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

摘要

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 ? λ?χνο? το? σ?ματ?? ?στιν ? ?φθαλμ?? as the ancient hearer or reader would have done.