Matthew 8:5-6

Healing the Centurion’s Servant

8:5 When he entered Capernaum, ¹  a centurion ²  came to him asking for help: ³  8:6 “Lord, ⁴  my servant ⁵  is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible anguish.”

Matthew 18:3-6

18:3 and said, “I tell you the truth, ⁶  unless you turn around and become like little children, ⁷  you will never ⁸  enter the kingdom of heaven! 18:4 Whoever then humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 18:5 And whoever welcomes ⁹  a child like this in my name welcomes me.

18:6 “But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, ¹⁰  it would be better for him to have a huge millstone ¹¹  hung around his neck and to be drowned in the open sea. ¹² 

Matthew 18:10

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

18:10 “See that you do not disdain one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.

Matthew 18:14

18:14 In the same way, your Father in heaven is not willing that one of these little ones be lost.

Matthew 25:40

25:40 And the king will answer them, ¹³  ‘I tell you the truth, ¹⁴  just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters ¹⁵  of mine, you did it for me.’

Zechariah 13:7

13:7 “Awake, sword, against my shepherd,

against the man who is my associate,”

says the Lord who rules over all.

Strike the shepherd that the flock may be scattered; ¹⁶ 

I will turn my hand against the insignificant ones.

Mark 9:42

9:42 “If anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a huge millstone ¹⁷  tied around his neck and to be thrown into the sea.

Luke 17:2

17:2 It would be better for him to have a millstone ¹⁸  tied around his neck and be thrown into the sea ¹⁹  than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. ²⁰ 

Luke 17:1

Sin, Forgiveness, Faith, and Service

17:1 Jesus ²¹  said to his disciples, “Stumbling blocks are sure to come, but woe ²²  to the one through whom they come!

Colossians 1:10-13

1:10 so that you may live ²³  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ²⁴  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God, 1:11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of ²⁵  all patience and steadfastness, joyfully 1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share ²⁶  in the saints’ ²⁷  inheritance in the light. 1:13 He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves, ²⁸ 

[8:5]  ¹ sn Capernaum was a town on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, 680 ft (204 m) below sea level. It was a major trade and economic center in the North Galilean region.

[8:5]  ² sn A centurion was a noncommissioned officer in the Roman army or one of the auxiliary territorial armies, commanding a centuria of (nominally) 100 men. The responsibilities of centurions were broadly similar to modern junior officers, but there was a wide gap in social status between them and officers, and relatively few were promoted beyond the rank of senior centurion. The Roman troops stationed in Judea were auxiliaries, who would normally be rewarded with Roman citizenship after 25 years of service. Some of the centurions may have served originally in the Roman legions (regular army) and thus gained their citizenship at enlistment. Others may have inherited it, like the apostle Paul did.

[8:5]  ³ sn While in Matthew’s account the centurion came to him asking for help, Luke’s account (7:1-10) mentions that the centurion sent some Jewish elders as emissaries on his behalf.

[8:6]  ⁴ tn Grk “and saying, ‘Lord.’” The participle λέγων (legwn) at the beginning of v. 6 is redundant in English and has not been translated.

[8:6]  ⁵ tn The Greek term here is παῖς (pais), often used of a slave who was regarded with some degree of affection, possibly a personal servant (Luke 7:7 uses the more common term δοῦλος, doulos). See L&N 87.77.

[18:3]  ⁶ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[18:3]  ⁷ sn The point of the comparison become like little children has more to do with a child’s trusting spirit, as well as willingness to be dependent and receive from others, than any inherent humility the child might possess.

[18:3]  ⁸ tn The negation in Greek (οὐ μή, ou mh) is very strong here.

[18:5]  ⁹ tn This verb, δέχομαι (decomai), is a term of hospitality (L&N 34.53).

[18:6]  ¹⁰ tn The Greek term σκανδαλίζω (skandalizw), translated here “causes to sin” can also be translated “offends” or “causes to stumble.”

[18:6]  ¹¹ tn Grk “the millstone of a donkey.” This refers to a large flat stone turned by a donkey in the process of grinding grain (BDAG 661 s.v. μύλος 2; L&N 7.68-69). The same term is used in the parallel account in Mark 9:42.

[18:6]  ¹² tn The term translated “open” here (πελάγει, pelagei) refers to the open sea as opposed to a stretch of water near a coastline (BDAG 794 s.v. πέλαγος). A similar English expression would be “the high seas.”

[25:40]  ¹³ tn Grk “answering, the king will say to them.” This is somewhat redundant and has been simplified in the translation.

[25:40]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[25:40]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited). In this context Jesus is ultimately speaking of his “followers” (whether men or women, adults or children), but the familial connotation of “brothers and sisters” is also important to retain here.

[13:7]  ¹⁶ sn Despite the NT use of this text to speak of the scattering of the disciples following Jesus’ crucifixion (Matt 26:31; Mark 14:27), the immediate context of Zechariah suggests that unfaithful shepherds (kings) will be punished by the Lord precisely so their flocks (disobedient Israel) can be scattered (cf. Zech 11:6, 8, 9, 16). It is likely that Jesus drew on this passage merely to make the point that whenever shepherds are incapacitated, sheep will scatter. Thus he was not identifying himself with the shepherd in this text (the shepherd in the Zechariah text is a character who is portrayed negatively).

[9:42]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “the millstone of a donkey.” This refers to a large flat stone turned by a donkey in the process of grinding grain (BDAG 661 s.v. μύλος 2; L&N 7.68-69). The same term is used in the parallel account in Matt 18:6.

[17:2]  ¹⁸ tn This term refers to the heavy upper stone of a grinding mill (L&N 7.70; BDAG 660 s.v. μυλικός).

[17:2]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “if a millstone were tied…and he were thrown.” The conditional construction in Greek has been translated by English infinitives: “to have… and be thrown.”

[17:2]  ²⁰ tn Or “to stumble.” This verb, σκανδαλίσῃ (skandalish), has the same root as the noun σκάνδαλον (skandalon) in 17:1, translated “stumbling blocks”; this wordplay is difficult to reproduce in English. It is possible that the primary cause of offense here would be leading disciples (“little ones”) astray in a similar fashion.

[17:1]  ²¹ tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[17:1]  ²² sn See Luke 6:24-26.

[1:10]  ²³ tn The infinitive περιπατῆσαι (peripathsai, “to walk, to live, to live one’s life”) is best taken as an infinitive of purpose related to “praying” (προσευχόμενοι, proseucomenoi) and “asking” (αἰτούμενοι, aitoumenoi) in v. 9 and is thus translated as “that you may live.”

[1:10]  ²⁴ tn BDAG 129 s.v. ἀρεσκεία states that ἀρεσκείαν (areskeian) refers to a “desire to please εἰς πᾶσαν ἀ. to please (the Lord) in all respects Col 1:10.”

[1:11]  ²⁵ tn The expression “for the display of” is an attempt to convey in English the force of the Greek preposition εἰς (eis) in this context.

[1:12]  ²⁶ tn BDAG 473 s.v. ἱκανόω states, “τινὰ εἴς τι someone for someth. Col 1:12.” The point of the text is that God has qualified the saints for a “share” or “portion” in the inheritance of the saints.

[1:12]  ²⁷ tn Grk “the inheritance of the saints.” The genitive noun τῶν ἁγίων (twn Jagiwn) is a possessive genitive: “the saints’ inheritance.”

[1:13]  ²⁸ tn Here αὐτοῦ (autou) has been translated as a subjective genitive (“he loves”).