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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Matthew 19:13 - 19:15
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat_19:13-15
13Then some children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. 14But Jesus said, "Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." 15After laying His hands on them, He departed from there.
Mat_19:13 "children" Jesus was a friend to the socially outcast, ostracized, and/or underprivileged. He befriended the common person, slaves, the poor, women, and children.
▣ "so that He might lay His hands on them and pray" This was the traditional rabbinical blessing for children. This has nothing to do with salvation. Jewish parents saw their children as already members of the congregation of Israel by birth.
Mat_19:14 "Let the children alone" This is aorist active imperative. Jesus was emphatic in His desire to be available to all.
▣ "do not hinder them from coming to Me" This is present active imperative with a Negative particle. This grammatical construction implies to stop an act which was already in process.
▣ "for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these" This did not refer to the children themselves, but those (1) with child-like characteristics or (2) who see themselves in a low or receiving position who will enter the kingdom of God (cf. Mat_18:2-4). This is not a verse on the salvation of children. The NT is written to adults!