Bible Study series: Matthew 18:1-6. Don’t promote yourself. Humble yourself.
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In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Matthew 18:1-6
1 At that moment, the disciples approached Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 Calling for a little child, he stood him in the middle of them 3 and said, “I tell you the truth: unless you turn and become as children, you will in no way enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever will humble himself like this little child—this person is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.” 6 “But whoever causes one of these little ones who trust in me to stumble, it would be better for him to hang a great millstone around his neck and drowned in the depths of the sea!” (Matt. 18:1-6)
Comments:
One quick point that is a little outside the main teaching here. Yes, we are initially to welcome or receive Jesus and enter his kingdom as if we had the simple faith of children, but we must not remain children (1 Cor. 13:11). The point to this living illustration is that as children are at the mercy of the adults, so grown disciples should throw themselves on the mercy of their loving heavenly Father.
1:
The issue of who is the greatest will come up again (20:20-28). Here the context may the greatest in the here and now, but in 20:20-28, it is greatest in the eschatological kingdom. Apparently, this issue of the greatest was a live issue among the disciples. It seems to be a live issue for us today.
“disciples”:
“kingdom of heaven”: Matthew substitutes “heaven” (literally heavens or plural) nearly every time (except for 12:28; 19:24; 21:31, 43, where he uses kingdom of God). Why? Four possible reasons: (1) Maybe some extra-pious Jews preferred the circumlocution or the roundabout way of speaking, but this answer is not always the right one, for Matthew does use the phrase “kingdom of God” four times; (2) the phrase “kingdom of heaven” points to Christ’s post-resurrection authority; God’s sovereignty in heaven and earth (beginning with Jesus’s ministry) is now mediated through Jesus (28:18); (3) “kingdom of God” makes God the king (26:29) and leaves less room to ascribe the kingdom to Jesus (16:28; 25:31, 34, 40; 27:42), but the phrase “the kingdom of heaven” leaves more room to say Jesus is the king Messiah. (4) It may be a stylistic variation that has no deeper reasoning behind it (France). In my view the third option shows the close connection to the doctrine of the Trinity; the Father and Son share authority, after the Father gives it to him during the Son’s incarnation. The kingdom of heaven is both the kingdom of the Father and the kingdom of the Messiah (Carson). And, since I like streamlined interpretations, the fourth one also appeals to me.
Now let’s go for a general consideration of the kingdom of heaven / God. As noted in other verses that mention the kingdom in this commentary, the kingdom is God’s power, authority, rule, reign and sovereignty. He exerts all those things over all the universe but more specifically over the lives of people. It is his invisible realm, and throughout the Gospels Jesus is explaining and demonstrating what it looks like before their very eyes and ears. It is gradually being manifested from the realm of faith to the visible realm, but it is not political in the human sense. It is a secret kingdom because it does not enter humanity with trumpets blaring and full power and glory. This grand display will happen when Jesus comes back. In his first coming, it woos people to surrender to it. We can enter God’s kingdom by being born again (John 3:3, 5), by repenting (Matt. 4:17; Mark 1:5), by having the faith of children (Matt. 18:4; Mark 10:14-15), by being transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son whom God loves (Col. 1:13), and by seeing their own poverty and need for the kingdom (Matt. 5:3; Luke 6:20; Jas. 2:5). The kingdom has already come in part at his First Coming, but not yet with full manifestation and glory and power until his Second Coming.
5 The Kingdom of God: Already Here, But Not Yet Fully
Bible Basics about the Kingdom of God
Questions and Answers about Kingdom of God
Basic Definition of Kingdom of God
1 Introducing the Kingdom of God (begin a ten-part series)
2-5:
“child”: it is the noun paidion (pronounced pye-dee-on). It can be translated as (1) “very young child, infant” or (2) “child.” The Shorter Lexicon suggests the second definition. Then it can even mean a figurative child, as we find in v. 3. We are supposed to enter the kingdom as a little child and then keep the childlike faith, without complications.
“him”: grammatically it could be “it” because the word for child is neuter, but I went with him.
A child must have been nearby. Was it a boy or girl? Let’s say a boy. Did he belong to one of the disciples? What about one of the women’s child? Recall that women were following Jesus (Luke 8:1-3). Or was he a child from the crowd? We don’t know, but it is fun to speculate. Mark 9:33 says that Jesus entered “the house,” which most likely means Peter’s house. It would be wonderful to think this child was Peter’s son Mark (1 Pet. 5:13).
Jesus stood the child next to him. He was to be a living object lesson. Sweet scene.
In his comments on Luke 9:47, the parallel verse, commentator Darrell L. Bock cites a passage from the Mishnah (completed in about AD 200, but reflecting earlier traditions) showing that it was a waste of time to chat with children: “Morning sleep, midday wine, chattering with children, and tarrying [dawdling] in places where men of the common people assemble destroy a man (Luke 1:1-9:50, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament [Baker, 1992], p. 895, m. ‘Abot 3.11). Jesus was overturning the cultural prejudice among the extra-devout.
It is imperative to welcome a child in the name of Jesus. When we welcome the least child, we welcome Jesus. When we welcome Jesus, we welcome the Father who sent him. So we have a ladder of authority, and only the Father and Jesus can occupy the top rungs. If the disciples want to be great, they must occupy the rung that the child stands on. To be great, one must become least.
Blomberg:
This humility cannot be a subjective attitude (children rarely act humbly) but an objective state (children do depend almost entirely on the adult world for their protection and provision). In first-century thought children were often very little esteemed. Jesus ascribes to them great value, but here his more immediate point is that would-be disciples must share their condition of utter dependence, in this case, on God. Without a recognition of one’s fundamental inability to save oneself and without a subsequent complete reliance on God’s mercy, no one can enter the kingdom of heaven. (comment on 18:2-4)
A paradox is defined as placing seemingly contradictory ideas side by side (see also v. 23). Here are two possible paradoxes, but only one really is:
1.. To be great, you must use all your willpower and ambition and drive.
2.. To be great, you must become like a child, the least of all.
The paradox is the second statement. Everyone follows the first one, but the way of the kingdom leads to the second one. In the world, the paradox (no. 2) makes no sense. In the kingdom, God lifts you up. In the kingdom, you must become like a child.
“name”: this noun stands in for the person—a living, real person.
“I tell you the truth”:
See my post about truth:
Word Study on Faith and Faithfulness
“turn”: it is another word for repentance, but it has the clear physical meaning of turn, at its root as in going one direction and turning, and then going in the opposite direction.
6:
Please note that some interpreters say the “little ones” are weak disciples (see v. 10, below), perhaps as we find in Rom. 14. Their conscience is so weak that they cannot eat various foods, or they have to keep some days as holy (Rom. 14:5-7). Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind (v. 5). Everyone with their different practices and convictions about food “should make every effort to do what leads to peace and mutual edification” (Rom. 14:19).
However, I like to think that children can trust in the Lord, and it is a very bad idea to talk them out of their belief. Remember—this is spoken in a Jewish culture, and anyone who converts to Jesus may be in trouble. But you may certainly see this passage as shifting the focus from children to weak disciples, if you wish.
“stumbling stones”: The Greek noun for the stumbling block or stone is skandalon (pronounced scan-dah-lon), and it is clear we get our word scandal from it, but the meaning back then is not quite the same. The noun means, depending on the context: (1) “trap (symbolically)”; (2) “temptation to sin, enticement”; (3) “that which gives offense or causes revulsion, that which causes opposition, an object of anger or disapproval.”
We are supposed to get angry at and feel revulsion for a skandalon.
“stumble”: some translations say, “causes to sin.” The Greek language adds the suffix –izō to a noun and changes it into a verb. We do that too: modern – modernize. So the noun becomes skandalizō (pronounced scan-dah-lee-zoh). And it means, depending on the context, (1) “cause to be caught … to fall, i.e. cause to sin” a. … Passive: “be led into sin … fall away”; b. “be led into sin or repelled by someone, take offense at someone”; (2) give offense to, anger, shock.”
Let’s apply the idea that Jesus is talking about literal children. Jesus does not specify what a skandalon or skandalizō are in this context, but it must be turning children away from believing in him. What would do that? Hypocrisy (talking one way but living another)? Dysfunction and fighting in the household? Meanness? What is your household like?
Parents beware!
“great millstone”: the Greek indicates that it is worked by a donkey. At first I translated the phrase as “a millstone worked by a donkey.” Or I could have written “a donkey millstone,” but either one of those seemed awkward. So I went with what Grammarian Olmstead suggested. In any case, the stone had to be big to be worked by a donkey (too big for an ordinary human).
“Execution by drowning was a frequent punishment and was terrifying because there could be no burial and therefore no peaceful afterlife (in a Hellenistic sense). Jesus’ point is that this would be preferable to the punishment God would render such a person” (Osborne, comment on 18:6).
GrowApp for Matt. 18:1-6
1. Are you an anxious over-thinker, or do you have the faith of a child? Tell your story.
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1. Church Fathers and Matthew’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
SOURCES AND MORE
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