How one can Discover the That means of a Bible Verse

Audio Transcript

At present’s Labor Day for us within the States. We’re taking a break from our work. However we are able to nonetheless use the day to study new expertise, particularly to turn out to be higher Bible readers. In fact, now we have dozens of episodes masking a bunch of very sensible recommendations on overcoming the challenges of learning the Bible for ourselves. And I took all these episodes on Bible studying, Bible research, Bible memorization, even the wrestle with Bible neglect — all these many episodes I put collectively in a single massive digest to point out you all the bottom we coated, in the APJ e book in that first part, on pages 1–46. It’s the part I’ve heard essentially the most compliments about, too.

And this episode will add to it. So, what do you do when a Bible verse doesn’t make sense on first learn? The query is from Chris, and it’s particular: “Pastor John, whats up and thanks for this podcast. You will have stated previously that you just didn’t perceive Matthew 6:22–23 for a very long time. However you then spent extra time trying on the context earlier than, within the treasuring focus in Matthew 6:19–21, and extra time after the textual content, within the cash focus in Matthew 6:24 — these contexts helped make sense of the whole lot in between. Additionally, what you discovered in Matthew 20:13–15 you introduced into your discovery, too.

“Are you able to clarify the way you got here to grasp Jesus’s educating on the wholesome and sick eye utilizing each the shut context, earlier than and after it, and the broader context collectively? These seem to be Bible interpretation rules all of us have to grasp when the textual content in entrance of us doesn’t make instant sense. Thanks!”

Effectively, that’s true. Matthew 6:22–23 simply appeared to dangle with out connections to what went earlier than, what went after. I couldn’t see it. I imply, it was my drawback, not God’s drawback, not Jesus’s drawback. It’s my drawback. I simply couldn’t see it. Then in the future, as I used to be studying in Matthew 20 — that’s 14 chapters later — and the ESV footnote clarified a phrase I noticed, I stated, “Oh, that’s going to assist. That’s going to assist make sense again in chapter 6.”

Lamp of the Physique

So, listed here are the verses:

The attention is the lamp of the physique. So, in case your eye is wholesome, your complete physique shall be full of sunshine, but when your eye is unhealthy, your complete physique shall be stuffed with darkness. If then the sunshine in you is darkness, how nice is the darkness! (Matthew 6:22–23)

Now, if we simply take these two verses by themselves, I feel I could make sense out of them. If you happen to shut your eyes, the whole lot is darkish. However for those who open your eyes, there’s mild, and it fills you with mild. You possibly can stroll. You cannot run into partitions, you cannot fall off a cliff.

And so, the attention is sort of a lamp. I get that. I like that, that it’s a lamp. And when it’s lit and burning, you’ll be able to see the place to go. In case your eyes are shut or in case your eyes are sick, you probably have cataracts or one thing, then you’ll be able to’t see the place you should go. So, if the physique goes to not kill itself by working into the mistaken factor, it wants a wholesome eye. “The attention is the lamp of the physique.” I get that. That’s an excellent picture.

However what puzzled me was that it simply appeared to come back out of nowhere. Why are you saying that right here, particularly within the sequence of those sayings?

Contemplating the Context

Earlier than these two verses comes the acquainted saying about not laying up treasures on earth:

Don’t lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, the place moth and rust destroy and the place thieves break in and steal, however lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, the place neither moth nor rust destroys and the place thieves don’t break in and steal. For the place your treasure is, there your coronary heart shall be additionally. (Matthew 6:19–21)

“Pray for eyes that look upon the issues of this world as methods of serving God and loving folks.”

So, earlier than the saying concerning the good eye and the unhealthy eye comes a saying about cash — laying up treasures in heaven and on earth. Don’t hoard cash right here as if your life and your safety had been in cash. Use cash right here in ways in which piles up treasure in heaven. Use it in acts of affection. Then, with no specific connecting phrase, Jesus merely says, “The attention is the lamp of the physique” (Matthew 6:22). And I simply discovered that puzzling. Why do you comply with up “lay up treasures in heaven” with “the attention is the lamp of the physique”?

After which, after these puzzling verses — 22 and 23 — comes the saying, “Nobody can serve two masters, for both he’ll hate the one and love the opposite, or he shall be dedicated to the one and despise the opposite. You can not serve God and cash” (Matthew 6:24). So, the sayings earlier than and after the phrases concerning the good and unhealthy eye take care of treasure or cash. That appears vital to me.

So, the one within the center looks like it ought to have one thing to do with that. However so far as I may see, the great and the unhealthy eye don’t have any clear connection to cash. So, the saying appeared to only dangle there, and I didn’t get it for a very long time. And Chris, in his query, is correct to note a precept of interpretation that’s driving me right here, and you’ll hear it’s been popping out all the best way alongside.

I actually don’t prefer it after I can’t see an writer’s intention in how his phrases are related to one another. Seeing connections in a paragraph, in a chapter, is actually vital. I don’t assume I’ve received an excellent deal with on what the writer is speaking if I can’t see how his connections are working. So, why does Jesus hyperlink these two sayings about cash with a saying a few good eye and a nasty eye?

The Key That Unlocked the That means

Then I come across the important thing in Matthew 20:15. Jesus had simply informed the parable of the employees of the winery, and a few of them, you keep in mind, had agreed to work from 6:00 within the morning until 6:00pm for one denarius, a day’s wage — a good wage, an excellent wage. Others had been employed at 9:00am. Others had been employed at midday. And eventually, he employed some at 5:00pm. All he needed to do was work an hour.

And when the day was completed at 6:00, he paid all the employees the identical factor, a denarius every. In different phrases, the grasp was lavishly beneficiant to those that labored just one hour, and he paid a good, agreed-upon wage to those that labored twelve hours. However those that labored all day, it says, “grumbled on the grasp of the home” (Matthew 20:11). They had been offended that those that had labored so little had been paid a lot. They didn’t just like the grasp’s generosity. They didn’t like grace.

Then the grasp used a phrase concerning the unhealthy eye, which is rather like the one in Matthew 6:23. He stated, “Am I not allowed to do what I select with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?” That’s Matthew 20:15. Now, that final phrase, “Do you begrudge my generosity?” isn’t a literal translation; it’s a very unfastened paraphrase. And happily, the ESV provides the footnote and provides you the literal translation, which is, “Or is your eye unhealthy as a result of I’m good?”

Oh my goodness, that made bells go off, proper? Oh, the unhealthy eye again in chapter 6. The unhealthy eye right here parallels the unhealthy eye in Matthew 6:23, the verse I used to be puzzled about. So, what does the unhealthy eye check with in Matthew 20:15? It refers to a watch that doesn’t like generosity. It doesn’t like grace. It’s grasping. It’s a grasping eye. It’s a type of eye that may treasure up issues on earth. It’s the type of eye that may serve cash over God.

Pray for Good Eyes

So, if we interpret the unhealthy eye in Matthew 6:23 the identical manner as in 20:15, the connection begins to make sense. The move of thought would go like this. Matthew 6:19: “Don’t lay up treasures on earth. Lay up treasures in heaven. Present that your coronary heart is fastened on the worth that God has for you.” Now comes Matthew 6:22–23: “Be sure that your eye is sweet and never unhealthy. That’s, ensure your eye isn’t grasping for earthly achieve. Just remember to see with this eye. See heavenly treasure as extra valuable than earthly, materials treasure.”

When your eye sees issues this manner, you’re full of sunshine. You know the way to stroll with out falling off the cliff of greed. And for those who don’t see issues this manner, you’ll, as Matthew 6:24 says, serve cash as an alternative of serving God. You’ll search cash, not God, as your treasure.

So, the underside line lesson for us is that this: pray for good eyes, wholesome eyes — particularly, the eyes that don’t disapprove of generosity or disapprove of grace. Pray for eyes that don’t look upon the issues of this world with greediness, however look upon them as methods of serving God and loving folks. Pray for eyes that see God as your supreme treasure.