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He taught them many things in parables

The Lamp of the Body (Mt 6:22.23: Lk 11:35.36)

Published since 05. Sep. 2025
Bible passages:
Mt 6:22.23: Lk 11:35.36
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"The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body will be light: but if thine eye be wicked, thy whole body will be dark. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great the darkness!" (Mt 6:22.23)

"See therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If therefore thy whole body [is] light, not having any part dark, it shall be all light as when the lamp lights thee with its brightness." (Lk 11:35.36)

The Sequence of the Images

We have already explored the concept of light. In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord called the believers "the light of the world" and compared them to a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. The light of God's truth should shine through them out into the world as a testimony to the grace of God, which appeared in His Son Jesus Christ, bringing salvation to all people: “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.” (Titus 2:11, NKJV). Then He used a second image, that of a "lamp." This lamp should shine its light inward, should shine on all those "who are in the house." God wants His will and His thoughts to also rule the inner realm of His own (family, assembly). He has entrusted this realm to His own, and in it they are responsible to God. The following subtle contrast is noteworthy: the city on the mountain could not be hidden; the lamp in the house should not be hidden. The one emphasizes the grace and sovereignty of God, the other the responsibility of man.

But then the Lord takes up the image of a lamp again in Matthew 6 and speaks of the “lamp of the body”: “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!”(Matthew 6:22-23, NKJV).

No matter how much light there is around us, an individual will not benefit from it unless he acquires the ability to absorb the light within himself. One must first have an 'eye', must first look, before one can shine. Luke's Gospel highlights this connection even more clearly. He shows that on another occasion, the Lord Jesus also spoke of the "lamp on the lampstand" and then directly added the parable of the "lamp of the body." There, however, He concluded the image with words that differ from Matthew 6: “Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light” (Luke 11:35-36, NKJV).

If we take the passages from Matthew and Luke together (Luke does not mention the corporate aspect of the “city on the mountain”), we recognize in the Lord's teaching a descending line or an ever-narrowing perspective. That is to say, He first mentions the greater thing and then the condition for it to become a reality. If we look at the teaching from the point of view of the prerequisites, then the reverse order follows: first, there must be a simple eye so that the light of God illuminates one's own body. If this prerequisite is met, then the "lamp on the lampstand" can let its light fall on everything in the house, and only then can we personally let our light shine before people. This, in turn, is the prerequisite for the "city on the mountain" to illuminate the world as a common testimony of God with the light bestowed upon it.

Is this order not noteworthy? The matter begins very personally; God's work begins in the innermost part of the individual. Before we can pass light on to others, we ourselves must have received light. But for this, our eyes must be in the right condition and directed towards the true source of light. To help us learn this, the Lord gives us this teaching; and because our "eye" is of crucial importance in this matter, He calls it the "lamp of the body."

In the following, we will first address the "evil eye" and its consequences, distinguishing three aspects (points of view): the general, the Jewish, and the moral aspects.

The Evil Eye and Its Consequences

What does “eye” mean?

In the natural realm, the eye is the gateway through which everything cognizable enters the interior of a person. His level of knowledge (his “light”) depends primarily on the ability of his eye to correctly grasp what is perceptible. If the eye is diseased or even blind, perception is greatly impaired or altogether impossible. Let us just think for a moment about the possibility that we can read written text with our eyes. How many blessings are lost to those who have lost their “vision” in old age and can no longer absorb written material! In this respect, the eye does indeed illuminate the inside of a person.

The Lord Jesus transfers this fact from the natural realm to the spiritual realm—and that is what a “parable” does. Our hearts also have “eyes,” and through them spiritual light falls into our inner being. In his prayer in Ephesians, the apostle prays for the saints in Ephesus: “the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” (Ephesians 1:18, NKJV).

Our parable is not about who the real, true light is. Another evangelist, John, shows us that it is the Son of God. No, here it is entirely a question of the "eye." The light is there, shining in the darkness, and it does its work perfectly. That is unquestionably a great grace. But where is the eye, where is the opening that lets the light into the interior? This is the point at issue now. By our "eye" we can understand everything that has to do with the desires of our heart, with its intentions and its purposes. "Eye" thus stands for "heart"; it is its organ of sight. Our inner desires and goals determine the direction of our eyes. That is why we are earnestly admonished in the Old Testament to guard our hearts more than anything, “for out of it spring the issues of life” (Proverbs 4:23, NKJV).

When Leonardo da Vinci invented the principle of the camera more than 400 years ago (the so-called camera obscura, Latin for "dark chamber"), he constructed a light-tight box with a small circular hole in the front wall. This allowed the incoming light to create an inverted image of the object on the back wall. The lens that Porta later inserted into the hole sharpened the image, leading to the development of the camera we know today. I can hardly think of a better illustration of what our parable is about.

The General Aspect

The human heart, by nature, resembles a light-tight chamber with only one opening blocked. Because no ray of divine light can enter, it is completely dark. Indeed, the god of this world, Satan, has blinded the minds of unbelievers “lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them” (2 Corinthians 4:4, NKJV). The natural man is blind to “the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14, NKJV).

But the eye of the natural man is not only blind, but it is also evil. That is the contrast here: either the eye is simple or it is evil. It does not say “single-minded” or “twofold” (double), but “single” or “evil.” “Evil” includes the idea that the human will, independent of God, is at work. The Lord thus designates a morally corrupt state. Both expressions, ‘simple’ and ‘evil,’ describe moral states of the heart.

Now, an eye that does not have Christ as its object is fundamentally evil. We could refer to this as the moral law of Christianity. And because the eye of the natural man is evil, that is, because man inwardly rejects Christ, his whole body is dark. The letter to the Ephesians paints a similar frightening picture of the nations: they are “darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart” (Ephesians 4:18, NKJV). Note the connection between darkness and the heart here as well.

In John 15, the Lord makes it very clear to us how evil the human eye is. “If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause’” (John 15:19-25, NKJV).

When the Lord Jesus was here on earth, He showed Himself to men in the moral beauty of His person, so that His glory, which as the only begotten of the Father, was perfectly seen: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14, NKJV). In His nature, in His ways and words, He revealed the love and goodness of His Father, and He did so in a perfect way. And what was man's response to the perfect revelation of God's love and grace? Hatred! Hatred of Christ and hatred of His Father. Could man, and especially the Jew, have demonstrated more clearly the evil of his eye and the abysmal enmity that rules his heart against God? Man hates the grace of God; he does not want it. To accept it would be an admission that nothing else can help him. But man also hates the light because it exposes his evil deeds: “For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed” (John 3:20, NKJV). Thus, he hates the grace and the light of God.

If man remains in this state, if he resists the working of the Spirit of God, who, on the basis of the work of Christ, wants to bring light into his soul, then this inevitably leads to eternal night, to eternal damnation. How terrible is the end of him whose eye is evil and whose body is dark! Those who receive light and reject it are subject to the Lord's solemn word: “If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:23, NKJV).

But how does one obtain simple eyes? Through “repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21, NKJV). When one accepts by faith Him who is the “Light of the world” (John 8:12, NKJV), then darkness departs and divine light fills the soul: “I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness” (John 12:46, NKJV). This light relentlessly reveals the moral corruption of the human heart. Still, it also shows the means of atonement that the Lord Jesus has provided for the sins of those who believe in Him – His blood: “whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness” (Romans 3:25, NKJV). For this, the name of our Redeemer be praised forever!

The Jewish aspect

The parable especially applies to the Jews. God had revealed Himself to the people of Israel in the times of the Old Testament. He had given them a certain amount of light, which clearly distinguished them from the nations living in darkness. Only the people of Israel had “the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises” (Romans 9:4, NKJV). Thus, they were a very privileged people, for God had already spoken to their fathers of old in many and various ways through the prophets: “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets” (Hebrews 1:1, NKJV). This meant nothing less than that He had given them “light.”

But then the Son Himself came, God sent Him to them. And He placed this “light” – not unlike that “city on a hill” – in a lofty and visible position for all to see, so that all the people could benefit from Him. But when the true light came to them, the Jews did everything to extinguish it. So evil was their eye, so dark their inner being, that some of them attributed it to Beelzebub when the Son of God, in the power of the Holy Spirit, cast out demons. Luke illustrates this connection to the Jewish people in his Gospel, specifically in Chapter 11. When they asked for a sign out of unbelief, He gave them only the sign of Jonah: the Son of Man Himself would be a sign to this evil generation – in His dying and rising. The Queen of Sheba would rise against them at the Day of Judgment, as would the men of Nineveh, and would condemn them. For although they were from the despised nations, they had believed the testimony of God in their days.

But now, in the person of Christ, there was “a greater than Solomon” and “a greater than Jonah” (Luke 11:31-32, NKJV). And this “lamp” shed its bright light in the house of Israel. If even people do not put a lit lamp in secret or under a bushel, how much less God. His dealings with this people were perfect in every way, and they were characterized by grace. If they did not benefit from the light they received, it was not because of the light, but because of their evil eye.

Why did the leaders of the people not see what was happening before their eyes? Why did they not recognize that a Greater than Solomon and Jonah was dwelling in their midst? Because their organ of sight, their heart, was not simple. “Simple” originally meant “not composite, without a fold (or folds)”. In the New Testament, this word is used throughout in a good sense, meaning “simple, plain, straightforward, pure, just, open.” If an eye of this kind looked at the Lord Jesus, it saw something “more” in Him than in King Solomon or the prophet Jonah.

Thus, the Lord, in His time among them, warned them of the danger that the light within them might turn to darkness: “Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness” (Luke 11:35, NKJV). Once again: rejected light means darkness. It is God's judgmental response to the rejection of His grace.

We know that this people did not listen to the Lord's warning. Rather, they crucified and killed the Lord of glory. And the shocking result of this is that to this day this people is in darkness, to this day the veil lies on their hearts: “But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart” (2 Corinthians 3:15, NKJV). And if it were not for the grace of God, it would remain so. However, one day they will repent, and the veil will be taken away. They will look in faith at Him whom they once pierced: “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him” (Revelation 1:7, NKJV). Then there will also be light in the house of Israel, so that all who enter will see the light: “No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a basket, but on a lampstand, that those who come in may see the light” (Luke 11:33, NKJV). The nations will come from afar and praise and glorify God for the light they will find there. The Queen of Sheba is a lovely example of this (1 Kings 10). And in that wonderful time, the people of Israel will also resemble the “city on a hill” (Matthew 5:14, NKJV), and the light of God's revelation will shine into the world.

The moral aspect of the parable

We have seen so far that the “evil eye” in our parable refers to the natural man in general and to the Jew in particular. However, this parable also has a personal application for every one of us, for every believing Christian.

Even though every child of God is “light in the Lord” (Ephesians 5:8, NKJV) and God has opened our eyes of the heart to the person of Christ, our eye can still be “evil” and our body “dark” in certain areas of our lives (cf. the expression “no part dark”): “If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light” (Luke 11:36, NKJV). If our hearts are set on something other than Christ: “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3:2, NKJV), if we seek anything other than the glorification of God: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31, NKJV), if we do not do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus: “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17, NKJV), then, beloved, even our eye is not simple but evil. Consequently, our body is dark; we have no light about the will of God in this or that matter.

Let us again use the camera obscura as a metaphor for our heart. It has only one opening. This camera is one-eyed, “simple.”The light entering through the opening in the front wall draws the object at which the camera is directed to the back wall. The moral law of Christianity now also applies to us. If we direct the lens of our camera to Christ, His image will be drawn within us. Can this mean anything other than light and indescribable happiness? If, on the other hand, we turn the gaze of our hearts to other objects, we lose both light and happiness, and instead restlessness, dissatisfaction, and uncertainty about the will of God take hold in our lives.

Let us be assured: if we have no clarity about the thoughts of God and His way with us, it is first of all because our eye is not single. Often, we cannot recognize the Lord's will because we are not willing to give up something we are attached to. But God wants our body to be “full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light” (Luke 11:36, NKJV), not to have a “dark part.”

If we close certain areas of our lives and hearts to the light of God, we should not be surprised if God cannot guide us with His eye in these areas, even if we struggle to know His will. Knowing the will of God depends on the state of our heart, on our affections. This is also the reason why God has not given us a series of “recipes” in His Word, which we can simply act upon without the question of our affections being touched. If our eye is not single, we can pray and study the Word without experiencing the will of God.

It is not uncommon for us to have already anticipated decisions but still pray that the Lord would show us His will in the matter. If we then do not receive an answer, no assurance, it is not surprising. There are some dark parts in our “body.”They are caused by the fact that we have not fixed our eyes on the Lord Jesus, but that we have had other objects besides Him. How easily something comes between the Lord and us, and then it covers our eyes like a thin film, impairing our vision. The Lord must first remove it before He can give us further light.

Sometimes we want far too much and feel very important. The Lord must then show us that we are nothing. Sometimes we should just stay where we are and do nothing special, but wait for Him and His actions. Or we seek to recognize His will in circumstances in which we should not be at all. Then He has nothing else to say to us but that we should leave them as quickly as possible. Perhaps He must also call out to us: “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light” (Ephesians 5:14, NKJV).

Isn't that all a bit harsh or even merciless? Quite the opposite! God knows that we are only truly happy when our hearts are in constant contact with Christ. It is grace when He reveals what stands in the way of intimate communion with Him. And would it not be truly ruthless, even unjust, if He were to reveal the secrets of His thoughts to those who walk at some distance from Him, just as He does to those whose eyes are single-mindedly fixed on Christ?

Oh, that we could learn to say with Paul: “but one thing I do: forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead” (Philippians 3:13, NKJV)! It would be the expression of true simplicity of heart. And would not a thousand things disappear from our lives if we asked ourselves whether we could do them in the name of the Lord and for the glory of God?

Perhaps we should take God's creatures, the flowers, for example. The Lord also used them as “teaching aids.” There are some among them (e.g., Gazania) that fold their petals together as long as the sun does not shine directly on them. But when the sun's light falls on them, they open completely to its warming rays and reveal their beautiful, flower-like face. Let us do the same! We are never more beautiful to the Lord than when we open ourselves completely to Him. And we are also never happier than when we consciously allow ourselves to be irradiated by the sunshine of His love. A simple eye, an incomprehensible blessing, is connected with it.

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