Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 11:36
If thy whole body therefore [be] full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.
36. doth give thee light ] The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord.
“God will light my candle,” Psa 18:28. “Thy word is a lantern unto my feet.” In these words we catch an echo of those thoughts on the diffusiveness and divineness of light which are so fully developed in St John’s Gospel (Luk 8:12).
“War nicht das Auge sonnenhaft,
Wie konnten wir das Licht erblicken?”
Goethe.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 36. The whole shall be full of light] Or, altogether enlightened; i.e. when the eye is perfect, it enlightens the whole body. Every object within the reach of the eye is as completely seen as if there was an eye in every part. So the eye is to every part of the body what the lamp is to every part of the house.
When the light of Christ dwells fully in the heart, it extends its influence to every thought, word, and action; and directs its possessor how he is to act in all places and circumstances. It is of the utmost importance to have the soul properly influenced by the wisdom that comes from above. The doctrine that is contrary to the Gospel may say, Ignorance is the mother of devotion; but Christ shows that there can be no devotion without heavenly light. Ignorance is the mother of superstition; but with this the heavenly light has nothing to do.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
If thy whole body therefore be full of light,…. That is, if the whole soul, as the Ethiopic version reads, be full of Gospel light, through the illuminating influences of the blessed Spirit accompanying the word:
having no part dark; every power and faculty of the soul being affected with it, and influenced by it, though, as yet, the light and knowledge of evangelical things is not perfect in any:
the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light; the whole soul shall be as full of light and joy, which the Gospel always brings with it, as a room is full of light, when a candle is lighted, and shines brightly, and burns clearly in it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
With its bright shining ( ). Instrumental case, as if by a flash of lightning the light is revealed in him. See on 10:18.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
The bright shining of a candle [ ] . More correctly, as Rev., the lamp with its bright shining. jAstraph means lightning : see ch. Luk 10:18; and that is the usual meaning in classical Greek, though it occurs, rarely, of the light of a lamp. It is used here to emphasize the idea of moral illumination.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “If thy whole body therefore be full of light,” (ei oun to soma sou holon photeinon) “Therefore if your whole body is bright,” is bright or brilliant, filled with light, that you say “let your light shine,” your influence be a good witness for Jesus Christ, Mat 5:15-16; Act 1:8.
2) “Having no part dark,” (me echon meros ti skoteinon) “Not having any part that is dark,” or in darkness, but keeping your body under subjection to the will of the Lord, as expressed by Paul, 1Co 9:26-27.
3) “The whole body shall be full of light,” (estai photeinon holon) “All the body will be bright,” have an influence for good, glorifying God in all that you do, 1Co 10:31.
4) “As when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.” (hos hotan ho luchnos te astrape photezese) “As when the lamp (while brightly shining) gives you light.” Such is the influence of the pathway of one who walks uprightly, as expressed Pro 4:18; Php_2:15; Pro 20:27.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(36) If thy whole body therefore be full of light.The statement reads at first like an identical proposition. If thy whole body be full of light, it shall be full of light all over. The apparent truism is, however, the most expressive utterance of a truth. If the whole bodylife in all its various manifestationsis illumined by the divine light; if the character is in its measure perfect, as that of the Father is perfect, who is Light, and in whom is no darkness at all (1Jn. 1:5); if passion, prejudice, ignorance are no longer therethen that character is . . . We expect to hear something else as a climax of praise, but there is no higher word possible; the whole character is full of light, illumined, flooded by the eternal Light.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
“If therefore your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly full of light,”
But if the eye is singly on Jesus and His word, then the whole body will be full of light and there will be no part dark. It will be wholly full of light. And it will shine out to others. And day by day we will walk in that light, and we will continually receive that light, and we will let that light shine before men. For we ourselves will have become a light. Such indeed will be the light that no darkness will be able to penetrate it. And the one who is so suffused with light will continually come to God’s light in Jesus that his light might be constantly renewed, and that it might be clearly seen that his deeds are wrought in God (Joh 3:21).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
“As when the lamp with its bright shining gives you light.”
The whole life will then be bathed in light, just as when in a room the bright shining of the lamp gives you light. We will ever be in God’s room with Him, with his light shining on us, and we will be enveloped in the light of Him Who is the light of the world, and in the light of His word. We will walk in the light as He is in the light, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son will go on cleansing us from all sin (1Jn 1:7). And when the light reveals our lives to us for what they are, and we are made aware of imperfections that are there, we will then cry for all that is unfit to be removed, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son will do its work. And His cleansing, like the cleansing of the wick, is what will enable us to continue in the light with our eyes firmly fixed on Him and His word. And He will constantly shine on us like a shining light whose beam is ever fixed on us because our eyes are on Him.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Luk 11:36 . ] taking up again the thought of Luk 11:34 : .
In the protasis the emphasis lies on , which therefore is more precisely explained by . .; but in the apodosis has the emphasis, and the kind and degree of this light are illustrated (comp. Luk 11:34 ) by . . .: “If therefore thy body is absolutely and entirely bright, without having any part dark, then bright shall it be absolutely and entirely, as when the light with its beam enlightens thee .” For then is the eye rightly constituted, fulfilling its purpose (see on Mat 6:22 ); but the eye stands to the body in the relation of the light, Luk 11:34 . It is complete enlightenment, therefore, not merely partial, of which this normal condition of light ( . . .) is affirmed. , , , , , , , Euthymius Zigabenus. The observation of the above diversity of emphasis in the protasis and apodosis, which is clearly indicated by the varied position of with respect to , removes the appearance of tautology in the two members, renders needless the awkward change of the punctuation advocated by Vogel ( de conjecturae usu in crisi N. T. p. 37 f.) and Rinck: , , , . . ., and sets aside the conjectures that have been broached, such as those of Michaelis ( Einl . I. p. 739): . (body and soul), or ; of Bornemann: that the first is a gloss; of Eichthal: that instead of “thy body ” must be meant “thine eye ” (comp. already Maldonatus).
] the lamp of the room, Luk 11:33 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
36 If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.
Ver. 36. Having no part dark ] The regenerate man is totus diaphanus, like a crystal glass, with a lamp in the midst.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
36. ] “ Tautological: the second member contains the same assertion as the first .” (De Wette.) Let us examine this. ‘When thine eye is single ( Luk 11:34 ), i.e. simple , straight and single-seeing, thy whole body will be light.’ Then ( Luk 11:36 ), ‘ if this be so , if thy whole body be light, having no part dark, then it shall all be light as when a lamp with its brightness illuminates thee.’ Of what is our Lord speaking? Of His teaching , as apprehended by the simple, single-seeing soul. If then the soul be so, having no part darkened by prejudice or selfish lusts, and approach thus to His teaching, it shall be wholly illuminated by it, as by the candle of the Lord, searching its inward parts. So this saying, which, even as it stands, is not tautological, for the second clause expresses the further result and waxing onward of the shining light, arising from the singleness of the eye, becomes, in its spiritual significance, a weighty declaration of truth, answering to ch. Luk 8:15 : see also Joh 8:12 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Luk 11:36 . This verse is very puzzling both critically and exegetically. As it stands in T.R. (and in W.H [105] ) it appears tautological (De Wette), a fault which some have tried to surmount by punctuation, and some by properly placed emphasis on in the protasis and on in the apodosis, giving this sense: if thy body be wholly lighted, having no part dark, then will it be lighted indeed, as when the lamp with its lightning illumines thee (so Meyer). Even thus the saying seems unsatisfactory, and hardly such as Lk., not to say our Lord, could have been responsible for. The critical question thus forces itself upon us: is this really what Lk. wrote? Westcott and Hort think the passage contains “a primitive corruption,” an opinion which J. Weiss (in Meyer, p. 476, note) endorses, making at the same time an attempt to restore the true text. Such attempts are purely conjectural. The verse is omitted in [106] , some Latin codd., and in Syr. Cur [107] The new Syr. Sin [108] has it in a form which Mrs. Lewis thus renders: “Therefore also thy body, when there is in it no lamp that hath shone, is dark, thus while thy lamp is shining, it gives light to thee” a sentence as dark as a lampless body.
[105] Westcott and Hort.
[106] Codex Bezae
[107]yr. Cur. Curetonian Syriac. (For Greek equivalent vide Baethgen’s Evangelienfragmente .)
[108]yr. Sin. Sinaitic Syriac (recently discovered).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
no. Greek. me. App-105.
the bright shining of a candle = the lamp with its brilliance.
doth give thee light = may light thee. Greek. photizo. Compare App-130.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
36.] Tautological: the second member contains the same assertion as the first. (De Wette.)-Let us examine this. When thine eye is single (Luk 11:34),-i.e. simple,-straight and single-seeing,-thy whole body will be light. Then (Luk 11:36),-if this be so,-if thy whole body be light, having no part dark,-then it shall all be light as when a lamp with its brightness illuminates thee. Of what is our Lord speaking? Of His teaching, as apprehended by the simple, single-seeing soul. If then the soul be so,-having no part darkened by prejudice or selfish lusts, and approach thus to His teaching, it shall be wholly illuminated by it, as by the candle of the Lord, searching its inward parts. So this saying, which, even as it stands, is not tautological,-for the second clause expresses the further result and waxing onward of the shining light, arising from the singleness of the eye,-becomes, in its spiritual significance, a weighty declaration of truth, answering to ch. Luk 8:15 :-see also Joh 8:12.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Luk 11:36. – , all full of light-full of light all over or wholly) An instance of Ploce [when the same word is twice employed, so as that in one instance the notion of the word itself simply, in the other an attribute of it, is understood]. The perfection of the parts [ in the first instance] tends to the perfection of degrees [ in the second instance: light wholly and perfectly in degree]. [Often two words are put in inverted order, in two successive clauses, in such a way, as that in each clause the word that stands first is to have the emphasis. Mat 24:33 (where see the note on the present passage), 34; Joh 8:21; Joh 8:24; Joh 14:1, et seqq.; 1Co 7:22; Gal 4:25; Eph 2:1; Eph 2:5; Php 2:7-8; Jam 2:18; Jam 2:22. The analogy of examples shows that this is no vain subtlety of hyper-criticism.-Not. Crit.]- [a candle] the lamp) that lamp [candle] of which in Luk 11:33 He had spoken.- ) with its utmost degree of bright shining (brilliancy).
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
the whole: Psa 119:97-105, Pro 1:5, Pro 2:1-11, Pro 4:18, Pro 4:19, Pro 6:23, Pro 20:27, Isa 8:20, Isa 42:16, Hos 6:3, Mat 13:11, Mat 13:12, Mat 13:52, Mar 4:24, Mar 4:25, 2Co 4:6, Eph 4:14, Col 3:16, 2Ti 3:15-17, Heb 5:14, Jam 1:25, 2Pe 3:18
the bright shining of a candle: Gr. a candle by its bright shining
Reciprocal: 2Ti 1:10 – and hath
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
SPIRITUAL LIGHT
If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light.
Luk 11:36
We learn from these words of the Lord Jesus
I. The importance of making a good use of religious light and privileges.When the Gospel of Christ is placed before a mans soul, it is as if God offered to him a lighted candle. It is not sufficient to hear it, and assent to it, and admire it, and acknowledge its truth. It must be received into the heart, and obeyed in the life.
II. The value of a single and undivided heart in religion.This is a lesson which our Lord illustrates from the office of the eye in the human body. He reminds us that when the eye is single, or thoroughly healthy, the action of the whole body is influenced by it. But when, on the contrary, the eye is evil, or diseased, it affects the physical comfort and activity of the whole man. In an Eastern country, where eye diseases are painfully common, the illustration is one which would be particularly striking.
Bishop J. C. Ryle.
Illustration
The meaning of Luk 11:36 is at first sight nothing more than the assertion of a simple truism. It seems nothing more than saying, If thy body shall be light, it shall be light. This, however, is plainly not the full meaning of our Lords words. The meaning of the words appears to be as follows. If the eye of thy soul is thoroughly healthy, and thy heart thoroughly right in the sight of God, so that thy whole character is enlightened and influenced by it, then shall thy whole character shine after the manner of a candle which enlightens thee by its shining. Thou shalt not only have light for thyself, but reflect light on others. The second expression, full of light, should be read in close connection with the likeness of the candle which immediately follows. If thou art really full of light, thou shalt be like a lighted candle on a candlestick. Thou shalt be a light to the world. The marginal reading gives a more literal translation of the conclusion of the verse than the authorised version. The literal rendering of the Greek is, as when a candle, by its bright, flashing shining, enlightens thee.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
6
This verse has a thought similar to verse 23. A man is counted either for or against Christ. His influence is either one of darkness or of light.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give thee light.
[The whole shall be full of light.] This clause seems so much the same with the former, as if there were something of tautology; If thy whole body therefore be full of light; etc. Our Saviour speaketh of the eye, after the manner of the schools, where the evil eye; or the eye not single; signified the covetous, envious, and malicious mind: “Do not bring such a mind along with thee, but a candid, benign, gentle mind; then thou wilt be all bright and clear thyself, and all things will be bright and clear to thee. If you had but such a mind, O ye carping, blasphemous Jews, you would not frame so sordid and infamous a judgment of my miracles; but you would have a clear and candid opinion concerning them.”
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Luk 11:36. If thy whole body, etc. Van Oosterzee thus explains: Only when thy body is wholly illumined, without having even an obscure corner left therein, will it become so bright and clear as if the full brilliancy of a bright lamp illumined thee; in other words, thou wilt be placed in a normal condition of light. The necessity of a state of soul corresponding to and affected by the light which God so fully gives is here emphasized. It is glory as the result of holiness. (Godet)
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
This verse presents the alternative to the situation described in the preceding verse. It concludes Jesus’ exhortation on a positive note. Jesus, of course, used the body to represent the whole inner person, the personality, in the parable. The person who believes all of Jesus’ teaching will experience full illumination.