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How to be ‘big’ in the Kingdom
1 At that time the disciples approached Jesus saying, “Who then is greater in the kingdom of the heavens?” 2 So Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, 3 and said: “Assuredly I say to you, unless you change and become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of the heavens. 4 Therefore whoever will humble himself like this little child, he is the greater in the kingdom of the heavens.
About offenses
5 “Whoever receives one little child like this in my name, receives me; 6 but whoever should cause one of these little ones who believe into me* to fall, it would be better for him if a large millstone were hung on his neck and he were drowned in the depth of the sea!† 7 Woe to the world because of offenses! Now it is necessary that offenses come, but woe to that person by whom the offense comes!
8 “If your hand or your foot is causing you to fall, cut them off and throw them away! It is better for you to enter into the life lame or maimed than to be thrown into the everlasting fire, having two hands or two feet. 9 And if your eye is causing you to fall, tear it out and throw it away! It is better for you to enter into the life one eyed than to be thrown into the fiery Hell, having two eyes.‡
God loves children
10 “See to it that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father, who is in the heavens.§ 11 For the Son of the Man came to save the lost.* 12 What do you think? If some man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine in the mountains† to go and search for the stray? 13 And if he happens to find it, assuredly I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. 14 Likewise it is not a desire, in the view of your Father in heaven, that one of these little ones should be wasted.‡
Handling a recalcitrant brother
15 “Now if your brother sins against you, go, confront him between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have won your brother. 16 But should he not hear, take along with you one or two more, so that every word may be established by the mouth of two or three witnesses. 17 And should he refuse to hear them, tell it to the congregation. But should he refuse to hear even the congregation, let him be to you just like the heathen and the tax collector.§
Agreeing in prayer
18 “Assuredly I say to you, whatever (pl.) you (pl.) may bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you may loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven.* 19 Assuredly again, I say to you that if two of you should agree on earth about any subject whatever that they may ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven.† 20 Because where there are two or three gathered together into my name, there I am in their midst!”‡
About forgiveness
21 Then Peter approached Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him; up to seven times?” 22 Jesus says to him: “Not, I tell you, up to seven, but up to seventy-seven times!§
23 “Therefore the kingdom of the heavens is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 And as he began to settle up, one debtor of ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25 But since he had nothing with which to repay, his lord commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and everything he had, so as to be repaid. 26 So then the servant fell down and did obeisance to him saying, ‘Lord, be patient with me and I will repay you all.’ 27 So the lord of that servant, having compassion, released him and forgave him the loan.
28 “But when that servant went out he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and grabbing him he started choking him saying, ‘Pay me back what you owe!’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and kept begging him saying, ‘Be patient with me and I will pay you back.’* 30 But he would not; instead he went and threw him into prison until he should pay back what was owed. 31 But when his fellow servants saw what had happened they were really grieved, and they went and reported to their lord everything that had happened. 32 Then summoning him the lord says to him: ‘Malignant servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Were you also not obligated† to have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ 34 So in anger the lord handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed to him.
35 “My heavenly Father will handle you just like that, if each of you does not forgive his brother his trespasses, from the heart.”‡
* 18:6 ‘Into’ not ‘in’. The Lord Jesus always said “believe into [Greek εις] Me”, never “believe in [Greek εν] Me”. (In John 3:15 a very few Greek manuscripts of inferior quality have “in”, against 99.5% that have “into”.) People believe in Santa Claus, the Easter bunny, the goodness of man, or whatever, but it does not change their lives. Similarly there are many who say they believe in Jesus, but it makes no difference in their lives. You have to believe into Him—commitment and identification are involved—it is a move from being outside to being inside. † 18:6 It is preferable to suffer an ignominious physical death than to destroy the faith of a child who believes into Jesus. What is worse than an ignominious physical death? Spiritual death—in verses 8-9 Jesus refers overtly to hell fire. If you send a child to hell, you go too! What about all the teachers who have dedicated themselves to destroying the faith of their students? ‡ 18:9 I believe this is literal, but largely hypothetical—by the time someone realizes what is happening, it is usually too late. Maybe that is why we are supposed to exhort one another daily (Hebrews 3:13). § 18:10 “These little ones” refers to the literal children who were in the room. In verse 2 Jesus called one over, so it was obviously in the room, but the playmates would naturally stop to see what was going to happen, so there were several in the room. This verse suggests the existence of guardian angels. * 18:11 Just 1.5% of the Greek manuscripts, of inferior quality, omit verse 11 (as in NIV, [NASB], LB, [TEV], etc.). † 18:12 “In the mountains”—note that the 99 were not left in a safe fold somewhere; they were left unprotected. The shepherd takes a calculated risk. ‡ 18:14 The Lord's statement here is round about, not direct—I tried to reflect that ‘round-aboutness’. § 18:17 In other words, such a person is to be excommunicated, ostracized. * 18:18 The tense of the Greek verb phrase here is a periphrastic future perfect, passive voice (so also in 16:18). Thus, “will have been bound/loosed” not “will be bound/loosed”. We are not telling God what to do; we are to apply down here that which He has already done in heaven. What had been just for Peter is now given to all the disciples. For more discussion, please see the Appendix: Do we command God? Matthew 18:18. † 18:19 If you are like I am, you have probably tried this, and it didn't work! Why not? I suppose because verses 19 and 20 must be taken together. The ‘because’ that begins verse 20 gives the clue—if Jesus is part of the group that is asking, then His will limits the asking. ‡ 18:20 The Greek text has “into my name”, not “in”—commitment is involved. § 18:22 Why 77 and not 490? Well, actually the Greek phrase is ambiguous—it could be either. In either case Jesus is saying that forgiveness should not be limited by number. * 18:29 The picture is that he kept begging all the way to the prison. † 18:33 Notice the verb ‘obligated’; verse 35 makes clear that this is the way God looks at it—His having forgiven me obligates me to forgive others. Observe that the king reversed his pardon—what might the implications of that be? “My heavenly Father will handle you just like that!” ‡ 18:35 This is a very strong statement! Perhaps 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit “his trespasses” (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.). Note the ‘fellow servant’ and ‘his brother’—presumably declared enemies of Sovereign Jesus are not in view.