Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
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! Matthew 6:23 -
And isn't that the truth! If I think the light says that God is against sinners, and go around teaching that that is the gospel, then I am spreading darkness and thinking it is light. This happens all the time. God is against SIN not sinners. Why? Because SIN is the very thing that is destroying us and the world.
God is indeed good even those His justice my be abusive to independent from God, people . He does have spiritual authority in the unseen spirit , but Gods authority can not be used by faithlessness ................... See sin invites spirits of this world to take spiritual authority over those who sin .................... See I witnesses a fallen spirit the other day which looked like a alien with silver eyes with no pupil's and smelled like burning flesh which brought some pain which God showed to here , as this beast had limited power to disrupt organs of the body but came to me because the world is a sinful place and with prayer Jesus Spirit removed it out of my space and it was gone .....................See if I never prayed God would have moved back from me until I reached out to Him , as it was sin to not pray to remove this beast ..................... Still there are many who do not exercise gifts of God to be free of the unseen spirits of the world if people sin and continue to sin then it will be harder to stop sinning which God will not dwell in sinful people and Christians who do sin like hate or other sins then they will falter in answered prayer from God as God will move back as wait for repentance and redemption from Jesus to move closer to people
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! Matthew 6:23 -
And isn't that the truth! If I think the light says that God is against sinners, and go around teaching that that is the gospel, then I am spreading darkness and thinking it is light. This happens all the time. God is against SIN not sinners. Why? Because SIN is the very thing that is destroying us and the world.
Ok, the verse that you just posted is a Hebraic idiom that alludes to being stingy or selfish...
Ok, the verse that you just posted is a Hebraic idiom that alludes to being stingy or selfish...
It could well be, but Jesus was definitely referencing it to how we see things. We do not think from lack(an evil eye) when our eye is single(an eye that thinks from the kingdom of heaven and its abundance).
It could well be, but Jesus was definitely referencing it to how we see things. We do not think from lack(an evil eye) when our eye is single(an eye that thinks from the kingdom of heaven and its abundance).
Try reading it in context with what comes before and what comes after...He was talking about wealth...
19 'Treasure not up to yourselves treasures on the earth, where moth and rust disfigure, and where thieves break through and steal,
20 but treasure up to yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth disfigure, and where thieves do not break through nor steal,
21 for where your treasure is, there will be also your heart.
22 'The lamp of the body is the eye, if, therefore, thine eye may be perfect, all thy body shall be enlightened,
23 but if thine eye may be evil, all thy body shall be dark; if, therefore, the light that is in thee is darkness--the darkness, how great!
24 'None is able to serve two lords, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to the one, and despise the other; ye are not able to serve God and Mammon.
25 'Because of this I say to you, be not anxious for your life, what ye may eat, and what ye may drink, nor for your body, what ye may put on. Is not the life more than the nourishment, and the body than the clothing?
Try reading it in context with what comes before and what comes after...He was talking about wealth...
19 'Treasure not up to yourselves treasures on the earth, where moth and rust disfigure, and where thieves break through and steal,
20 but treasure up to yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth disfigure, and where thieves do not break through nor steal,
21 for where your treasure is, there will be also your heart.
22 'The lamp of the body is the eye, if, therefore, thine eye may be perfect, all thy body shall be enlightened,
23 but if thine eye may be evil, all thy body shall be dark; if, therefore, the light that is in thee is darkness--the darkness, how great!
24 'None is able to serve two lords, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to the one, and despise the other; ye are not able to serve God and Mammon.
25 'Because of this I say to you, be not anxious for your life, what ye may eat, and what ye may drink, nor for your body, what ye may put on. Is not the life more than the nourishment, and the body than the clothing?
Read what I said again. Jesus was talking about where we see and think from. We think and see from an evil eye or a single one. One is from lack and one is from abundance, one is heavenly the other earthly. He was basically saying all heaven is ours, so set your eye upon that and your whole body will be full of light. If not carry on thinking from lack and limitation and your eye will remain evil. He's given us all things that pertain to life and godliness, the lord is my shepherd, therefore I shall not lack. The stinginess you refer to reveals where we see and think from.
Read what I said again. Jesus was talking about where we see and think from. We think and see from an evil eye or a single one. One is from lack and one is from abundance, one is heavenly the other earthly. He was basically saying all heaven is ours, so set your eye upon that and your whole body will be full of light. If not carry on thinking from lack and limitation and your eye will remain evil. He's given us all things that pertain to life and godliness, the lord is my shepherd, therefore I shall not lack. The stinginess you refer to reveals where we see and think from.
Here we go again, a Gentile telling a Jew what a Hebraic Idiom means in context:
July 16, 2000
Updated: March, 2003
(Mat 6:22-23) 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!
The above verses of scripture are interesting in that a Hebrew idiom lies behind the interpretation. The phrases "thine eye be single" and "thine eye be evil" would probably be better translated as "thine eye be good" and "thine eye be bad." Both of these phrases are Hebrew idioms relating to being generous (good eye) or stingy (bad eye) with one's material wealth. From the context one can see that a comparison is being made between two types of "eyes"—one type in verse 22 and another type in verse 23. But using our modern translations, or even the KJV, what comparison is being made between a "single eye" (v. 22) and "evil eye" (v. 23)? Single versus evil?
Commenting on Matthew 6:22, David Bivin writes:
"'If your eye is good' is an idiomatic way of saying in Hebrew, 'if you are generous.' But our English translators have not recognized this Hebrew idiom. Almost all translations preserve the singular, 'eye,' even though 'eyes' would make more sense in English. Is it necessary for only one of the eyes to be good? Which one, the right or the left?...
"More variety exists in the translation of the word 'good.' Weymouth and the New International Version translate literally. But obviously, 'good' in relation to an eye means nothing in particular. (Weymouth tries to solve this problem by translating 'eye' as 'eyesight' —'If your eyesight is good'!) Other translators simply guess at the meaning of 'good.' 'Single' is the traditional translation of 'good' (King James, American Standard). Most modern versions prefer 'sound'...Other suggestions are 'clear'...and 'pure.'"
(Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus, David Bivin and Roy Blizzard, Jr., pp. 104-105).
From the Jewish New Testament Commentary by David Stern, p. 32, commenting on his own translation of Matthew 6:22-23:
"If you have a 'good eye.' This is in the Greek text, but the explanation, that is, if you are generous, is added by me the translator because in Judaism 'having a good eye,' an ayin tovah, means 'being generous,' and 'having a bad eye,' an ayin ra'ah, means 'being stingy.' That this is the correct translation is confirmed by the context, greed and anxiety about money being the topic in both the preceding and following verses. This passage is another link in the chain of evidence that New Testament events took place in Hebrew..."
Avi ben Mordechai, in discussing the term "peacemaker" in Matthew 5:9 (another interesting word study by the way), touches upon the phrase "good eye":
"This term 'peacemaker' is interesting in that it has been redefined through the centuries since the Messiah, thus contributing to the wrong sense of the idea today. In Y'shua's day, a 'peacemaker' was one filled with generosity, also known as having a 'good-eye.' The antithesis of a 'good-eye' was an 'evil-eye,' or stinginess. Y'shua addresses both of these concepts in Mattityahu 6:19-34.
"According to Oral Torah, having a 'good-eye' meant giving 1/30th (or perhaps 1/40th) of the corners of your field (Hebrew: Peah) to the poor. Having an 'evil-eye' meant giving only the bare minimum of 1/60th according to the letter of mishnaic law. An 'average-eye' or 'neutral-eye' meant giving 1/50th."
(Messiah, Understanding His Life and Teachings in Hebraic Context, Vol. 1, Avi ben Mordechai, pp. 184-185).
Avi ben Mordechai's explanation of these verses is so enlightening when one realizes that Y'shua's "Sermon on the Mount" is better referred to as Y'shua's "Midrash (teaching) on Torah Observance."
One of the verses Mordechai suggests that Y'shua was probably drawing his words from is Proverbs 22:9 — "He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor." The word translated in the KJV as "bountiful" is "tob" in the Hebrew (Strong's 2896, towb or tobe) which means "good." Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary (pp. 99-100) explains tob as meaning "good; favorable; festive; pleasing; pleasant; well; better; right; best." The commentary then goes on to say that "this adjective denotes 'good' in every sense of that word," and "tob is often used in conjunction with the Hebrew word ra'ah ('bad; evil')" which is sometimes intended as a contrast. (Also consider Prov 28:22 — He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him. In the NIV, "evil eye" is translated as "stingy." Also see Deut. 15:8-9)
This contrast of "good" vs "evil" is noted in the parable of the landowner. Commenting on words of the landowner in Matthew 20:15 — "Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?" — Brad Young, in Jesus the Jewish Theologian, p. 136, writes:
"The saying of the magnanimous landowner alludes to the Hebrew expressions 'evil eye' and 'good eye' which suggested the sharp contrast between a generous person full of kindness and a stingy, selfish individual. The generous person with a 'good eye' is driven by a concern to help others and to see their needs met. The selfish person is consumed by one interest: what belongs to him or her."
And finally from the Soncino Talmud:
Mas. Shabbath 146a — The phrase "...perhaps his intention is to be generous..." is explained in the footnotes as meaning, literally, "a good eye."
Mas. Sotah 38b — "R. Joshua b. Levi also said: We give the cup of blessing for the recital of the Grace after meals only to one who is of a generous disposition [footnote: Lit., 'good of eye', the opposite of bad of eye, i.e., envious], as it is said: He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed, for he giveth of his bread to the poor..." - "If your eye be good..."
Here we go again, a Gentile telling a Jew what a Hebraic Idiom means in context:
July 16, 2000
Updated: March, 2003
(Mat 6:22-23) 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!
The above verses of scripture are interesting in that a Hebrew idiom lies behind the interpretation. The phrases "thine eye be single" and "thine eye be evil" would probably be better translated as "thine eye be good" and "thine eye be bad." Both of these phrases are Hebrew idioms relating to being generous (good eye) or stingy (bad eye) with one's material wealth. From the context one can see that a comparison is being made between two types of "eyes"—one type in verse 22 and another type in verse 23. But using our modern translations, or even the KJV, what comparison is being made between a "single eye" (v. 22) and "evil eye" (v. 23)? Single versus evil?
Commenting on Matthew 6:22, David Bivin writes:
"'If your eye is good' is an idiomatic way of saying in Hebrew, 'if you are generous.' But our English translators have not recognized this Hebrew idiom. Almost all translations preserve the singular, 'eye,' even though 'eyes' would make more sense in English. Is it necessary for only one of the eyes to be good? Which one, the right or the left?...
"More variety exists in the translation of the word 'good.' Weymouth and the New International Version translate literally. But obviously, 'good' in relation to an eye means nothing in particular. (Weymouth tries to solve this problem by translating 'eye' as 'eyesight' —'If your eyesight is good'!) Other translators simply guess at the meaning of 'good.' 'Single' is the traditional translation of 'good' (King James, American Standard). Most modern versions prefer 'sound'...Other suggestions are 'clear'...and 'pure.'"
(Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus, David Bivin and Roy Blizzard, Jr., pp. 104-105).
From the Jewish New Testament Commentary by David Stern, p. 32, commenting on his own translation of Matthew 6:22-23:
"If you have a 'good eye.' This is in the Greek text, but the explanation, that is, if you are generous, is added by me the translator because in Judaism 'having a good eye,' an ayin tovah, means 'being generous,' and 'having a bad eye,' an ayin ra'ah, means 'being stingy.' That this is the correct translation is confirmed by the context, greed and anxiety about money being the topic in both the preceding and following verses. This passage is another link in the chain of evidence that New Testament events took place in Hebrew..."
Avi ben Mordechai, in discussing the term "peacemaker" in Matthew 5:9 (another interesting word study by the way), touches upon the phrase "good eye":
"This term 'peacemaker' is interesting in that it has been redefined through the centuries since the Messiah, thus contributing to the wrong sense of the idea today. In Y'shua's day, a 'peacemaker' was one filled with generosity, also known as having a 'good-eye.' The antithesis of a 'good-eye' was an 'evil-eye,' or stinginess. Y'shua addresses both of these concepts in Mattityahu 6:19-34.
"According to Oral Torah, having a 'good-eye' meant giving 1/30th (or perhaps 1/40th) of the corners of your field (Hebrew: Peah) to the poor. Having an 'evil-eye' meant giving only the bare minimum of 1/60th according to the letter of mishnaic law. An 'average-eye' or 'neutral-eye' meant giving 1/50th."
(Messiah, Understanding His Life and Teachings in Hebraic Context, Vol. 1, Avi ben Mordechai, pp. 184-185).
Avi ben Mordechai's explanation of these verses is so enlightening when one realizes that Y'shua's "Sermon on the Mount" is better referred to as Y'shua's "Midrash (teaching) on Torah Observance."
One of the verses Mordechai suggests that Y'shua was probably drawing his words from is Proverbs 22:9 — "He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor." The word translated in the KJV as "bountiful" is "tob" in the Hebrew (Strong's 2896, towb or tobe) which means "good." Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary (pp. 99-100) explains tob as meaning "good; favorable; festive; pleasing; pleasant; well; better; right; best." The commentary then goes on to say that "this adjective denotes 'good' in every sense of that word," and "tob is often used in conjunction with the Hebrew word ra'ah ('bad; evil')" which is sometimes intended as a contrast. (Also consider Prov 28:22 — He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him. In the NIV, "evil eye" is translated as "stingy." Also see Deut. 15:8-9)
This contrast of "good" vs "evil" is noted in the parable of the landowner. Commenting on words of the landowner in Matthew 20:15 — "Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?" — Brad Young, in Jesus the Jewish Theologian, p. 136, writes:
"The saying of the magnanimous landowner alludes to the Hebrew expressions 'evil eye' and 'good eye' which suggested the sharp contrast between a generous person full of kindness and a stingy, selfish individual. The generous person with a 'good eye' is driven by a concern to help others and to see their needs met. The selfish person is consumed by one interest: what belongs to him or her."
And finally from the Soncino Talmud:
Mas. Shabbath 146a — The phrase "...perhaps his intention is to be generous..." is explained in the footnotes as meaning, literally, "a good eye."
Mas. Sotah 38b — "R. Joshua b. Levi also said: We give the cup of blessing for the recital of the Grace after meals only to one who is of a generous disposition [footnote: Lit., 'good of eye', the opposite of bad of eye, i.e., envious], as it is said: He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed, for he giveth of his bread to the poor..." - "If your eye be good..."
We have done this before Richard. You are thinking like all carnal minded Jews do and completely missing the lesson that Jesus is teaching...... Where we think and see from is where our treasure or lack of it is So, Jesus was referring to heavenly things. Does it really need a gentile to explain this to Jew ? I'm afraid so
Richard where we see and think from determines the condition of our eye. It's that simple. If we think from lack and limitation due to belief in separation from God we will be stingy, if we think from our true identity in Christ we will be nothing other than generous
pcamps: "thinking lie all carnal minded Jews do". Wow! What an incredibly offensive statement!
I know without doubt there are spiritually minded Jews, just like there are spiritually minded Gentiles , actually many of them. So I am not tarring all with the same brush. I'm sure there are spiritually minded Muslims too, does that offend you ?.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
