Chapter 18

While Peter is going down to pay the income tax, in Peter’s house there is a squabble immediately. It is described in Mark 9:33-37, and again in Mark 10:35-45. And it was over who was the greatest.

Verse 1 — “And at the same time came the disciples unto Jesus.” Jesus is apparently in another room and they all come boiling in after awhile to get Jesus to settle the argument: Which one of them was the greatest? “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

Verse 2 — “And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them.” The little child was in Peter’s house; possibly Peter’s child, maybe yes, maybe no. The little child becomes a training aid, a blackboard. There is no child evangelism here at all. No one is evangelised here, Jesus is teaching a principle of doctrine and he uses a little child to illustrate the principle. The little child equals the believer, any believer. And this is a principle.

Verse 3 — “And said, Verily [here comes some doctrine now] I say unto you, Except [third class condition: maybe you will and maybe you won’t, it depends upon your volition] ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Notice, He is not converting the child but He is saying to the disciples, Except ye be converted … “ They are arguing about who is to be the greatest is the kingdom of heaven and one of those disciples isn’t even in the kingdom.

Notice the word “as” — except ye become as. As sets up an analogy: as little children, not big children, little children. Everything a little child learns, he learns by faith. Faith is the only perceptive system for little children. They do not learn by rationalism. The first thing Jesus says is that you have to be converted before you can even be considered great or less in the kingdom of heaven, so He starts out with the principle of salvation for the sake of Judas Iscariot.

There are three principles here

a. Salvation by faith. The child has one perceptive system and that perceptive system is non-meritorious. This adds up to the fact in the analogy that anyone who is saved becomes like a little child. Every time you use faith you become like a little child.

b. The concept of birth. One thing about a little child is the fact of its recent birth. We enter the kingdom or family of God by birth — a new birth, a spiritual birth: “Ye must be born again.”

c. The concept of relationship. Little children have a relationship to their parents and therefore little children are fed and clothed and taught and protected, not because they earn it or deserve it but because of the relationship. It all depends on who and what the parents are.

The term “kingdom of heaven” found in verse one refers to a spiritual kingdom which will exist forever, but the disciples made a mistake by regarding it as a political kingdom at that time. Therefore they all wanted to run the show and that is how they got into the wrangle as to which was the greatest. Jesus has just taught them their responsibility to their national entity in the income tax problem and therefore this is also to teach them that the present ministry of the kingdom of heaven on earth was spiritual rather than political. This is the separation of Church and state and Jesus would not have paid income tax were it not for the fact that He was the ruler of a spiritual kingdom.

Verse 3, the term “little child”: why is the child being used as a training aid?

1. Little children have only one perceptive system — faith.

2. Faith is the only system of perception that has no human merit.

3. Conversion is based on the perceptive system of faith — Acts 16:31.

4. This phrase is addressed to Judas Iscariot who is the only unsaved disciple.

5. There are three principles in the analogy to the child: a. salvation by faith — John 3:15; b. the concept of birth. Just as a little child is born into a family, so the believer at the moment of salvation is born into the family of God — John 1:12; Galatians 3:26; c. concept relationship. A little child doesn’t earn food, shelter or clothing from its parents. Such provision is based on the relationship, not because they deserved it — the principle of grace.

Verses 4-6, the object lesson.

Verse 4 — “Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child.” The child is analogous to someone who is converted, born again. The words “shall humble” doesn’t mean to stand round-shouldered, to lower your eyes to half mast, to omit using the first person singular personal pronoun, to fast, to agonise, and all the other phoney things.

To be humble

1. The word here means to be levelled off or to find a proper level. Actually the Greek word is used for levelling mountains. The word does not mean humiliation, either self-induced or from outside sources, that isn’t humility.

2. The verb actually connotes grace, orientation to grace, recognising what you really are.

3. Orientation to grace always recognises that we do not earn, deserve or merit anything from God.

4. God in fact provides our needs and He provides power entirely apart from any human ability or energy of the flesh, or human good.

5. Therefore greatness is based upon the principle of orientation to grace and utilisation of divine operating assets.

Verse 5 — “And whoso shall receive such.” To receive someone in your arms, to really welcome someone. He is now talking to the ten disciples. Peter is absent; Judas is an unbeliever — “little child in my name receiveth me.” The little child represents a believer. Why? One system of perception: faith in Christ = salvation; faith after salvation = faith-rest. There is also the concept of birth, we are born into the family of God; and there is the concept of relationship, Christianity is a relationship. The child here is the training aid, the illustration, the analogy, and the principle here: attitude toward other believers is an indication of attitude toward Christ. All of these disciples had been in a big wrangle over who would be greatest in the kingdom and they were bickering about it. They were all guilty of being in it and it was this wrangle that settled once and for all this principle: you can’t be bickering with other believers and be occupied with Christ. Now they can bicker with you but when you start to retaliate and become vindictive, when you start to fight back, then you are not occupied with the person of Christ and you are out of line. It is that simple. If you can’t get along with some other Christian, steer clear of him. Life is too short to mess around with him. There’s nothing that says you have to hang around with all believers. Instead of bickering as to who is the greatest among the disciples they should be oriented to the perspective of grace, and that is why Jesus says, “Humble yourselves as one such little child” .Once in the perspective of grace believers are not concerned as to who is the greatest. It isn’t who is the greatest it is who and what Christ is. They are not occupied with Christ, He is standing there talking to them and they are all worried about who is the greatest. And another thing is that they are thinking of the kingdom of God as being a political entity on earth, and they think that at any moment Christ is going to overthrow the Romans and rule the world and they all want to be tops. But the kingdom of heaven is a spiritual kingdom, it does not become a political kingdom until the Millennium when Christ personally reigns.

Verse 6 — “But whosoever shall offend one of these little ones.” What does “one of these little ones” mean? It means a believer. The child represents the believer, and we are talking about relationship among believers, He is talking about offending the believer and attitude toward the believer indicates attitude toward Christ; “which believe in me.” This describes a believer, someone who believes in Christ; “it were better for him [it is more advantageous for him] that a millstone.” The Greek doesn’t say millstone, it says a millstone turned by an ass. In other words a millstone which is so large that it takes the strength of an ass to turn it; “were hanged around his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” In other words, this passage is saying that it is better to be drowned in the sea than to reject Christ as saviour. Attitude toward the believer indicates attitude toward Christ. The word “offend” means to reject Christ. We will see this word “offend” from now on.

Verses 7-10, amplification and application.

Verse 7 — “Woe unto the world because of offences! What is the offence? Unbelief. In other words, Woe to the world because of unbelievers, better for them to have never been born than to die having rejected Christ. “Offences” is the Greek word for stumbling block or trap or hindrance, and it refers to rejection of Christ; “for it must needs that offences come.” It is inevitable that some people are going to reject Christ; “but woe unto that man by whom the offence cometh! I.e. but woe to the people who do it. Three times in this verse we have the word “offence,” and three times it has the same meaning as it had in the previous verse, and each time it means to be an unbeliever. That unbelief is manifested toward unbelievers — hostility toward believers.

Verse 8 — teaching by shock. “Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee.” The word “offend” has the same concept, it means to keep you from accepting Christ; “cut it off.” If your hand or your feet keep you from accepting Christ chop them off and accept Christ if that is all that is keeping you back. That is the concept. It is better to be a basket case and be saved than to be unsaved and be the healthiest person in the world, is the idea. Don’t let anything keep you from accepting Christ; “it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.” “Enter into Life.” When do you enter into life? The moment you are saved. This isn’t talking about phase three, it is talking about phase one; enter into life and live in phase two. In phase three for the believer no one is halt or maimed. A resurrection body is perfect.

Verse 9 — “Wherefore if thine eye offend thee.” In other words, if your eye keeps you from accepting Christ as saviour; “pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.” Same principle. Offending the child is simply an unbeliever expressing his unbelief by hostility toward a believer — the child represents a believer.

Verse 10 — “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones” — “despise not,” when an unbeliever expresses hostility toward a Christian he is expressing his unbelief. His unbelief is in his frontal lobe and this is one of the ways of expressing it. Rejection of Christ is characterised by mentally despising believers; “for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.” “Their angels” refer to guardian angels. Every believer has a guardian angel, so unbelievers look out. The word “always” is “through all,” literally, i.e. through all the trials, persecutions, adversities, and so on.

The unbeliever is reminded of four things: he is reminded that little ones, believers, are members of the family of God; he is reminded that little ones, as believers, have guardian angels; he is reminded that little ones or believers are avenged by God; and later on the little ones are related personally to the Son.

Verse 11 is not found in the original. It was added for one reason only: someone wanted to change the meaning of the lost sheep. This verse does occur, but not here, and it does not occur in this form. (The lost sheep is a carnal believer)

1. The ancient manuscripts do not have this verse. Conclusion: it was not found in the original.

2. With this verse removed the entire meaning of the next paragraph, verse 12-14, is changed. We do not have salvation but we do have a forgiveness passage with regard to believers.

3. Therefore the omission of this verse from the original manuscripts is significant. (“These little ones” of verse 10 are the 100 sheep of verse 12)

4. It indicates then that the lost sheep is a believer restored to fellowship. He is restored to fellowship from the flock from which he has wandered.

5. The addition of verse 11 confuses the entire context and distorts the Word. The principle of verse 11 is true but the verse is not found here, that’s all.

6. The Lord’s forgiveness is complete in phase one. Therefore, He appoints to everyone He has forgiven — at the moment of salvation — a guardian angel.

7. Since the Lord’s the Lord’s forgiveness is complete at the point of salvation any wandering sheep can be brought back to the flock. How? Rebound — 1 John 1:9.

Forgiveness in operation phase two, verses 12-25. Remember that God’s plan for the human race is divided into three parts: phase one is salvation — Acts 4-12; phase two is the Christian way of life; phase three is the believer in eternity.

Verse 12-14, the principle of grace in restoration. Restoration refers to the fact that when we as believers get out of line there is only one way to get back in line — 1 John 1:9.

Verse 12 — “How think ye?” The word “think” is present active indicative, which means you have to keep on thinking. The present tense is linear aktionsart. How do you manage to keep on thinking about this — “if.” The word “if” introduces a third class condition: if, maybe yes, maybe no; “a man have.” The word “have” is literally to become [ginomai]. It is rather awkward if you literally translate it but it has more meaning really. Ginomai is something that comes to pass but didn’t exist before, so these 100 sheep were not always 100 sheep. Originally they were 100 “pigs” and they accepted Christ as saviour and they became 100 sheep. The point is they became something they were not before. The sheep represents the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ in this passage. So in the analogy we have 100 sheep in union with Christ in the top circle. We start out with 100 sheep in the bottom circle but soon we are going to have 99 sheep in the bottom circle and 1 out. The human attitude would be, All right, one is out of fellowship, so what. The divine attitude is, Go get him. That is often the difference between legalism and grace.

“and one of them be gone astray” — the verb to be “gone astray” is an aorist passive subjunctive and the aorist tense means the point of time when a believer gets out of fellowship. The passive voice: he does the sinning but he receives the status of carnality as a result of the sin; the subjunctive mood means this is potential, he didn’t have to but he did. Notice: When the sheep gets out of the fold and goes wandering into the mountain he is still a sheep. The principle is the doctrine of eternal security. Once you have accepted Jesus Christ as saviour God does 40 things for you and it is a perfect package, nothing can change it.

The attitude of the Lord Jesus Christ — “doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?” This requires some activity on the part of the shepherd. He “seeks,” present active indicative, he keeps on seeking until he finds. For the believer who gets out of fellowship, as long as he lives on this earth the Lord is seeking him for as long as he is out of fellowship; seeking in the sense of wanting you to get back in fellowship. The believer doesn’t earn or deserve this seeking but he gets it anyway, that is grace.

Verse 13 — “And if” [3rd class condition: indicating whether you are found or not depends on whether you use 1 John 1:9 or not, it is up to you] “so be that he find it, verily, I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.” The rejoicing here is an anthropopathism which means that God’s attitude toward the believer who confesses his sins is always the same. He rejoices over the straying sheep back in the fold. This simply emphasises the grace of God.

Verse 14 — “Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.” In other words, God has a length of time for you on this earth as a believer and He doesn’t want you to get out before your time. The words “little ones” has been used throughout the previous passage for the little child standing in the midst of them and these refer to believers because the little child in the last passage was the analogy for the believer. The word “perish” refers to the sin unto death. It isn’t God’s will that you die before your time but if you persist in staying out of fellowship you will die before your time. It is that simple. God has a will for your life — X number of years. If you stay out of fellowship it will be cut short of what ever X is. This is not His will.

Verse 15 — The modus operandi for settling differences among believers. “Moreover if [3rd class condition, indicating potential] thy brother [another believer] shall trespass [commit a sin] against thee, go and tell him his fault.” This does not tell you to go tell people their faults. This is talking about a situation where you have been wronged by someone and it bothers you, it irritates you, so you go to them to talk it out. It means to expose to them what you think is the problem, it doesn’t mean to talk down and condemn. You talk it out in a relaxed manner, “between thee and him alone [it is a private matter]: if he shall hear [3rd class condition: maybe he will and maybe he won’t] thee, thou hast gained thy brother.”

Verse 16 — the grass roots court. “But if he will not hear, then take with thee one or two more.” This does not mean your friends right or wrong, it means one or two people who have no axe to grind in the matter and who are strictly objective; “that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.” This principle is tantamount of placing the matter of estrangement before a court of two or three people who are witnesses or judges and who are not emotionally involved.

Verse 17 — the supreme court. “And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church.” This doesn’t mean to stand up in front of the church and denounce, it means take it to the administration, to the established order inside the church. In other words, any man who is an administrator or a deacon ought to be fair minded, objective and be able to render a decision. This is the supreme court in matters of difference between two believers; “but if he neglect to hear the church” — then you have a fourth operation. Put as much distance between you and the person as possible — “let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican,” phase him out. Cf. Romans 16:17 — you don’t have to run around with all believers: “I beseech you brethren, mark [use a little discernment] them which cause divisions [a trouble maker] and offences contrary to doctrine.” You have to know some doctrine to apply this principle and if you don’t know doctrine don’t try to apply it; “which ye have learned; and avoid them.” This isn’t contrary to the principle of “love the brethren” but you don’t have to hang with them. It is present active imperative: keep on avoiding them, stay away from them; “For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ.” Remember they are saved but they are like the sheep gone astray; “but their own belly [emotions].” They are slaves to their emotions. Your emotions should be your slave, they should not rule you; “and by good words [they always talk a great fight] and fair speeches deceive the hearts [frontal lobes] of the simple [people without doctrine].”

Verses 18-20, the threefold necessity for removing hostility among believers.

Verse 18 — for effective witnessing. “Verily I say unto you [point of doctrine], Whatsoever ye shall bind,” aorist active subjunctive. This has to do with using the keys of the kingdom, it has to do with witnessing (Matthew 16:19); “on earth,” means to witness for Christ and get a decision. And when you give out the gospel and someone responds to it their decision which is given on earth is binding in heaven, “it shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose [loose is the power of God. The word “loose means to release, as per Acts 1:8, and again it has to do with witnessing ] on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Why do these ten disciples have to get straightened out? The principle is so that they can be controlled by the Spirit back in the bottom circle where they can witness for Christ.

Verse 19 — for effective prayer. You cannot have an effective prayer life when you are out of fellowship. “Again I say unto you, That if two of you agree [3rd class condition: maybe you will and maybe you won’t] on earth [prayer is on earth] as touching [concerning] any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.” You can’t have prayer like that if you are bickering and differences and hostility, and so on. If you are out of fellowship your prayers can’t be heard.

Nine reasons why prayer can’t be heard

1. Lack of faith — Matthew 21:22.

2. Selfishness (a form of carnality) — James 4:2,3.

3. Mental carnality — Psalm 56:18.

4. Lack of compassion — Proverbs 21:13.

5. Lack of domestic tranquillity — 1 Peter 3:7.

6. Pride or self-righteousness — Job 35:12,13.

7. Lack of the filling of the Spirit — Ephesians 6:18.

8. Lack of obedience to some point of doctrine — 1 John 3:22.

9. Failure to comply with the will of God — 1 John 5:14.

Verse 20 — for effective worship. “For where two or three are gathered together in my name [a worship service, it only takes two or three], there am I in the midst of them.” But you can’t have effective worship when you are hostile toward someone.

Verses 21-35, the principle of forgiveness among believers.

Verse 21 — “Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?”

Verse 22 — “Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.” In other words, an infinite number of times. Colossians 3:13, “Forgive as the Lord forgave.

Verse 23 — the illustration. “Therefore is the kingdom heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account [settle the accounts] of his servants”

Verse 24 — “And when he had begun to reckon [settle the accounts], one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.”

Verse 25 — “Forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.” This was customary in the ancient world.

Verse 26 — “The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped [kept on begging] him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all” .

Verse 27 — “Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion [grace], and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.”

Verse 28 — “But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow servants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.” This man had just been forgiven a great debt and then he runs across another who is obnoxious to him and he demands the small amount that this man owes him. This is a picture of all the disciples in the room. The Lord has forgiven them ten million dollars worth and they have all been guilty of trying to shake someone down for twenty dollars!

Verse 29 — The man says the same as he had said to his master.

Verse 30 — “And he would not: but he went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.”

Verse 34 — “And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors” — divine discipline on the believer who is unforgiving, implacable. The implacable believer is miserable because of this terrible discipline.

Verse 35 — “So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your very hearts [frontal lobes] forgive not every brother their trespasses.” In other words, it isn’t saying, I forgive. If someone has wronged you and you do not forgive them in your mind, and you are hostile and you hate and dislike, and you despise, and all the rest, then you’ve had it. Some believers are always miserable and they never know why. It is because they are unforgiving, they are vindictive and implacable. So this passage emphasises that two of the worst sins in the Christian life are mental attitude sins of vindictiveness and implacability. There is no place for it. You can never be happy as a Christian and have either one of these two in your frontal lobe.