“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!”
Verses 22 to 23 continue the thought of verses 19 through 21. However, Jesus changed the analogy from treasures to the eye. “
6:22
The lamp of the body is the eye.
The eye is the means of illumination for the body. The eye is not light itself but a way to see light. The soul has no inherent light, but it is the vehicle to receive light; it is the lamp, not the light. The eye is what makes sight doable. The eye here stands for spiritual understanding and attention.
If therefore your eye is good,
The word “good” is simple, clear, sound, undivided. Metaphorically it means singleness of purpose. This person can look directly at its object as opposed to seeing two objects at once. This is undivided purpose of a person who can form a single image of what he sees.
Let your eyes look straight ahead, And your eyelids look right before you. Ponder the path of your feet, And let all your ways be established. Do not turn to the right or the left; Remove your foot from evil. Pr 4:25-27
your whole body will be full of light.
God is the source of light. The person with a single eye sees things clearly. When the believer sees with God’s eyes, he sees with God’s viewpoint.
6:23
But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.
If the eye cannot see clearly, then the body operates with impaired vision.
If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
Seeing incorrectly is worse than blindness. If we open our eyes in the dark of man’s viewpoint, darkness about God permeates our being.
PRINCIPLE:
God’s viewpoint brings light to the whole person.
APPLICATION:
If we cannot distinguish the highway from the waterway, we have a problem. A person with unmixed motives has a single motive to understand and please God. This floods light into his entire being.
The person with impaired spiritual vision sees some things in the will of God and some things out of the will of God. This is spiritual double vision. The spiritual state of our perception makes for significant orientation to God’s viewpoint and plan for our lives.
