Matthew 6:22-24 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Matthew 6:19-24

Worldly-mindedness is as common and as fatal a symptom of hypocrisy as any other, for by no sin can Satan have a surer and faster hold of the soul, under the cloak of a visible and passable profession of religion, than by this; and therefore Christ, having warned us against coveting the praise of men, proceeds next to warn us against coveting the wealth of the world; in this also we must take heed, lest we be as the hypocrites are, and do as they do: the fundamental error that they are guilty... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Matthew 6:22-23

6:22-23 The light of the body is the eye. So then, if your eye is generous, the whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is grudging, your whole body will be in the dark. If, then, the light which is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! The idea behind this passage is one of childlike simplicity. The eye is regarded as the window by which the light gets into the whole body. The state of a window decides what light gets into a room. If the window is clear, clean. and... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Matthew 6:22-23

But here Jesus speaks of one special virtue which fills the eye with light, and one special fault which fills the eye with darkness. The King James Version speaks here about the eye being single and the eye being evil Certainly that is the literal meaning of the Greek, but the words single and evil are here used in a special way which is common enough in the Greek in which scripture is written. The word for single is haplous ( Greek #573 ), and its corresponding noun is haplotes ( ... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Matthew 6:24

6:24 No man can be a slave to two owners; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will cleave to the one and despise the other. You cannot be a slave to God and to material things. To one brought up in the ancient world this is an even more vivid saying than it is to us. The Revised Standard Version translates it: No one can serve two masters. But that is not nearly strong enough. The word which the Revised Standard Version translates "serve" is douleuein ( Greek... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Matthew 6:24

This saying of Jesus is bound to turn our thoughts to the place which material possessions should have in life. At the basis of Jesus' teaching about possessions there are three great principles. (i) In the last analysis all things belong to God. Scripture makes that abundantly clear. "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof; the world and those who dwell therein" ( Psalms 24:1 ). "For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.... If I were hungry I would... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Matthew 6:24

There are two great questions about possessions, and on the answer to these questions everything depends. (i) How did a man gain his possessions? Did he gain them in a way that he would be glad that Jesus Christ should see, or did he gain them in a way that he would wish to hide from Jesus Christ? A man may gain his possessions at the expense of honesty and honour. George Macdonald tells of a village shop-keeper who grew very rich. Whenever he was measuring cloth, he measured it with his... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Matthew 6:22

The light of the body is the eye ,.... Or, the "candle of the body is the eye"; for the eye is that in the body, as a candle is in the house; by the light of it, the several members of the body perform their office; and what is said of the eye of the body, is transferred to the eye of the mind: if therefore thine eye be single : that is, if thy mind be liberal, generous, and bountiful: for Christ is still upon the same subject of liberality, and against covetousness; and here speaks... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Matthew 6:23

But if thine eye be evil ,.... If thou art of a sordid disposition, of an avaricious temper, if the sin of covetousness prevails over thee, thy whole body will be full of darkness : thy judgment will be so influenced by that sordid principle, that thou wilt not be able to discern what is agreeable to the law of God, or human reason; what is fitting to be done for thyself, for God, or for thy fellow creatures; all the powers and faculties of thy soul will be enslaved by it, and all be... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Matthew 6:24

No man can serve two masters ,.... Whose orders are directly contrary to one another: otherwise, if they were the same, or agreed, both might be served; but this is rarely the case, and seldom done. This is a proverbial expression, and is elsewhere used by Christ, Luke 16:13 . The Jews have sayings pretty much like it, and of the same sense as when they say F23 Praefat. Celi Jaker, fol. 3. 1. , "we have not found that כל אדם זוכה לשתי שולחנות , "any man is fit for two... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 6:22

The light of the body is the eye - That is, the eye is to the body what the sun is to the universe in the day time, or a lamp or candle to a house at night. If - thine eye be single - Απλους , 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... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Matthew 6:19-24

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Matthew 6:22-23

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Matthew 6:22-23

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Matthew 6:24

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Matthew 6:24

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Matthew 6:24

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Matthew 6:22

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Matthew 6:23

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Matthew 6:24

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Matthew 6:22

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