Who are the "little ones" in Matthew 18:6?

Answer: The word used here for "little ones" is "mikroon," one who has not yet grown up and is not necessarily a child. It is the same word used of Zacchaeus, he was little, "mikroon," not grown as to his stature. In verse 6, where the word is used first, the Lord says of these, "which believe in Me." It refers to those who had believed on the Lord yet had not grown much in the truth, what we may call, new converts. The word of our Lord to Peter in John 21:15, "Feed my lambs," we believe is akin to this passage.

Each of these little ones had an angel to represent them in the presence of the Father. Seeing His face means, they are ever in divine favour. Compare 2 Sam. 3:13; 14:24-33; Esther 1:14; Rev. 22:4. Seeing, then, that the Father looks upon these little ones with favour and that they are cared for by angels, it well becomes disciples to have an interest in them and to help them all they can. Angels are "ministering spirits" for "them who shall be heirs of salvation," Heb. 1:14. "Are they not all ministering (leitourgika) spirits, sent forth to minister (diakonian) for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" Hence these angelic beings who serve God in every part of the universe, serve or wait upon the heirs of salvation. The whole point in this passage seems to be that these little ones are of great value in the estimation of the Father; are angelically cared for and, as a consequence, ought to be highly esteemed by disciples. Let us take care, then, that we do not despise these lambs of the flock.

To answer the question Jesus had called a little child and set him in the midst as an object lesson. He proceeds to show that one such child, if presented in His name, becomes a person of great importance. To receive him is equivalent to receiving the Lord Himself. In verses 2-5 the "little child" is in question; in verse 6 it is "one of these little ones which believe in Me." To offend one of these merits the severest judgment, and this leads the Lord to set His disciples in the light of eternal things. There is such a thing as "everlasting fire," and any sacrifice is better than incurring that.

"Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven" (ver. 4). It is not merely the becoming like little children as begotten of God, but there is the practical humbling of ourselves. And not only the humbling of ourselves, but how we feel toward others: "Whosoever shall receive one such little child in My name receiveth Me." Whatever may be the lowliness of the Christian, he should be viewed with all the glory of Christ, which is meant by receiving him in the name of Christ. It is a person that does not defend his rights, nor assert his own glory, but is willing to bend and make way for any one, while conscious of the glory that rests upon him. There may be the very opposite of this — "Whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in Me." What is meant by this? Anything calculated to shake their confidence in Christ, to put a stumbling-block in their way. It does not mean anything said in faithful love to their soul. People may take offence at this; but it is not what is spoken of here. It is what tends to shake the confidence of the little one in God Himself. "Whoso shall offend one of these little ones that 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." These things are constantly occurring in the world. Therefore, says the Lord, "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." What is to be done? The Lord shows in two forms the way to guard against these stumbling-blocks. The first is this — I must begin with myself. This is the most important means of not stumbling another. "Wherefore, if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off and cast them from thee." It may be in one's service, or in one's walk; but if thy hand or foot become the occasion of stumbling (something in which the enemy takes advantage against God), deal resolutely at once with the evil thing. "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" (vers. 6-8).

Q. — Matt. 18:5; Matt. 19:13-15. Is it a little one only, or a believing one, or both? R.M.

A. — The Lord at the beginning of the chapter corrects the ambition of the disciples by the figure of a little child as far as possible from any such thought. But it is certain from ver. 6 that He goes forward to the "little ones that believe on Me." But it seems worthy of Him before closing the subject to give us comfort in a more distinct way than elsewhere respecting "little ones" like the one that He called and set in the midst of them. How many die at an early age? Do they perish? We are not left to spiritual instinct, or to reasoning from general principles. Nor is it the unbelieving and unspiritual plea that they are "innocent." They do belong to the fallen race, for whose sake the good Shepherd came and died: "even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish." Are we not entitled to look beyond those that believe to "these little ones" for assurance that, if called before believing could be, they are not to perish? Compare also chap. 19:13-15.

The first great source of offence to others, which must be first removed, is that which is a stumbling-block to our own souls. We must begin with self-judgment. But there is also the despising the little ones that belong to God. "Take heed," therefore, our Lord says, "that ye despise not one of these little ones: for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in heaven. For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost." A beautiful word; specially as here it is evidently so broadly stated by our Lord, as to take in a real literal little child as well as the little ones that believe in Him. I believe that this chapter was meant to give encouragement touching little ones. The plea on which our Lord goes, is not that they were innocent, which is the way in which they are so often spoken of among men; but that the Son of man came to save that which was lost. It supposes the taint of sin, but that the Son of man came to meet it; so that we are entitled to have confidence in the Lord, not merely for our own souls, but for the little ones too.

That which would be proper for the kingdom was the meekness of a little child, which is unable to assert its own rights in the face of a world that passes it by — the spirit of dependence and humility. They must become as little children. In the absence of their rejected Lord this was the spirit that became His followers. He who received a little child in the name of Jesus received Himself. On the other hand, he who put a stumbling-block in the way of one of those little ones who believed in Jesus should be visited with the most terrible judgment. Alas! the world do this; but woe unto the world on that account. As to the disciples, if that which they most valued became a snare to them, they must pluck it out and cut it off — must exercise the utmost carefulness in grace not to be a snare to a little one believing in Christ, and the most unrelenting severity as to themselves, in whatever might be a snare to them. Loss of what was most precious here was nothing, compared with their eternal condition in another world; for that was in question now, and sin could have no place in God's house. Care for others, even the weakest, severity with self was the rule of the kingdom that no snare or evil might be. As to offence, full grace in forgiveness. They were not to despise these little ones; for if unable to force their own way in this world, they were the objects of the Father's special favour, as those who, in earthly courts, had the peculiar privilege of seeing the king's face. Not that there was no sin in them, but that the Father did not despise those that were far from Him. The Son of man was come to save the lost. And it was not the Father's will that one of these little ones should perish. He spoke, I doubt not, of little children like those whom He took in His arms; but He inculcates on His disciples the spirit of humility and dependence on the one hand, and on the other, the spirit of the Father, which they were to imitate in order to be truly the children of the kingdom; and not to walk in the spirit of man, who seeks to maintain his place and his own importance, but to humble themselves and submit to contumely; and at the same time (and this is true glory) to imitate the Father, who considers the lowly and admits them into His presence. The Son of man was come on behalf of the worthless. This is the spirit of grace spoken of at the end of Matthew 5. It is the spirit of the kingdom. As doctrine, the sinful condition of the child, and its need of the sacrifice of Christ, are clearly expressed here. He does not say, "Seek," as to them. The employing the parable of the lost sheep is striking here.}

The great thought put here before us is the identification of the Lord with every little one, each who has become a little child, that is born again. He is their Father and their Lord, closely identified with them. It reminds us of that beautiful word "He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye" (Zech. 2:8). It is spoken of Israel, it finds a still higher application in us. We also may think of that other statement: "In all their affliction, He was afflicted" (Is. 63:9). And so honor done to one of the little ones is done unto Him, injury done to one of them is injury done to Him. What glory of the believer this reveals! How this fact should teach us how to behave one towards the other and not despise any one who is Christ's. How apt we are to do this. This one or that one is so little taught in the Word, he is so ungracious -- and with all our criticism we forget he is after all one of Christ's own.

Matthew 18 furnishes us with the characteristic spirit of lowliness and grace that suits the Kingdom of Heaven and goes on to that which befits the Church, too, now that it has been revealed. The thought of the disciples is who should be greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. But the Lord sets a little child in their midst as the expression of that lowliness, confidence, and absence of self that must be produced by grace, in conversion, to have any place in it. True greatness would prove itself in being little in one's own eyes and able to humble oneself. To receive one such little child — one morally such as believing in Christ, verse 6, in the name of Christ, would be to receive Him. To cause or be a stumbling-block to such, it would be better to be drowned in the depth of the sea. It is a world of such — woe to it! and to him individually by whom the stumbling-block comes. To avoid this, needs uncompromising severity as to self in what has proved a hindrance to the soul's progress — it were better to part with hand, foot, or eye if an occasion of stumbling to oneself, than to let oneself be led by them to hell. So much as to the qualities grace would produce in lowliness and energy of decision against self. But the Lord has not lost sight of the actual child in the midst (ver. 2) — little accounted of in this world they were represented before His Father's face where they had their place, but on the ground that the Son of Man was come to save the lost, with the joy, too, to Himself of one that had lost a sheep gone astray upon the mountains and who sought and found it. Thus it was not the Father's will that one of them should perish.

The question is, does the Lord still speak of believers or does He now refer to actual little ones? We believe the latter is the case. With the tenth verse ends properly the exhortation of the Lord in answer to the question of the disciples. The little child He had put in their midst was most likely still there, and it is now concerning little ones, little children, He speaks, that they should not be despised. Children are subjects in the kingdom of the heavens. How little the disciples understood their Lord and how they needed the very exhortation not to despise one of these little ones is seen in the next chapter, when they brought little children to the Lord and the disciples rebuked them. The Lord then declared: "Suffer little children, and do not hinder them from coming to me; for the kingdom of heaven is of such" (chapter 19:13, 14). And when the Lord now speaks of "their angels in the heavens continually behold the face of my Father," what does He mean by it?

All of course depends on the interpretation of "angel." At the first glance it would seem as if these little ones have angels in heaven. There is a passage in Acts 12 which is the key to solve the difficulty here. When Peter, rescued by an angel, led forth miraculously from the prison house, knocked at the door of the praying assembly and Rhoda maintained that Peter stood outside, they said "It is his angel." They believed that Peter had suffered death and that his angel stood outside. What does "angel" mean in this passage? It must mean the departed spirit of Peter. This fact throws light on the passage before us. If these little ones, who belong to the kingdom of the heavens, depart, their disembodied spirits behold the Father's face in heaven; in other words, they are saved. Surely heaven is peopled by these little ones. What a company of them is in the presence of the Lord! The little ones perish not. The work of the Lord Jesus Christ was for them. The verses which follow and which have been said to be an interpolation, belong rightly here; indeed, they fit in most wonderfully, though in the Gospel of Luke we have the substance of these words enlarged. "For the Son of Man has come to save* that which is lost." (The omission of "to seek" is significant. They (little children) are lost ones needing a Saviour, but seeking implies a condition of active wandering from God such as in their case is hardly begun yet. -- Num. Bible.) "What think ye? If a certain man should have a hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, does he not leave the ninety and nine on the mountains, go and seek the one which has gone astray? And if it should come to pass that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoices more because of it than because of the ninety and nine not gone astray. So it is not the will of your Father who is in the heavens that one of these little ones should perish" (verses 11-14).

(2) Thus it wraps itself about the objects of it, like a mother with a babe, and grows, as one might think, passionate in denouncing those who would injure them. "But whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in Me, it were better for him that a great mill-stone were hanged about his neck, and he sunk in the depth of the sea;" ― so does God care for the feeblest of His own!