What Does Luke 11:36 Mean in the King James?
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 analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The lamp’s brightness fills the whole body when no dark part remains; the verse pictures illumination as an undivided state.
THE MEANING
You are not presented as separate lit and unlit compartments: the whole body is full of light when no part remains dark. The lamp’s brightness makes the image concrete, its light reaches the whole. Wholeness here is a condition without a dark remainder.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that one part of you can remain permanently dark while the whole is still illuminated.
THE ROOT
φωτεινόν
phōteinon
GROWS FROM
φῶς
phōs
Light, visible illumination.
The verse describes the body as full of light, then uses a related word for the lamp that lights you. The same word family joins the state of being luminous to the act of giving light.
ALSO GROWS
phōs: Light, illumination.
φῶς
This is the source word behind the description of the whole body as full of light.
phōtizō: To illuminate or give light.
φωτίζω
The lamp’s action belongs to the same word family as the body’s luminous condition.
σκοτεινόν
skoteinon
GROWS FROM
σκότος
skotos
Darkness or gloom.
The verse makes darkness a distinct part that would interrupt the body’s wholeness. Its claim is not that darkness is small, but that no dark part remains.
ALSO GROWS
skotia: Darkness.
σκοτία
This related noun names the condition excluded from every part of the body.
skotizō: To darken or make dim.
σκοτίζω
The verb shows darkness as a condition that can spread over what was visible.
ἀστραπῇ
astrapē
GROWS FROM
ἀστράπτω
astraptō
To flash or gleam like lightning.
The KJV’s “bright shining” carries the Greek image of a flash, the radiance of lightning. The lamp’s light is presented as vivid and encompassing, illuminating you rather than merely marking one small spot.
ALSO GROWS
astrapē: A flash, lightning, or brightness.
ἀστραπή
This is the word used for the lamp’s brilliance in the verse.
astraptō: To flash or gleam like lightning.
ἀστράπτω
The related verb shows the vivid, flashing quality carried by the lamp’s brightness.
THE PATTERN
Light makes what it reaches visible, and its presence changes the condition of the whole rather than one isolated part.
The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.THE THREAD
The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.Matthew’s parallel joins a single eye with the whole body filled with light. It shares the Greek light word family with Luke’s image of the lamp lighting you, linking wholeness and illumination.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us