Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew Mark and Luke John Calvin (continued)
Matthew 6:22-24;Luke 11:34-36; 16:13
MATTHEW 6:22-24; LUKE 11:34-36; 16:13
Matthew 6:22-24
Luke 11:34-36
22. The light 454 of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye shall be simple, thy whole body shall be luminous. 23. But if thine eye shall be evil, thy whole body shall be dark. Therefore, if the light which is in thee is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24. No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or he will hold to one, and neglect the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
34. The light 455 of the body is the eye: if thine eye therefore shall be simple, thy whole body shall be luminous: but if it shall be evil, thy whole body also shall be dark. 36. If therefore thy whole body shall be luminous, not having any part dark, the whole shall be luminous, as when a candle enlightens thee by its brightness.
Luke 16:13
13. No servant can serve two master: for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
Matthew 6:22. The light of the body is the eye We must bear in mind, as I have already hinted, that what we find here are detached sentences, and not a continued discourse. The substance of the present statement is, that men go wrong through carelessness, because they do not keep their eye fixed, as they ought to do, on the proper object. For whence comes it, that they so shamefully wander, or dash themselves, or stumble, but because, having corrupted their judgment by choosing rather to follow their own lusts than the righteousness of God, they not only extinguish the light of reason, which ought to have regulated their life, but change it altogether into darkness.
When Christ calls the eye the light of the body,456 he employs a comparison which 454"La lumiere, ou, lanterne;" — "the light, or, lantern" 455"La chandelle;" — "the candle." 456"Appelant l'ceil le flambeau ou la lampe de tout le corps;" — "calling the eye the torch or the lamp of the whole body."