And he said to his disciples, It cannot be but that offences come, but woe [to him] by whom they come!
Jesus turns from the crowd of Pharisees back to His own followers and warns them about stumbling‑blocks that are certain to come, yet bring a woe on whoever supplies them. So what counts as an "offence," why must such things come, and how do you avoid being the one who brings them?
The chapter break hides the flow of thought. One writer traces the change of audience, and the link with the rich man of the previous chapter:
The latter part of the previous chapter, verse 14 to the end, was spoken to the Pharisees. At the beginning of this chapter the Lord again addresses His disciples. The rich man had stumbled over his possessions into hell, and now the Lord tells His disciples that, the world being what it is, "offences," or occasions of stumbling are inevitable. The great thing is to avoid being an "offence" to anyone else, even to the least important. The consequences are so serious that anything is better than that.
The verse above calls these "temptations to sin"; older translations call them "offences." The word behind both means a trap set for someone's feet:
The same word is used for the snare that Balaam taught Balak to lay for the Israelites (Revelation 2:14). It is also the word used for the "offences," or snares, that must, by the nature of things, exist in the world for the feet of the saints — Matthew 18:7; Luke 17:1.
Another writer defines them by what they do to Christ's kingdom:
Offences are principles that clash with the nature of His kingdom and hold back its display. They are "obstructions and oppositions given to faith and holiness."
Jesus says such things must come. That is where people go wrong: they treat what is unavoidable as though it were acceptable.
Here Jesus plainly declares that offences must come — but does He therefore sanction or excuse the offence? He knew what was in man, and He predicts the sad result, but only to pronounce judgment against the one who brings it about.
Another writer puts the same balance in a single line:
Occasions of stumbling will indeed come: these are sad certainties in so sad a world. But that does not make them less serious, or easier to pass over.
A day is coming when the Son of man will clear every stumbling-block out of His kingdom. That day is not here yet, and the delay has a purpose:
Among those who professed to follow Him and His glory on the principles of faith, there would be, sadly, many causes of stumbling. This is not yet the reign of judicial power, when the Son of man will gather out of His kingdom every cause of stumbling and everyone who practises lawlessness. God permits Satan's power, and He requires the exercise of faith. This is a time when the spread of evil proves what lasts because it is of God.
The next verse names the price. One writer, quoting an older translation, presses it home:
"Offences are bound to come, but woe to the man through whom they come! It would be better for him to have a millstone hung around his neck and to be thrown into the sea, than to cause one of these little ones to stumble." I call on each one to listen to this. To offend one of these little ones is to be on the way to the judgment of the millstone… The Church of God is His little one — a nobody in the eyes of the world, but everything in the sight of God. You and I ought to watch out for any way of living that might make the little one stumble.
Most offences, one writer argues, grow out of one root failure:
Scripture teaches us that in the ages to come we are to show the surpassing riches of God's grace. Grace marks this present age, unlike the law that came before it, with its rule of the guardian (Galatians 3:24-25). What, then, can be so great a failure as failing in grace? That is why the Lord goes on with an emphatic "take heed to yourselves."
That warning cuts in two directions at once:
"Take heed," the Lord adds, "to yourselves" — both about not giving others an occasion to stumble, and about not stumbling yourself when the occasion comes, keeping your soul in patience and in communion.
- Snare. An "offence" is a trap — the same word used for the snare laid for Israel, and for whatever trips faith and holiness and holds back Christ's kingdom.
- Certain. In a world like this, snares are unavoidable. Christ predicts them, but He never excuses them.
- Permitted. He does not yet clear them away. This is a time when faith must act, and when evil proves what lasts because it is of God.
- Costly. Trip one of the little ones and you are on the road to the judgment of the millstone. The world counts them as nothing; God counts them as everything.
- Guarded. So "take heed to yourselves": do not fail in grace yourself, and do not stumble when others fail in it.
It would be [more] profitable for him if a millstone were hanged about his neck and he cast into the sea, than that he should be a snare to one of these little ones.
Jesus warns His disciples here about causing others to fall, and the picture He uses is violent: a millstone, a neck, the open sea. Who are these "little ones," and what does it mean to make one of them stumble?
The same saying appears in Matthew, and there one writer draws the line between wounding a believer's faith and speaking honestly to him:
What does this mean? Anything likely to shake their confidence in Christ, anything that puts a stumbling block in their way. It does not mean anything said in faithful love to their soul. People may take offence at that, but that is not what the Lord is speaking of here. It is whatever tends to shake the little one's confidence in God Himself.
The picture is not only about an ugly death. One writer sets it beside the fall of Babylon:
To make one of these little ones stumble is to be on the road to the judgment of the millstone. In Revelation 18, we see Babylon under that same judgment of the millstone. Here the Lord sees the same character in making a little one stumble.
Not everyone accepts that trade. One writer says so plainly, and still holds to it:
No doubt not everyone would agree that death is preferable to sin against God, but it is true.
The phrase does not describe a special class of weak people. It describes those the world writes off:
The Lord goes on to speak of these in a way that shows how earnestly He wants every stumbling block cleared away from the feet of the least of all. The people men despise for being small are the ones His tender compassion would give special care to, and He presses this now on His disciples.
Another writer widens it further, applying it to God's people as a whole in a world that counts them for nothing:
The Church of God is His little one. In the eyes of the world she is a nobody, but in the sight of God she is everything. So you and I must watch out for any way of living that might make the little one stumble.
If the verse asks us to avoid something, it helps to know where the danger usually lies. One writer traces it back to the thing Christians are meant to display above all:
Scripture teaches us that we are to "show forth," even "in the ages to come the exceeding riches of God's grace." Grace is the mark of this present age, unlike law, the strict teacher whose rule came before it. What, then, can be so great a failure as to fail in grace? This is why the Lord goes on with an urgent "take heed to yourselves."
Does this mean we should stay quiet with a brother who sins? One writer answers no, and says silence is the real danger:
Yet this does not mean that we should never speak to our brother for fear of stumbling him. The opposite is true. If he goes astray into sin, we are to rebuke him, and forgive him as soon as he repents — even if it happens again and again. We might think that rebuking him risks making him stumble. In fact, we take that risk by not rebuking him. Of course, this assumes we give the rebuke not in human anger but in the power of divine love.
- Little. God's care runs to "the least of all" — those the world despises for their smallness are the ones He guards.
- Shake. To make one stumble is to do anything that unsettles a believer's confidence in Christ and in God Himself.
- Weigh. Christ weighs it out: drowning would be the better outcome — a judgment that echoes the millstone of Babylon.
- Fail. Stumbling blocks arise where Christians fail in grace — the very thing they are meant to display.
- Speak. Rebuke given in love is not an offence. Staying silent is what trips a brother up.