Let the following expositors of Scripture explain the text.
Adam
Clark - Albert Barnes - Matthew Henry
A. T. Robinson - William Burkitt
ADAM
CLARKE
Matthew 6:22 - If-thine eye be
single] aplouv, simple, uncompounded; i.e. so perfect in its structure
as to see objects distinctly and clearly, and not confusedly, or in
different places to what they are, as is often the case in certain
disorders of the eye; one object appearing two or more-or else in a
different situation, and of a different colour to what it really is. This
state of the eye is termed, Mt 6:23, ponhrov evil, i.e. diseased or
defective. An evil eye was a phrase in use, among the ancient Jews, to
denote an envious, covetous man or disposition; a man who repined at his
neighbour's prosperity, loved his own money, and would do nothing in the
way of charity for God's sake. Our blessed Lord, however, extends and
sublimes this meaning, and uses the sound eye as a metaphor to point out
that simplicity of intention, and purity of affection with which men
should pursue the supreme good. We cannot draw more than one straight line
between two indivisible points. We aim at happiness: it is found only in
one thing, the indivisible and eternal GOD. If the line of simple
intention be drawn straight to him, and the soul walk by it, with purity
of affection, the whole man shall be light in the Lord; the rays of that
excellent glory shall irradiate the mind, and through the whole spirit
shall the Divine nature be transfused. But if a person who enjoyed this
heavenly treasure permit his simplicity of intention to deviate from
heavenly to earthly good; and his purity of affection to be contaminated
by worldly ambition, secular profits, and animal gratifications; then, the
light which was in him becomes darkness, i.e. his spiritual discernment
departs, and his union with God is destroyed: all is only a palpable
obscure; and, like a man who has totally lost his sight, he walks without
direction, certainty, or comfort. This state is most forcibly intimated in
our Lord's exclamation, How great a darkness! Who can adequately describe
the misery and wretchedness of that soul which has lost its union with the
fountain of all good, and, in losing this, has lost the possibility of
happiness till the simple eye be once more given, and the straight line
once more drawn.
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ALBERT BARNES
Matthew 6:22-23. The
light of the body, etc. The sentiment stated in the preceding
verses--the duty of fixing the affections on heavenly things--Jesus
proceeds to illustrate by a reference to the eye. When the eye is directed
singly and steadily towards an object, and is in health, or is single,
everything is clear and plain. If it vibrates, flies to different objects,
is fixed on no one singly, or is diseased, nothing is seen clearly.
Everything is dim and confused. The man, therefore, is unsteady. The eye
regulates the motion of the body. To have an object distinctly in view, is
necessary to correct and regulate action, Rope-dancers, in order to steady
themselves, fix the eye on some object on the wall, and look steadily at
that. If they should look down on the rope or the people, they would
become dizzy and fall. A man crossing a stream on a log, if he will look
across at some object steadily, will be in little danger. If he looks down
on the dashing and rolling waters, he will become dizzy, and fall. So
Jesus says, in order that the conduct may be right, it is important to fix
the affections on heaven. Having the affections there--having the eye of
faith single, steady, unwavering--all the conduct will be correspondent.
Single. Steady, devoted to
one object. Not confused, as persons' eyes are when they see double.
Thy whole body shall be full of light. Your conduct will be regular
and steady. All that is needful to direct the body is that the eye be
fixed right. No other light is required. So all that is needful to direct
the soul and the conduct is that the eye of faith be fixed on heaven, that
the affections be there.
If therefore the light that is in thee, etc. The word light, here,
signifies the mind, or principles of the soul. If this be dark, how great
is that darkness! The meaning of this passage may be thus expressed: The
light of the body, the guide and director, is the eye. All know how
calamitous it is when that light is irregular or extinguished, as when the
eye is diseased or lost. So the light that is in us is the soul. If that
soul is debased by attending exclusively to earthly objects--if it is
diseased, and not fixed on heaven--how much darker and more dreadful will
it be than any darkness of the eye! Avarice darkens the mind, obscures the
view, and brings in a dreadful and gloomy night over all the faculties. |
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MATTHEW HENRY
We must take heed of hypocrisy
and worldly-mindedness in choosing the end we look at. Our concern as to
this is represented by two sorts of eyes which men have, a single
eye and an evil eye, Mt 6:22,23. The expressions here are somewhat
dark because concise; we shall therefore take them in some variety of
interpretation. The light of the body is the eye, that is plain; the eye
is discovering and directing; the light of the world would avail us little
without this light of the body; it is the light of the eye that rejoiceth
the heart (Pr 15:30), but what is that which is here compared to the eye
in the body.
 1. The eye, that is, the heart (so some) if that be single
aplouv free and bountiful (so the word is frequently rendered, as Ro 12:8;
2Co 8:2,11,13; Jas 1:5, and we read of a bountiful eye, Pr 22:9). If the
heart be liberally affected and stand inclined to goodness and charity, it
will direct the man to Christian actions, the whole conversation will be
full of light, full of evidences and instances of true Christianity, that
pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father (Jas 1:27), full of
light, of good works, which are our light shining before men; but if the
heart be evil, covetous, and hard, and envious, griping and grudging (such
a temper of mind is often expressed by an evil eye, Mt 20:15; Mr 7:22; Pr
23:6,7), the body will be full of darkness, the whole conversation will be
heathenish and unchristian. The instruments of the churl are and always
will be evil, but the liberal deviseth liberal things, Isa 32:5-8. If the
light that is in us, those affections which should guide us to that which
is good, be darkness, if these be corrupt and worldly, if there be not so
much as good nature in a man, not so much as a kind disposition, how great
is the corruption of a man, and the darkness in which he sits! This sense
seems to agree with the context; we must lay up treasure in heaven by
liberality in giving alms, and that not grudgingly but with cheerfulness,
Lu 12:33; 2Co 9:7. But these words in the parallel place do not come in
upon any such occasion, Lu 11:34, and therefore the coherence here does
not determine that to be the sense of them.
2. The eye, that is, the understanding
(so some); the practical judgment, the conscience, which is to the other
faculties of the soul, as the eye is to the body, to guide and direct
their motions; now if this eye be single, if it make a true and right
judgment, and discern things that differ, especially in the great concern
of laying up the treasure so as to choose aright in that, it will rightly
guide the affections and actions, which will all be full of the light of
grace and comfort; but if this be evil and corrupt, and instead of leading
the inferior powers, is led, and bribed, and biassed by them, if this be
erroneous and misinformed, the heart and life must needs be full of
darkness, and the whole conversation corrupt. They that will not
understand, are said to walk on in darkness, Ps 82:5. It is sad when the
spirit of a man, that should be the candle of the Lord, is an ignis fatuus:
when the leaders of the people, the leaders of the faculties, cause them
to err, for then they that are led of them are destroyed, Isa 9:16. An
error in the practical judgment is fatal, it is that which calls evil good
and good evil (Isa 5:20); therefore it concerns us to understand things
aright, to get our eyes anointed with eye-salve.
3. The eye, that is, the aims
and intentions; by the eye we set our end before us, the mark we shoot
at, the place we go to, we keep that in view, and direct our motion
accordingly; in everything we do in religion, there is something or other
that we have in our eye, now if our eye be single, if we aim honestly, fix
right ends, and move rightly towards them, if we aim purely and only at
the glory of God, seek his honour and favour, and direct all entirely to
him, then the eye is single; Paul's was so when he said, To me to live is
Christ; and if we be right here, the whole body will be full of light, all
the actions will be regular and gracious, pleasing to God and comfortable
to ourselves; but if this eye be evil, if, instead of aiming only at the
glory of God, and our acceptance with him, we look aside at the applause
of men, and while we profess to honour God, contrive to honour ourselves,
and seek our own things under colour of seeking the things of Christ, this
spoils all, the whole conversation will be perverse and unsteady, and the
foundations being thus out of course, there can be nothing but confusion
and every evil work in the superstructure. Draw the lines from the
circumference to any other point but the centre, and they will cross. If
the light that is in thee be not only dim, but darkness itself, it is a
fundamental error, and destructive to all that follows. The end specifies
the action. It is of the last importance in religion, that we be right in
our aims, and make eternal things, not temporal, our scope, 2Co 4:18. The
hypocrite is like the waterman, that looks one way and rows another; the
true Christian like the traveler, that has his journey's end in his eye.
The hypocrite soars like the kite, with his eye upon the prey below, which
he is ready to come down to when he has a fair opportunity; the true
Christian soars like the lark, higher and higher, forgetting the things
that are beneath.
III. We must take heed of
hypocrisy and worldly-mindedness in choosing the master we serve, Mt 6:24.
No man can serve two masters. Serving two masters is contrary to the
single eye; for the eye will be to the master's hand, Ps 123:1,2. Our Lord
Jesus here exposes the cheat which those put upon their own souls, who
think to divide between God and the world, to have a treasure on earth,
and a treasure in heaven too, to please God and please men too. Why not?
says the hypocrite; it is good to have two strings to one's bow. They hope
to make their religion serve their secular interest, and so turn to
account both ways. The pretending mother was for dividing the child; the
Samaritans will compound between God and idols. No, says Christ, this will
not do; it is but a supposition that gain is godliness, 1Ti 6:5. Here is,
1. A general maxim laid down;
it is likely it was a proverb among the Jews, No man can serve two
masters, much less two gods; for their commands will some time or other
cross or contradict one another, and their occasions interfere. While two
masters go together, a servant may follow them both; but when they part,
you will see to which he belongs; he cannot love, and observe, and cleave
to both as he should. If to the one, not to the other; either this or that
must be comparatively hated and despised. This truth is plain enough in
common cases.
2. The application of it to
the business in hand. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. Mammon is a Syriac
word, that signifies gain; so that whatever in this world is, or is
accounted by us to be, gain (Php 3:7), is mammon. Whatever is in the
world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life,
is mammon. To some their belly is their mammon, and they serve that (Php
3:19); to others their ease, their sleep, their sports and pastimes, are
their mammon (Pr 6:9); to others worldly riches (Jas 4:13); to others
honours and preferments; the praise and applause of men was the Pharisees'
mammon; in a word, self, the unity in which the world's trinity centres,
sensual, secular self, is the mammon which cannot be served in conjunction
with God; for if it be served, it is in competition with him and in
contradiction to him. He does not say, We must not or we should not, but
we cannot serve God and Mammon; we cannot love both (1Jo 2:15; Jas 4:4);
or hold to both, or hold by both in observance, obedience, attendance,
trust, and dependence, for they are contrary the one to the other.
God says, "My
son, give me thy heart."
Mammon says, "No, give it
me."
God says,
"Be content with such things as
ye have."
Mammon says, "Grasp
at all that ever thou canst. Money, money;
by fair means or by foul, money."
God says,
"Defraud not, never lie, be
honest and just in all thy dealings."
Mammon says, "Cheat
thine own Father, if thou canst gain by it."
God says,
"Be charitable."
Mammon says, "Hold
thy own: this giving undoes us all."
God says,
"Be careful for nothing."
Mammon says, "Be
careful for everything."
God says,
"Keep holy thy Sabbath-day."
Mammon says, "Make
use of that day as well as any other for the world."
Thus inconsistent are the
commands of God and Mammon, so that we cannot serve both. Let us not then
halt between God and Baal, but choose ye this day whom ye will serve, and
abide by your choice. |
