TEXT [Commentary]

B. Life and Relationships in the Kingdom (18:1-35)

1. Greatness in the Kingdom (18:1-14; cf. Mark 9:33-50; Luke 9:46-50)

1 About that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?”

2 Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. 3 Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. 4 So anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

5 “And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf[*] is welcoming me. 6 But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea.

7 “What sorrow awaits the world, because it tempts people to sin. Temptations are inevitable, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting. 8 So if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one hand or one foot than to be thrown into eternal fire with both of your hands and feet. 9 And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.[*]

10 “Beware that you don’t look down on any of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father.[*]

12 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost? 13 And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn’t wander away! 14 In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish.”

NOTES

18:1 Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven? Evidently while Jesus was still at Capernaum, the disciples came to him with a question (cf. Mark 9:33-37; Luke 9:46-48). The disciples questioned Jesus several times in Matthew (13:10; 15:12; 17:19; 21:20; 24:3). What led to this question about greatness (cf. 5:19; 11:11) in the Kingdom is unclear in Matthew, but see Mark 9:34. Perhaps some of the other disciples were concerned about the prominence of Peter (16:17-19; 17:24) or of James and John (17:1). The desire for greatness is part and parcel of fallen human existence, and it runs counter to what Jesus taught in 16:21-28. Two matters are unclear: whether the disciples were concerned about greatness in an abstract sense or about which of them was the greatest; and whether they were concerned about greatness in the present or in the future manifestation of the Kingdom. If this story should be understood in light of the later story of the sons of Zebedee and their mother (20:20-28), it seems likely that the disciples were concerned about which of them would be the greatest in the future (19:27–20:16).

18:2 Jesus called a little child to him and put the child among them. Jesus answered the question with a visual display, a sort of acted parable (18:2), before he explained greatness verbally (18:3-4). The NLT describes the child whom Jesus placed in the midst of the disciples as a “little child.” It is difficult to know the exact age of the child. The Gr. word paidion [TG3813, ZG4086] can refer to a child of any age from infancy to puberty (BDAG 749; cf. 2:8ff; 11:16; 14:21; 15:38; 19:13-14), and all that can be determined from the context is that the child was old enough to respond to Jesus’ calling him/her into the midst of the disciples.

18:3-4 unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom. Matthew contains many statements about entering into the Kingdom (see 5:20; 7:21; 19:23-24; 23:13; cf. 19:17; 25:21, 23).

as humble as this little child. The character trait that appears to be foremost in the simile of becoming like a child is humility (11:29; 23:12; Luke 1:52; 3:5; Eph 4:2; Phil 2:3; Jas 1:9; 4:6, 10; 1 Pet 5:5-6; cf. “meekness” in 5:5; 21:5). In this sense conversion amounts to a renunciation of all one’s human prestige or status and an acceptance of the values of the Kingdom. It is not that children are innocent of selfishness or that they consistently model humility, but that children have no status in society. As they are at the mercy of adults, so disciples acknowledge in repentance that they have no status before God and that they depend solely on the love and mercy of the heavenly Father. (It is not at all clear that John 3:3 is another version of this saying of Jesus, as advocated by Davies and Allison 1991:758.)

18:5-6 Since those who exercise childlike faith exhibit the essence of the Kingdom (cf. 21:15-16), the Father will severely judge those who cause such “children” to sin (cf. Mark 9:38-50; Luke 17:1-2). Here the use of the metaphor shifts from a child as the model of humility (18:1-4) to a child as the object of godly or sinful behavior. Causing Jesus’ little ones to sin is contrasted with receiving them hospitably.

a large millstone tied around your neck. If receiving them hospitably is tantamount to receiving Jesus himself (10:40-41; John 13:20), causing them to sin is tantamount to rejecting Jesus himself, which brings consequences immeasurably more severe than drowning with a large millstone around one’s neck (cf. Josephus Antiquities 14.450). “Heavy millstone” is more literally “millstone for a donkey,” a large millstone turned by a donkey. This detail along with the stress on the depth of the sea vividly portrays the horrible consequences of causing a believer to fall into sin. To cause someone to fall into sin is to corrupt that person morally and spiritually and, as 18:7-9 points out, to render him or her liable to eternal punishment (5:29-30; 17:27). The transition from the child as metaphor to the reality of discipleship probably occurs in 18:5 (Hagner 1995:520), not in 18:6 (Davies and Allison 1991:754, 761). The point of the metaphor is that disciples should be humble and demonstrate this humility by welcoming other disciples, not causing them to sin.

18:7-9 What sorrow awaits the world. Jesus’ pronouncements of woe upon those who cause his disciples to fall into sin recalls 11:21 and anticipates 23:13-16, 23-29; 24:19; 26:24. Evidently, the offense spoken of here is somewhat different from that of 17:27, which speaks of offending those who do not believe. In 18:7 God’s sovereignty and human responsibility are combined in the idea that incidents of causing believers to stumble are inevitable (24:10-11) yet culpable (13:41; cf. 26:24).

Temptations are inevitable, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting. Offense inevitably will come from the outsiders, but it may even come from the disciples themselves! Therefore, any potential offense must be dealt with promptly and decisively. Failure to deal radically with sinful proclivities indicates that the “disciple” is in danger of punishment in hell.

cut it off and throw it away. Jesus used the amputation of a hand or foot and of the gouging out of an eye as hyperboles here as he had previously in 5:29-30. As awful as these images are, the prospect of eternal punishment is worse. It should go without saying that this language is hypothetical as well as hyperbolical. One’s hands, feet, and eyes do not cause one to sin, and ridding oneself of them would not get at the root of sin, the heart (15:18-20). The point is that one must deal radically with one’s sinful tendencies (cf. Prov 4:23). For eschatological judgment as “fire,” see also 3:10-12; 5:22; 25:41.

18:10-11 don’t look down on any of these little ones. Disciples must not only deal radically with sin in their own lives, they must also studiously avoid looking down on their brothers and sisters (cf. Rom 14:3, 10, 15). One’s fellow believers are styled here as “little ones,” as in 18:6 (cf. 10:42; 25:40, 45).

their angels are always in the presence of my heavenly Father. This implies that there are angels with access to God who care in some way for believers (Heb 1:14). This should probably not be pressed so far as to insist that every believer has an individual guardian angel, but it is clear that angelic ministry to believers is real, albeit mysterious (cf. Pss 34:7; 91:11-12; Dan 10:10-14; Acts 12:15; Rev 2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14).

Verse 11 is not included in the most ancient manuscripts ( B L* f1,13 33 ite syrs copsa) and seems to break the continuity of the passage. Its authenticity is doubtful here. It probably has been interpolated from Luke 19:10 (Metzger 1994:36). All in all, the tone of 18:1-10 alternates between warnings of eschatological judgment (18:3, 6-10) and promises of eschatological blessing (18:4-5), depending on the course of action chosen.

18:12-13 NLT omits the question “what do you think?” (cf. 17:25; 21:28; 22:17, 42; 26:66), with which Jesus introduces a parable involving a lost sheep that is of great value to the shepherd (cf. Luke 15:3-7).

search for the one that is lost. The effort taken by a shepherd to retrieve one lost sheep has been illustrated in modern times by the story of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls by a shepherd looking in a Qumran cave for a lost sheep. The analogy of believers and sheep is from the OT (e.g., Ps 23; Jer 23; Ezek 34) and is found elsewhere in Matthew (9:36; 10:6, 16; 12:11-12; 15:24; 18:12; 25:32-33; 26:31; cf. John 10). Based on Matthew’s other uses of this imagery, we can see that Jesus is the shepherd who rescues the lost sheep and rejoices over it. Although the shepherd leaves the ninety-nine sheep “on the hills,” one would assume that they are not in imminent danger as he seeks the single lost sheep. When the lost sheep is found, the shepherd greatly rejoices that he has rescued it.

18:14 In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish. By analogy, the Father is concerned for his little ones (disciples) and does not wish that any of them should go astray and perish (cf. 5:29-30; 10:28). The implication is that disciples should model their own lives after the concern of the Father as expressed by the parable of the shepherd. Disciples must receive one another, not cause one another to go astray (18:5-8).

COMMENTARY [Text]

Introduction to the Fourth Discourse: The Values of the Kingdom. Matthew 18:1-35 comprises the fourth discourse of Jesus in Matthew. Like the first three discourses, it has a narrative setting (18:1) and is concluded with the characteristic “when Jesus had finished” (19:1). The setting is somewhat vague in that “about that time” seems to refer only to the general time frame when Jesus began to tell his disciples about his death and resurrection. Though the disciples grieved at this announcement (17:23), their grief sadly turned to speculation over who was or would be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven (18:1; cf. 20:20-28). The fourth discourse is Jesus’ answer to this question and a subsequent question by Peter about forgiveness (18:21). A unique feature of this discourse is Jesus’ use of a child as a visual aid (18:2) prior to his verbal response to the disciples’ question.

The fourth discourse concerns genuine spiritual greatness. Jesus used a child as the ultimate object lesson of humility and the duty of hospitality to fellow disciples (18:3-5). Then he turned to the opposite of hospitality, giving offense, and spoke in vivid language about the horrible end of anyone who causes a disciple to fall into sin (18:6-14). Next come instructions on handling brothers who sin (18:15-20), and the answer to Peter’s question about longsuffering in forgiveness, which leads to the parable of the unmerciful servant (18:21-35). The discourse holds together along the lines of God’s concern for the “little ones” who believe. Their humble status is zealously guarded by the heavenly Father (18:7). His little ones must deal promptly with sin in their midst, yet the solemnity of the process of discipline underlines once again the Father’s concern for his children (18:15-20). Peter’s question with Jesus’ answer underlines the absolute necessity of the rule of forgiveness in the Kingdom community (18:35).

The fourth discourse is not highly structured. One could divide it into two parts, each beginning with a question (18:1-20, 21-35) or each ending in a parable (18:1-14, 15-35). The latter of these two approaches seems better. In any event, the discourse holds together through its use of key terms such as “children” (18:2-5), who are the little ones (18:6, 10, 14). These children must be mimicked (18:4) and received (18:5), not caused to fall into sin or despised (18:6, 10). The use of family imagery for the community of disciples is perhaps the most noticeable motif. Disciples are children, and even those who sin against them are their brothers (18:15, cf. NLT mg), fellow children of the heavenly Father (18:10, 14, 19, 35). The language of 18:8-9 exhibits a clause-by-clause parallelism. The repetition of “two or three” and the juxtaposition of heaven and earth are key aspects of 18:15-20.

The Humble Enter God’s Kingdom. Once again Jesus proved himself to be the master teacher as he spontaneously chose just the right object lesson to answer a question. He did not choose a child out of a sentimental notion of the innocence or subjective humility of children, since children may already exhibit in seed form the traits which Jesus spoke against here. He chose the metaphor or acted-out parable to stress that a child is at the mercy of adults and lacks social status. A child depends entirely on adults, particularly its parents, for its welfare. Thus, turning to God as a disciple of Jesus involves humbling oneself as a child before the heavenly Father. Such humility in total dependence upon the Father’s mercy renounces any power, position, or status one might claim from human resources (cf. 5:3, 5). This perspective is nothing less than a total renunciation and reversal of the ways and values of the world, where the drive to get ahead leads to all sorts of sinful strategies to achieve greatness (20:26-27; 23:11-12). The opposite of humility is pride, which by implication would make one least in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Humility or genuine greatness leads to treating Kingdom disciples well, since it is tantamount to treating Jesus himself well (18:5; cf. 10:40). Mistreating disciples also has eternal consequences (18:7). No sacrifice is too great, even the spiritual equivalent of a hand, a foot, or an eye, if it gets one into the Kingdom (18:8-9; cf. 13:44). In light of this polarity of reward and punishment, disciples must carefully scrutinize themselves and make very sure that they do not despise one another (18:10). Instead of holding one another in contempt, they must have the same concern for one another that motivates the shepherd to rescue a straying sheep (18:12-14). Regarding oneself as a child before God continues to demand deep humility, and treating children/disciples well is not likely to win the world’s applause. But such behavior is only walking in the steps of Jesus, who epitomizes humility and concern for children/disciples (11:25; 12:18-21; 20:28; 21:5). Walking in his steps in this fashion is counter-cultural behavior; it can be used by the Spirit to convict a world obsessed with power and status due to the sin of pride (5:13-16). Also, humility and concern for fellow disciples will insure that when church discipline is necessary (18:15-20), it will be carried out with proper motives (cf. Gal 6:1).

It is clear that the disciples still have many lessons to learn. Jesus had already made it clear that his destiny was suffering, death, and resurrection, and that they would share in his destiny. Suffering comes before reward (16:21-28). Thus, it is highly ironic that they were preoccupied with greatness so soon after Jesus’ clear teaching on his destiny and theirs (Hagner 1995:517). This preoccupation simply will not go away (20:20-28). The disciples of Jesus must constantly remind themselves that their Lord’s experience must be the paradigm of their own (10:38; 11:29; 16:24; 20:28; Phil 2:5; Col 1:24; Heb 10:32-38; 1 Pet 2:21; Rev 1:9)