What is the meaning of Matthew 6:23? But if your eyes are bad “ But if your eye is bad …” (Matthew 6:23) • Jesus pictures the eye as the lamp of the body (v. 22). A “bad” eye is one that is clouded, unhealthy, or misdirected—spiritually unfocused. • Proverbs 4:25 urges, “Let your eyes look forward; fix your gaze straight ahead.” When we turn from that clear focus on God, the problem is not merely optical; it is moral and spiritual. • Luke 11:34–35 restates the warning: “When your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness. Be careful, then, that the light within you is not darkness.” The Lord calls us to examine what we let in through our moral vision. Your whole body will be full of darkness “… your whole body will be full of darkness.” • As light governs the body’s ability to move safely, so spiritual sight governs the soul’s ability to live righteously. A corrupted outlook spreads inward until thought, desire, and conduct are darkened (Ephesians 4:18). • This darkness is relational—cut off from “the Light of the world” (John 8:12). It is intellectual—truth is blurred (2 Corinthians 4:4). It is moral—sin gains dominion (Romans 6:12–13). If then the light within you is darkness “If then the light within you is darkness …” • Jesus presses deeper: what we consider “light” (our guiding convictions) may itself be darkness. Sin deceives, dressing evil in the clothes of enlightenment (Isaiah 5:20). • John 3:19–20 explains why: “People loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.” When self becomes the standard, the inner lamp flips—the switch is on, yet nothing but shadow fills the room. How great is that darkness! “… how great is that darkness!” • The exclamation reveals alarm: spiritual blindness is not a minor impairment but a consuming gloom. • 1 John 2:11 speaks of the one who “walks in darkness and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” • Left unchecked, this darkness ends in “the outer darkness” of judgment (Matthew 25:30). The warning is urgent: let Christ’s light in before blindness becomes permanent. summary Jesus teaches that our spiritual eyesight—what we choose to focus on and trust—determines the condition of our entire being. A clear, Christ-centered gaze fills life with His light; a distorted, sin-clouded gaze plunges everything into darkness. Because what we call “light” can itself be dark, we must continually open our eyes to the true Light, allowing His Word and His Spirit to illumine every corner of the heart. |
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