A contextualised reading of Matthew 6:22-23: 'Your eye is the lamp of your body'

A contextualised reading of Matthew 6:22-23: 'Your eye is the lamp of your body'

For the modern reader the logion 'The eye is the lamp of the body' is puzzling. While most scholars concur that it has something to do with greed and envy, they often fail to explain this correlation between inner attitudes and the physical eye. In this article I argue that the meaning of this passage can only be understood when read according to the ancient understanding of vision. It is important to interpret the genitive in the phrase <img border=0 src="../../../../../img/revistas/hts/v65n1/22img34.gif" align=absmiddle>as the ancient hearer or reader would have done.

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Main Author: Viljoen,Francois P.
Format: Digital revista
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2009
Online Access:http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0259-94222009000100023
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spelling oai:scielo:S0259-942220090001000232010-02-01A contextualised reading of Matthew 6:22-23: 'Your eye is the lamp of your body'Viljoen,Francois P. Gospel of Matthew vision and the Bible Sermon on the Mount lamp analogy the eye as a lamp in the New Testament For the modern reader the logion 'The eye is the lamp of the body' is puzzling. While most scholars concur that it has something to do with greed and envy, they often fail to explain this correlation between inner attitudes and the physical eye. In this article I argue that the meaning of this passage can only be understood when read according to the ancient understanding of vision. It is important to interpret the genitive in the phrase <img border=0 src="../../../../../img/revistas/hts/v65n1/22img34.gif" align=absmiddle>as the ancient hearer or reader would have done. University of Pretoria HTS Theological Studies v.65 n.1 20092009-01-01journal articletext/htmlhttp://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0259-94222009000100023en
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country Sudáfrica
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region África del Sur
libraryname SciELO
language English
format Digital
author Viljoen,Francois P.
spellingShingle Viljoen,Francois P.
A contextualised reading of Matthew 6:22-23: 'Your eye is the lamp of your body'
author_facet Viljoen,Francois P.
author_sort Viljoen,Francois P.
title A contextualised reading of Matthew 6:22-23: 'Your eye is the lamp of your body'
title_short A contextualised reading of Matthew 6:22-23: 'Your eye is the lamp of your body'
title_full A contextualised reading of Matthew 6:22-23: 'Your eye is the lamp of your body'
title_fullStr A contextualised reading of Matthew 6:22-23: 'Your eye is the lamp of your body'
title_full_unstemmed A contextualised reading of Matthew 6:22-23: 'Your eye is the lamp of your body'
title_sort contextualised reading of matthew 6:22-23: 'your eye is the lamp of your body'
description For the modern reader the logion 'The eye is the lamp of the body' is puzzling. While most scholars concur that it has something to do with greed and envy, they often fail to explain this correlation between inner attitudes and the physical eye. In this article I argue that the meaning of this passage can only be understood when read according to the ancient understanding of vision. It is important to interpret the genitive in the phrase <img border=0 src="../../../../../img/revistas/hts/v65n1/22img34.gif" align=absmiddle>as the ancient hearer or reader would have done.
publisher University of Pretoria
publishDate 2009
url http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0259-94222009000100023
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