Luke 11:35

Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(35) Take heed therefore that the light . . .—Better, See to it whether the light that is in thee be darkness. This takes the place in St. Luke’s report of St. Matthew’s (Luke 6:23) “If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” The warning is one which calls men to self-scrutiny. They need to examine their primary beliefs, their very intuitions of right and wrong, lest all they do should be vitiated at its very source. The call to do this implies that they must have a Light by which to judge their light, a Standard by which to test their standard, and that Light and Standard are found in the teaching of the Light that lighteth every man, in the recorded words and acts of the Son of Man.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

11:29-36 Christ promised that there should be one sign more given, even the sign of Jonah the prophet; which in Matthew is explained, as meaning the resurrection of Christ; and he warned them to improve this sign. But though Christ himself were the constant preacher in any congregation, and worked miracles daily among them, yet unless his grace humbled their hearts, they would not profit by his word. Let us not desire more evidence and fuller teaching than the Lord is pleased to afford us. We should pray without ceasing that our hearts and understandings may be opened, that we may profit by the light we enjoy. And especially take heed that the light which is in us be not darkness; for if our leading principles be wrong, our judgment and practice must become more so.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

These verses are found in Matthew, but in a different connection. See the notes at Matthew 5:15; Matthew 6:22-23.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

33-36. (See on [1640]Mt 5:14-16; [1641]Mt 6:22, 23.) But Lu 11:36 here is peculiarly vivid, expressing what pure, beautiful, broad perceptions the clarity of the inward eye imparts.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Luke 11:34"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Take heed therefore,.... By attending to the light of the Gospel, shining in the ministration of it, and do not neglect and despise it:

that the light which is in thee be not darkness; lest being given up to a judicial blindness and hardness of heart, not only the light of nature, which the Jews had in common with the Gentiles, but even that notional light and knowledge of divine things, which they had by being favoured with an external revelation, the writings of the Old Testament, should be lost.

Geneva Study Bible

Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Luke 11:35. See therefore; take care, lest, etc. Beza well says: “Considera, num.” Comp. Buttmann, Neut. Gr. p. 209 [E. T. 243]. Galatians 6:1 is not quite similar, for there μή stands with the subjunctive, and means: that not.

τὸ φῶς τὸ ἐν σοί] ὁ νοῦς ὁ φωταγωγὸς τῆς ψυχῆς σου, Euthymius Zigabenus.

σκότος ἐστίν] ὑπὸ τῶν παθῶν, Euthymius Zigabenus.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 11:35. A counsel to take care lest the light in us become darkness, answering to that suggested in the parable: see that the lamp be properly placed.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

35. that the light which is in thee be not darkness] It becomes so when we are ‘wise in our own conceit’ (Proverbs 16:12) which makes us think a way right when it is the way of death (Proverbs 16:25), and makes us call evil good, and good evil, put darkness for light, and light for darkness, Isaiah 5:20-21.

Bengel's Gnomen

Luke 11:35. Μὴ) whether.[110] For the Indicative, ἐστίν, follows.

[110] Not as Engl. Vers. that—not lest, which would require the Subjunctive after it.—ED. and TRANSL.

Luke 11:35

Vincent's Word Studies

The light that is in thee

Lit., the light, that, namely, which is in thee; thus emphasizing the inward light. See on Matthew 6:23.