The Light of the Body is the Eye
By Rose Rogers
Matthew 6
19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and
where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth
corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
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!
24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or
else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Luke 11
33 No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a
bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.
34 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also
is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness.
35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.
36 If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full
of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.
Mt 13:34 All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable
spake he not unto them:
In a parable, physical objects are used to explain spiritual truth.
2Pe 1:20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
According to the historical-grammatical method of interpretation, The Bible defines its own
symbols.
22 The [physical] light of the [physical] body is the [physical] eye: if therefore thine
[physical] eye be [physical] single, thy whole [physical] body shall be full of [physical] light.
23 But if thine [physical] eye be [physically double] evil, thy whole [physical] body shall be
full of [physical] darkness. If therefore the [physical] light that is in thee be [physical]
darkness, how great is that [physical] darkness!
The physical eye is input. It is the only means by which physical light and visual information
enter the physical body. Both eyes must be focused on the same object in order to see correctly.
Otherwise we have double or obscured vision and thus walk in physical darkness. The blind
helplessly grope in great darkness. No amount of external light can change that until the eyes are
repaired or replaced.
Consider the context in which this parable is shared. Verse 21 reveals that the real point is the
heart issue. This message is consistent throughout the Sermon on the Mount. God wants our
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whole heart and affections undivided with the world. Thus the important point in these two
verses is not so much the physical eye and its reception of physical light, but the spiritual eye and
its reception of spiritual light.
22 The [spiritual] light of the [spiritual] body is the [spiritual] eye: if therefore thine
[spiritual] eye be [spiritual] single, thy whole [spiritual] body shall be full of [spiritual] light.
23 But if thine [spiritual] eye be [spiritually double] evil, thy whole [spiritual] body shall be
full of [spiritual] darkness. If therefore the [spiritual] light that is in thee be [spiritual]
darkness, how great is that [spiritual] darkness!
Search the Scriptures for definitions to the symbols.
Light = Truth JN 3:21, PS 43:3; Good IS 5:20; Wisdom EC 2:13; Righteousness PS 37:6; path
of the just PR 4:18; the Bible PS 119:105; God’s Law PR 6:23; Jesus JN 8:12; God’s people EP
5:8; and is the opposite of darkness MT 6:23, JN 3:19, 1J 1:5.
Whole Body = something that can be cast into hell MT 5:29-30; something God can sanctify and
preserve blameless unto the 2nd coming 1TH 5:23; a perfect man JS 3:2. The spiritual body must
then be the mind or character because our physical mortal body is corrupt and will never be
perfect this side of heaven. 1CO 15:35-53.
Eye = Understanding MK 8:17-18; thoughts and purposes of the heart DT 15:9; PR 23:6-8.
Single = not double-minded (unstable hypocrite JS 1:8; 4:8; PS 12:2; 1CH 12:33), fearing God
and desiring to please only Him CL 3:22, EP 6:5; accompanied by gladness and praise AC 2:46-
47
Darkness = lack of understanding PS 8:5, EP 4:18; way of the wicked PR 4:19; doing evil JN
3:19; Evil IS 5:20; opposite of uprightness PR 2:13; obscurity IS 59:9; not knowing the way to
go JN 12:35; power of Satan AC 26:18; unbelief and unrighteousness 2CO 6:14; hatred 1J 2:8-9.
The spiritual eye is input. It is the only means by which spiritual light and visual information
enter the spiritual body. Both eyes must be focused on the same object in order to see correctly.
Otherwise we have double or obscured vision and thus walk in spiritual darkness. If our eyes are
blind or our vision obscured, no amount of external light can help us to see. There is no way out
of the dark.
Insert the definitions into the text that fit the context of the passage.
22 The [path to] light of the [mind] body is the [understanding] eye: if therefore thine
[understanding] eye be [100% God-fearing] single, thy whole [mind] body shall be full of
[truth] light.
23 But if thine [understanding] eye be [mixed with error] evil, thy whole [mind] body shall be
full of [wrong thinking and doing] darkness. If therefore the [truth] light that is in thee be
[error] darkness, how great is that [lack of understanding] darkness!
Re-write the text in your own words.
The only way to get truth into the mind is through the understanding. If your understanding is
100% in harmony with God’s Law and God’s Word, then your whole mind will know the truth.
But if your understanding is divided with error, your whole mind shall be full of error. If
therefore the “truth” that is in you is actually error, how great error.
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No amount of truth taught by God via the Bible or Holy Spirit will be able to enter your mind
because you will misinterpret and misunderstand everything based on the errors cherished in
your thinking.
Apply the lesson in your own life.
The window to the mind is the worldview.
WORLDVIEW = The framework—and glass window—of presuppositions, ideas, and beliefs
thru which you interpret the world you live in and interact with it. You use it to filter all new
information, determining what is right and wrong, true or false, and how you will act or react in
every situation.
The worldview for each individually may vary slightly but will be very similar within certain
boundaries of language, politics, geography, environment/climate, economy, and systems of
religion, music, literature, etc.
Worldview comprises seven elements
1) Ontology, How we describe the world
2) How we explain the world
3) A futurology, Where are we heading?
4) Values and ethics, What should we do?
5) Praxeology, Methodology, or theory of action, How should we attain our goals?
6) Epistemology, or theory of Knowledge, What is true and false?
7) Etiology. How and why you believe and think the way you do.
The Bible contains all the answers to these questions and provides an infallible guide to building
a correct Worldview. When we acquire building materials for our worldview from our culture,
background, and personal experience, we risk using faulty building materials. The further we are
from the biblical worldview, the more errors in our thinking and the greater the risk of our
rejecting or misunderstanding truth.
This theme is addressed in a number of different ways in Scripture:
HO 4:6 ¶ My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge,
I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy
God, I will also forget thy children.
2CO 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.
1TH 5:21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
AC 17:11 These [Bereans] were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the
word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
IS 8:20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because
there is no light in them.
2P 3:16-17 They that are unlearned and unstable wrest [the writings of Paul], as they do also the
other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things
before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own
stedfastness.
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IS 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for
darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
JN 17:17 ¶ Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
JN 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
PR 22:20-21 Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge, That I might
make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest answer the words of truth
to them that send unto thee?
Pr 4:18 But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the
perfect day.
“As he thinketh in his heart, so is he” PR 23:7. Modern psychology is just now beginning to
realize this principle: every feeling and action is preceded, prompted, and motivated by a
thought. The things we think about, tell ourselves, and believe in shape the way we talk and act.
One textbook puts it this way: “If the thoughts are wrong, the feelings will be wrong; and the
thoughts and feelings combined make up the moral character.” Mind, Character, and
Personality, vol 2, 593.
The importance of a correct Worldview cannot be overestimated. When we find ourselves saying
and doing things that we regret, we need to examine our thinking patterns to find the cause. The
cure is in correcting those thinking patterns—exchanging faulty building materials in our
Worldview with biblical ones. The biblical term for this process is “sanctification” or “growing
in grace.”
When we study the Bible we will frequently be brought face-to-face with truth that contradicts
what we have believed, been taught to believe, and lived by all our lives. Whether we advance or
retreat in our Christian growth depends on the choice we make as to what to do with this “new
light.” Will our Worldview toss it aside as unimportant thinking, it doesn’t really matter what
you believe as long as you believe in Christ? Or will we discard the errors in our Worldview and
“build on the Rock” instead?
JS 24:15 “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
P.S. Although it is true that feelings and actions are preceded by thoughts, there are a number of
things which can provoke action or effect emotion without engaging the thoughts. According to
Proof Positive by Dr. Neil Nedley ([Link]) Television, hypnosis, alcohol, nicotine,
caffeine and many over-the-counter and prescription drugs, certain foods and types of music,
will bypass the frontal lobe of our brain. The frontal lobe is the control center of the body where
we make decisions based on our spiritual and moral values, i.e. our worldview. If we want to
speak and act like a Christian, we must guard our frontal lobe from these attacks and keep it in
submission to God and in control of our body at all times (1CO 9:27; JA 4:7; 1P 3:15).
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