What is the meaning of Matthew 18:6? But if anyone causes one of these little ones Jesus opens with a sober condition—“anyone.” No one is exempt from accountability. • “Little ones” points first to actual children (Matthew 18:3–5), yet it clearly widens to include every humble, newly-formed believer (Matthew 10:42). • Scripture repeatedly shows God’s tender heart toward the vulnerable: “Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless” (Psalm 82:3), “Train up a child in the way he should go” (Proverbs 22:6), and “Let the little children come to Me” (Mark 10:14). • The Lord entrusts these precious lives to parents, teachers, pastors, and peers. Neglect or mistreatment draws immediate heavenly concern (Matthew 18:10). who believe in Me to stumble The stumbling Jesus warns against is spiritual derailment—anything that trips faith, entices to sin, or breeds cynicism. • Romans 14:13 presses the same point: “make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way.” • 1 Corinthians 8:9–13 warns mature believers not to flaunt freedoms that wound weaker consciences; to do so is to “sin against Christ.” • Luke 17:1 reveals the inevitability of offenses in a fallen world, but the gravity rests on the one who engineers them. it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck A “large millstone” (the donkey-pulled variety) weighed hundreds of pounds—an unmistakable symbol of unavoidable, crushing judgment. • The language of “better” underscores how dreadful the alternative is: facing God’s direct wrath. Compare Hebrews 10:29, which speaks of a “worse punishment” for trampling the Son of God. • God’s holiness means leadership carries heavier responsibility. James 3:1 cautions, “Not many should become teachers… for we who teach will be judged more strictly.” • Matthew 18:7 continues, “Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble.” Jesus never downplays His Father’s justice. and to be drowned in the depths of the sea Drowning under a millstone leaves no hope of surfacing. Jesus paints an irreversible fate to stress how seriously heaven views spiritual harm. • Jeremiah 51:63–64 pictures Babylon’s doom with a stone hurled into the Euphrates—“so will Babylon sink and rise no more.” • Exodus 14 portrays Pharaoh’s army swallowed by the sea when it opposed God’s people. • Revelation 20:15 warns that anyone not found in the Book of Life is “thrown into the lake of fire.” Final judgment is real, and mercy should be pursued before that day comes. summary Matthew 18:6 sets an uncompromising safeguard around children and young believers. Causing them to stumble invites a fate worse than a brutal, watery death. The verse calls every follower of Christ to model purity, guard influence, and nurture faith, knowing that the Lord who cherishes “little ones” will also fiercely defend them. |
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