Matthew 6:23 (WEB)

Passage

But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Nearby Context

Matthew 6:21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light.

Matthew 6:23 But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon.

Matthew 6:25 Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "light", "darkness", "evil", "whole", "body", "full", and "therefore". It is saying that the contrast between light and darkness marks a real divide in how people respond to God's work.

The nearby context moves from verse 22's "The lamp of the body is the..." into verse 24's "No one can serve two masters for...", so "light" and "darkness" belong inside that flow. In Matthew context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "light" and "darkness" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.