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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Matthew 18:6 - 18:7
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A warning:
v. 6. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
v. 7. Woe unto the world because of offenses! For it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh!
Christ is now fairly launched upon a subject which is very near and dear to Him, because of His love for all the lowly and humble. He has in mind not only the little children, though they are His first consideration, but all the lowly and unassuming, the small ones in the kingdom of heaven, that believe on Him. They may not excel in great intellectual accomplishments, they may not stand out before others in those matters which are commonly accounted great in this world; they are simple, unpretentious Christians. But woe unto him that should offend one of these, that should lay a temptation before them in any form, that should lead them into sin, that should replace their simple faith by doubts regarding the Scriptures and their Savior. Many a Christian has been offended, scandalized, been led into doubt, and thus to misbelief and despair by the bantering, frivolous tone employed by such as pretend great learning, whenever they refer to the Bible and the way of redemption. Christ speaks with great feeling. He suggests a punishment which would approximately fit the crime, a fate which would be preferable to the transgression of offending in the manner shown by Him. Let a large millstone, of the kind used in mills driven by animals, be hung about the neck of such a one as contemplates so heinous a transgression, rather than that the offense be done. The entire subject of offenses is extremely distasteful to Jesus. He pronounces a woe upon the world because of them, for a large part of actual sins committed are due to suggestions, temptations, deliberate attempts at leading astray, coming from without. It is true, indeed, that offenses will come, on account of the perverted heart and mind of natural man. God is not responsible for the evil, but the evil lives in the world since the fall of Adam. Out of the evil hearts proceed the sinful desires, and these break forth in sinful deeds, and so scandals are inevitable. They find their way into the midst of the external Church of God, every heretic claiming for himself the support of Scriptures. "Therefore one should learn to know that scoundrel, the devil, who ornaments and sells himself under the name of God. For all false teachers and heretics claim for themselves the name of God, as you see in the case of the Pope, the sacrament-heretics, the Anabaptists, and all schismatics. But the Christians are not excused if they permit themselves to be led astray. For Christians should indeed be childlike, but in Christ, not outside of Christ. For Christ the Lord has warned them sufficiently against the false schismatics that would come and attempt to seduce them under the name of Christ. " Woe to that man through whom the scandal comes, that is guilty of causing other men to sin!