
According to David Hill, some scholars believe that the metaphor of being filled with light is a reference to the soul, but he notes that this was not a standard metaphor for the soul in Jewish literature of the period.[4]
Commentary from the Church Fathers
Jerome: This is an illustration drawn from the senses. As the whole body is in darkness, where the eye is not single, so if the soul has lost her original brightness, every sense, or that whole part of the soul to which sensation belongs, will abide in darkness. Wherefore He says, If then the light which is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness! that is, if the senses which are the soul's light be darkened by vice, in how great darkness do you suppose the darkness itself will be wrapped?[5]
Pseudo-Chrysostom: It seems that He is not here speaking of the bodily eye, or of the outward body that is seen, or He would have said, If thine eye be sound, or weak; but He says, single, and, evil. But if one have a benign yet diseased eye, is his body therefore in light? Or if an evil yet a sound, is his body therefore in darkness?[5]
Jerome: Those who have thick eye-sight see the lights multiplied; but the single and clear eye sees them single and clear.[5]
Hilary of Poitiers: Otherwise; from the office of the light of the eye, He calls it the light of the heart; which if it continue single and brilliant, will confer on the body the brightness of the eternal light, and pour again into the corrupted flesh the splendor of its origin, that is, in the resurrection. But if it be obscured by sin, and evil in will, the bodily nature will yet abide subject to all the evils of the understanding.[5]
References
- ^ Calvin's Commentaries on Matthew 6,accessed 15 December 2016
- ^ Fowler, Harold. The Gospel of Matthew: Volume One. Joplin: College Press, 1968
- ^ France, R.T. The Gospel According to Matthew: an Introduction and Commentary, Leicester: Inter-Varsity, 1985.
- ^ Hill, David. The Gospel of Matthew. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981
- ^ a b c d e f g "Catena Aurea: commentary on the four Gospels; collected out of the works of the Fathers. Oxford: Parker, 1874. Thomas Aquinas". This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
Preceded by Matthew 6:21 |
Gospel of Matthew Chapter 6 |
Succeeded by Matthew 6:23 |