In Luke 12 35 we have men whose loins were girded about and their lights burning in preparation for the return of their Lord Briefly to have loins girded about is to have minds prepared Gird up the loins of your mind exhorts 1 Pet 1 13 or as in 1 Pet 4 1 arm yourselves likewise with the same mind (as Christ) Likewise, Paul expresses it “be renewed in the spirit of your mind’ Eph 4 23, or to come perhaps to the best known phrase amongst us Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus , Phil 2 5 Here, Paul goes on to write that Jesus was in the form of God’ and in Gal 4 19 we find the same word used My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you
To have Christ formed in us, or to have the mind of Christ, simply means our characters are changed from men of flesh to men of spirit This change of character is accomplished by filling the mind with Christ like or spiritual thoughts in place of fleshly thoughts — which brings us back to the theme of this series of articles as a man thinketh in his heart so is he When Aaron was properly attired to enter into the presence of God in the innermost sanctum of the Tabernacle he had on his forehead a plate of gold upon which was inscribed Holiness to Yahweh The forehead was considered the seat of the brain or mind so here in symbol we have e a man whose mind was filled with divine principles entering into the presence of God The type was of Christ of course, but It can be extended to apply to us if our minds are filled with divine principles and divine thoughts we can, through Christ, enter into the presence of God If our minds are filled with fleshly thoughts —unkind thoughts of one another, for example, then we cannot
Lamps Burning
But what is the significance of lamps burning in Luke 12 35? Do we not in variably think of our spoken witness to others when we think of lamps burning ? In fact we often quote Jesus words to his disciples Ye are the light of the world to exhort one another to get out and do some more gospel proclamation work—but is this all that Jesus meant? Let us get our Bibles and read for our selves Math 5 14 16 In verse 14 light is the Greek word phos, from which comes our English phosphorus and it means literally light bearing as reach the mind! On this we all agree we are a light bearing community.
In verse 15 the candle is really a lamp, the same as lights in Luke 12 35 Our commentators helps here, Vine makes the comment regarding the candle. The figure of that which feeds upon its own substance to provide its light would be utterly inappropriate and Bullinger says regarding the lamp used of men whose light is idled by another, which burns for a season and then is extinguished But please note that Jesus said the lamp was to give light to those that are IN the house —not to those outside, but to those IN the house House is a widely used word so we cannot be too dogmatic about its meaning but it does have the connotation of the household or family. Luke’s record of the same words of our Master makes this meaning even more emphatic in Luke 8:16 where Jesus says that a man lights a lamp and puts it on a lampstand, so that “they which enter in may see the light”. This follows the parable of the Sower, following the telling of which Jesus exhorts them to “Take heed therefore how ye hear” (vs. 18) and in vs. 15 “to bring forth fruit.”
Back in Math. 5:16 the command is that our lamps should “so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven”. See your good works — not simply hear your preaching! And so if we read the whole passage in Matthew carefully we note it follows the Beatitudes which describe men with certain attitudes of mind: poor in spirit, meek, thirsting after righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, rejoicing; and if this is the attitude of mind which we as disciples of Christ manifest in our lives then we will become luminous, leading others to glorify God by our example — others both in the world and in the household! The passage is about our walk in Christ, not about our preaching. The Amplified Bible confirms this at verse 16: “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy and noble deeds . . .”
Sons Of Light With Evil Eyes!
Now how does light get into the mind? Math. 6:22, 23: “The light (lamp again) of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!” Light here is the same as in Math. 5, it means light as seen by the eye, and therefore as reaching the mind.
We who have come from the darkness of Gentilism through belief and acceptance of the truth have become children, or sons of light, John 12:36. But it is possible for the light that is in us to become darkness! How is this? Consulting Vine again we find: “light requires an organ adapted for its reception. Where the eye is absent, or where it has become impaired from any cause, light is useless”.
An evil eye is an impaired eye. In the Bible an evil eye is usually used with reference to greed of wealth as here in Math. 6. But in his comments on Luke, chap. 11, the late John Carter pointed out that reference to an evil eye has a wider application. Men and women may be prevented from seeing whole . . . they may allow their minds to be filled with darkness by other things than lust for wealth. Luke 11:33-36 is the comparable passage in this gospel to Matthew, chap. 6:22. (And note at vs. 33 with reference to lamps and lampstands there is the same emphasis we found in Luke 8 upon those “coming in” to the house!). In verse 35 Jesus says “take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness”. Now here’s an odd thing: we can have light in our minds—but the light can be darkness!! And “Oh” says Mathew “if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness”!
Now, brothers and sisters, how can light be darkness—how can a single eye become an evil eye?
We find our clue at Proverbs 23:6, 7: “Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye. neither desire thou his dainty meats: For as he thinketh in his heart so is he . .” Here we have the association of an evil eye with our theme principle: as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. (For the meaning of verses 6-8 one commentator writes: “Estimate the niggard according to his thoughts, rather than his words. Your pleasant conversation is wasted labor”) But our point is that here we have the association of an evil eye with thoughts of the heart.
Jesus expresses the same principle in Mark 7:21 “from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts . . . an evil eye, etc”. We might say the evil eye is the outward indication of the evil heart, and the heart reveals the true man. To the Hebrew of course the heart was the seat of intelligence, hence Jesus’ expression above, by which was really meant the mind. So we can rephrase the foregoing sentence as follows: The evil eye is the outward indication of the evil mind and the mind reveals the true man—the mind is the source of thought. Or to phrase it differently: a man may come into the Truth, giving him a single eye flooding the mind with light. But if he allows his mind to fill with unkind or critical thoughts of his brethren or sisters his mind becomes filled with darkness and the symbol of this is an evil eye. We could express this with charts as follows:
In the charts above the Bible is represented by the ”Word of God” on the left, the eye by the lens in the center and the mind by the circle on the right. In chart I the closed eye is illustrated as having a shutter in front hence there is no reflection upon the Word of God, no spiritual sight, and the mind rests in darkness. Chart 2 represents a man in Christ, with an open or single eye reflecting upon the Word of God and thereby transmitting divine principles which flood the mind with light. Chart 3 illustrates the 5 foolish virgins: although they were in the Truth” (eye shaded as in chart 2) and therefore had “single eyes”, they had ceased to meditate upon the Word of God (represented by a shutter in front of the eye) allowing their lamps to go out and flood the mind with darkness. Those illustrated in chart 4 are “sons of light”_________ still in the Truth—but the evil or impaired eye, representing evil or critical thoughts of others, loses its power to transmit “light” properly and so the divine principles cease to penetrate the mind and “light becomes darkness”. Only the man illustrated by chart 2 will gain the Kingdom! He has his loins girded about and his lamp burning.
“Holding Forth The Word Of Life”
In Phil. 2:15, 16 the sons of God are exhorted to “shine as lights in the world; holding forth the word of life” and we thought for years that this meant we should hold out the gospel of truth to a crooked and perverse nation by preaching to them. But not so! The RSV renders the phrase more accurately: “Holding fast the word of life” and we find this same expression used five times in the New Testament and rendered five different ways. In Acts 3:5 the lame man at the Beautiful gate of the temple “gave heed” unto Peter and John “expecting to receive something of them”. In Luke 14.7 Jesus “put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when He marked how they chose out the chief rooms”. In Acts 19:22 Paul “sent Timothy and Erastus into Macedonia but he himself stayed in Asia for a season”—literally Paul “held on” in Asia. And finally in I Tim. 4:16 Paul writes to Timothy ‘Taken heed unto twelfths and unto the doctrine”. So to “hold forth the word of life” means to hold it fast, to give heed or pay attention to it, to mark or fix one’s attention upon it, to stay or hold on to it, to take heed unto it.
This whole second chapter of Paul’s letter to the saints at Philippi, down to verse 16, is a powerful exhortation to us —not concerning our preaching, but concerning our Walk in Christ. Space does not permit a thorough examination of all the points, but notice the following verses in particular: vs. 1-3, for those in fellowship in Christ we must be of one mind “each esteeming other better than themselves”; vs. 5, our every endeavor being to gain the mind of Christ (for “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he”!) vs. 12, we must work out our own salvation in fear and trembling by (vs. 14) doing all things without murmurings and disputing’s. Note the emphasis upon our walk—not upon the things we teach. They which do such things shall inherit the Kingdom of God.
In Conclusion
We could summarize these articles as follows: Our thoughts determine our characters: “As a man thinketh, so is he. There is a state of mind, during which the mind dwells on unkind thoughts of others, which alienates us from God and makes us unfit for the Kingdom. We must do something about this state of mind. We must cut off the unclean, negative thoughts and replace them with positive, wholesome thoughts. This can be done, if we want to, but it takes discipline.
It is not enough simply to accept First Principles and come into the Truth. Two things may happen: 1) We may clean out false doctrine, leaving our minds as an Unoccupied House, Math. 12:44. 2) Or we may neglect to apply ourselves to the Word of God, thereby running out of Oil, as did the five foolish virgins. Either way: the mind fills with darkness. The opposite to darkness is light. Light enters the mind by means of the eye. If the eye is single the mind is bathed with light, if the eye is evil or impaired the light becomes darkness and “how great is that darkness”! As brethren of Christ we are to manifest light both within the household and to the world without. The emphasis here is upon our walk in Christ, not upon our preaching—it is upon our way of life.
An evil eye is the outward manifestation of evil thoughts in the heart or mind. Evil thoughts—unkind thoughts—betray the man for “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he”. Our aim is to hold fast, to stay upon, to mark the Way of Truth by walking in it. By doing this we share our walk in Christ in the ecclesia of God.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One