CLUES TO UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE
In a mystery movie, the screenwriter spatters clues along
the way, but it’s only when we watch more of the story, that we flesh out the
clues and the whole story comes together to make sense—mystery solved.
The Bible is like that. In reading the gospels, there are so many passages
along the way that are like those clues in a movie, and I don’t fully
understand their meaning. When that happens, I go to a Concordance to start to
flesh out what the Lord is really saying. A Concordance gives me the fuller
definition of the original language before it was translated into English.
Here’s an example, with Matthew 6:22-24.
22: “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 the 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!
24: “No man can serve two
masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will
hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
The first word I looked up was “light” in verse 22. In
the original language, it is a portable candle, one that can be lit, or it can
go out. The next word I looked at was “eye.” Here it is used metaphorically, of
ethical qualities.
The candle guiding us is our ethical qualities – our
moral standards. Our moral or ethical standards guide our whole body. The
“body” is the whole natural man—body, mind, and emotions. What we do with our
body and soul is maneuvered by our moral standards.
In the second part of verse 22, what does it mean, “if
thine eye be single “? The word single means simple, clear, with nothing
complicated or confused; without folds (not double-minded). Jesus was saying
that if our eyes (ethical qualities) are clear and not jumbled, our “whole body
will be full of light.” People think they can take some standards from the
Bible, some from Buddhism, some from Hinduism, or Islam, or New Age, or
situational ethics, but if those standards don’t jive with what the God of the
Bible says, there’s going to be double standards, ethical difficulties, and a
confused, jumbled mess. Granted, a person needs to understand what the Bible
actually says, and not just unquestioningly believe what’s “always” been
taught. Asking questions is perfectly okay with our God, and there are plenty
of verses documenting that.
The first part of Matthew 6, verse 23 goes on to say:
“But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.” The word
“eye” is again ethical qualities. The word “evil” is “the Evil one,” so this is
saying that if a person’s ethics are inspired and motivated or manipulated by
the evil one, Satan, then the intent is “wicked, actively bad, actively causing
sorrow or pain.” They are actively “bringing toil, hardships, annoyances, and
trouble.”
If moral codes are so deranged, the whole self is going
to be full of darkness. “Full of darkness” is translated from one word
that means covered in darkness, like a tent. Things are opaque; vision is blinded.
Actions are shady and shadowy. There is “ignorance respecting divine things and
human duties.” People whose moral standards begin to deteriorate, becoming prey
to the evil one’s ethics, or lack thereof. They become “persons in whom
darkness becomes visible and holds sway.”
And the last part of verse 23 says: “If therefore the
light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” The word
“light” in this part of the verse means the light of God. If that gets
compromised, the darkness gets “great,” which means great in number, magnitude,
and degree.
The Lord has the antidote to going to the dark side. It’s
in the next verse, Matthew 6:24: “No man can serve two masters: for either he
will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and
despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
The word “hate” doesn’t mean what we think it does. In
this verse, it’s a relative preference. It means a person prefers one over
another. They care about serving the interests of one rather than the other,
for whatever reason. A straightforward analysis would be if a person has two
jobs, two bosses, and both want the person to work on the same Saturday. The
worker can’t do both, so they analyze the pros and cons and pick one.
When Jesus says: “He will hold to the one, and despise
the other,” it means he’ll “hold fast to, cleave to” one, and not really think
much of the other. To “despise” means to think less of, disdain, to look down
on.
We can’t be disciples (disciplined ones) of the Lord and
get all the benefits of God if we play in the devil’s sandbox. The consequences
just aren’t worth it.
To become true disciples of our Lord Jesus, we need to do
what he asks of us, and most of us probably need to re-read the gospels and see
with our eyes and our hearts what he says and what he does, so we follow him
more intimately and more faithfully in the ethical choices we make. There used
to be a phrase spoken by many, “What would Jesus do?” It’s a good one to bring
up again, and if we don’t honestly know what Jesus would do, then we can ask
him. He’s alive.
Just because Jesus gave his life for us once and for all
doesn’t mean that afterward he retired to an easy chair in heaven! He just has
a different job now, a huge job, leading and guiding every one of us, billions
of followers, in the righteous ways of the kingdom of God on earth.
Let’s come to the feet of our merciful Lord and learn
what it means to truly surrender all to Him.
Love, Carolyn
I publish every Sunday on FB and Blogger, and send them out
to email friends too. If you’d like to get them by email or even to a physical
address, let me know. 😊
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