Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 18:11
For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.
11. This verse is omitted in the Sinaitic and the Vatican MSS., and is consequently rejected by Lachmann, Tischendorf, and Tregelles. However, it falls in precisely with the train of thought, and is almost required to connect Mat 18:10 ; Mat 18:12.
The expression and the imagery of the parable recall Ezekiel 34; comp. also ch. Mat 15:24. In Luke the parable is spoken with direct reference to publicans and sinners, whom the Pharisees despised, and who are the “little ones” of these verses. Such differences of context in the Gospels are very instructive; they are, indeed, comments by the Evangelists themselves on the drift and bearing of particular sayings of Christ.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For the Son of man … – This is a second reason why we should not despise Christians. That reason is, that the Son of man came to seek and save them. He came in search of them when lost; he found them; he redeemed them. It was the great object of his life; and, though they may be obscure and little in the eye of the world, yet that cannot be an object of contempt which the Son of God sought by his toils and his death.
Son of man – See the notes at Mat 8:19-20.
That which was lost – Property is lost when it is consumed, mislaid, wasted, sunk in the ocean, etc. – when we have no longer the use of it. Friends are lost when they die – we enjoy their and happiness. He is useless to society. So all people are lost. They are wicked, miserable wanderers from God. They are lost to piety, to happiness, to heaven. These Jesus came to save by giving his own life a ransom, and shedding his own blood that they might be recovered and saved.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 18:11; Mat 18:13
If a man have an hundred sheep.
Seeking the lost
1. The image under which it pleases God to describe His creatures upon earth, Sheep gone astray.
2. What is said as to the dealings of God with His creatures under these circumstances, seeketh, etc.
3. The feelings with which the Shepherd is described as regarding the sheep when found, He rejoiceth more, etc.
4. The general deduction which our gracious Saviour draws from these several particulars Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
(1) What a conception does this text lead us to form of the character of God our Redeemer.
(2) What an encouragement does the doctrine of the text supply as to our dealings with others. (J. W. Cunningham.)
The example of saving the lost
I. Who are they that are here described as persons lost, and what is meant by the expression? Our blessed Saviour means all who did not receive Him as the messenger and interpreter of the Divine will to mankind.
II. In what sense our blessed Saviour is here said to have come to save mankind.
(1) He came to instruct mankind in the true and the whole nature of the Divine will:
(2) to show, in His own example, that human nature is capable of such a degree of perfection, as will make us fit objects of the Divine favour:
(3) to make a satisfaction for us upon the cross, such as showed that God would not pardon the sins of men unless His justice was satisfied; and, therefore, Christs suffering and death upon this account were a full and proper satisfaction made to the Divine justice for the sins of such as were till then lost to the benefits of eternal life.
III. How far should the example of Christ, in this particular of saving that which was lost, be imitated by us. The natural means, those of instruction and of example, which He made use of in His life-time for reforming mankind, and improving their morals, these are what we may copy after Him. (Nich. Brady.)
A needful caution
I. A needful caution. Take heed that ye despise not, etc.
1. To despise them is fearfully dangerous.
2. The interest taken in them by the highest intelligences should prevent us from thinking lightly of them.
3. The high destiny which awaits them.
II. A blessed announcement. For the Son of Man is come, etc.
1. The title assumed.
2. The act declared, not merely to improve, but to save.
3. The miserable objects regarded.
III. A familiar comparison. How think ye (Mat 18:12). These words may be considered:
1. In their literal signification. The recovery of lost property is a principle of human nature.
2. In their spiritual allusion.
IV. As encouraging inference. Even so it is not the will of My Father, etc.
1. The harmony that existed between the mission of Christ and the purposes of the Eternal Father.
2. If it is not the, will of God that the most despised and insignificant believer should perish, their salvation is assured. (Expository Outlines.)
The Son of Man the Saviour of the lost
I. A proof and statement of the Saviours work and errand.
1. One feature of the mediatorial character is particularly displayed in the very name in which the Saviour is introduced to our attention, the Son of Man.
2. These words point out the fact of the Saviours incarnation, The Son of Man is come.
3. This description of the object of His coming we may contrast with another, when He comes a second time into this our world.
II. View the Saviours errand and work as it is exhibited to us in that figurative illustration that follows the text,
1. He represents the state of the guilty sinner whom He came into the world to save under the idea of a wandering sheep. Prone to wander.
2. The care and kindness of the Great Shepherd of the sheep. Manifests particular care over case of individual sinner.
3. Christs search for the lost embraces all the means used for the salvation of sinners.
4. He carries back the sheep when He has found it. To prevent exposure to danger.
5. His joy.
III. The great principle of the divine conduct that is developed in the work to which we have turned your attention, It is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, etc.
1. The connection that is here obviously formed between the end in view, and the means for the accomplishment of that end.
2. In redemption the will of the Father and Son are equal.
3. The work of Christ was designed to accomplish that intention, and is efficacious to its accomplishment.
4. Magnify the fulness of Christs work.
5. Have you learnt that your characters are that of lost sheep? (R. H. Cooper.)
Gods minute and all-inclusive care of the universe
I. He is the Shepherd of the flock.
II. His love is impartially shown to all who are in the fold.
III. The salvation of the least is worth all the efforts of the highest. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The shepherd faithfulness of the Son of Man in seeking the lost
I. Let us notice the consolation in His comparing them with sheep who have gone astray.
1. It reveals to us how dear every single soul is to the Lord.
2. He misses each sheep as soon as it is lost.
3. He will leave the ninety and nine on the mountains and hunt for only one that has gone astray.
4. He rejoices over the one that is found.
II. For what does it render us responsible?
1. That we keep watch over those who are liable to go astray.
2. The shepherd-faithfulness of our Lord renders you responsible for compassion on the lost.
3. Also for active, zealous seeking and leading home all who are willing to be saved.
4. It requires us to rejoice over every one who lets himself be saved. (T. Christlieb, D. D.)
The lost sheep and the seeking Shepherd
I. The figure of the one wanderer
1. All men are Christs sheep. All men are Christs because He has created them. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
2. The picture of the sheep as wandering, which goeth astray. It pictures the process of wandering; not the result as accomplished. The sheep has gone astray, though when it set out on its journey it never thought of straying; more mischief is wrought from want of thought than by an evil will.
3. The progressive character of our wanderings from God. A man never gets to the end of the distance that separates between him and the Father if his face is turned away from God. Every moment the separation is increasing.
4. The contrast between the description given of the wandering sheep in our text and in St. Luke. Here it is represented as wandering, there it is represented as lost. God wants to possess us through our love; if He does not we are lost to Him.
II. The picture of the seeker. The incarnation of Christ was for the seeking of man. (Dr. Maclaren.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 11. For the Son of man, c.] This is added as a second reason, why no injury should be done to his followers. “The Son of man has so loved them as to come into the world to lay down his life for them.”
That which was lost.] . In Re 9:11, Satan is called , Apolluon, the destroyer, or him who lays waste. This name bears a near relation to that state in which our Lord tells us he finds all mankind – lost, desolated, ruined. So it appears that Satan and men have the nearest affinity to each other – as the destroyer and the destroyed – the desolator and the desolated – the loser and the lost. But the Son of man came to save the lost. Glorious news! May every lost soul feel it! This verse is omitted by five MSS., two versions, and three of the fathers but of its authenticity there can be no doubt, as it is found in the parallel place, Lu 19:10, on which verse there is not a single various reading found in any of the MSS. that have ever been discovered, nor in any of the ancient versions.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
We find the same in Luk 19:10, but applied upon another occasion. Our Saviour here riseth higher in his argument against giving offence to his little ones. All scandal tendeth to the ruin and destruction of him to whom it is given. Scandalum non est nisi malae rei aeidificans ad Gehennam, saith Tertullian; and a greater than he hath taught us the same lesson, Rom 14:15; 1Co 8:11 Now, saith our Saviour, I am
come to save that which was lost; you ought therefore to take care that you be not the causes and instruments of any being lost. Or thus; You look upon poor humble souls, that believe in me, as mean, contemptible creatures, therefore you think you may despise them: were not all those whom I came to redeem in as mean and despicable a condition? Yet I did not despise their souls. Did I come to save them, and shall it be your work to destroy them?
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. For the Son of man is come tosave that which was lostor “is lost.” A goldensaying, once and again repeated in different forms. Here theconnection seems to be, “Since the whole object and errand ofthe Son of man into the world is to save the lost, take heed lest, bycausing offenses, ye lose the saved.” That this is the ideaintended we may gather from Mt18:14.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For the Son of man is come to seek that which was lost. This is another, and stronger reason, why these little ones should not be despised; because Christ, who is here meant by the Son of man, came into this world to save these persons; who were lost in Adam, and had destroyed themselves by their transgressions, and carries great force in it: for if God had so great a regard to these little ones, as to send his Son to obtain eternal salvation for them, when they were in a miserable and perishing condition; and Christ had so much love for them, as to come into this world, and endure the sorrows, sufferings, and death itself for them, who were not only little, but lost; and that to obtain righteousness and life for them, and save them with an everlasting salvation; then they must, and ought to be, far above the contempt of all mortals; and the utmost care should be taken not to despise, grieve, offend, and injure them in any form or shape whatever; see Ro 14:15. Beza observes, that this whole verse is left out in some Greek copies, but it stands in others, and in all the Oriental versions, and in Munster’s Hebrew Gospel; nor can it be omitted; the following parable, which is an exemplification of it, requires it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Mat 18:11
. For the Son of man cometh Christ now employs his own example in persuading his disciples to honor even weak and despised brethren; for he came down from heaven to save not them only, but even the dead who were lost It is in the highest degree unreasonable that we should disdainfully reject those whom the Son of God has so highly esteemed. And even if the weak labor under imperfections which may expose them to contempt, our pride is not on that account to be excused; for we ought to esteem them not for the value of their virtues, but for the sake of Christ; and he who will not conform himself to Christ’s example is too saucy and proud.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
B. THE GOOD SHEPHERD CAME TO SEEK THE LOST LITTLE ONES. (18:1113)
Mat. 18:11 is omitted in the better manuscripts, because Matthew probably did not write it. The owner of a manuscript copy rightly saw in Luk. 19:10 an edifying parallel thought: For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost, and so wrote it onto the margin of his copy of Matthew. Then, it was undoubtedly inserted into the text by mistake by some scribe who mistook the excellent marginal note for a textual correction. But to purify Matthews text by removing it once more does not rob us of its beauty and connection, as its words may best be summarized in Mat. 18:12-13 anyway.
Mat. 18:12-13 This is the second reason we should never despise one of these little ones. (Mat. 18:10) Compare Jesus use of this same story in another context where Pharisees and scribes sneered at the sinners Jesus associated with. (Luk. 15:1-7) His sub-parable of the proud elder brother is devastating. (Luk. 15:25 ff) Some blame Matthew for inserting this parable here without regard for its original context, and then when they get to Luke they blame him too. But if Jesus can repeat Mat. 5:29 f in Mat. 18:8 f, cannot He repeat the lost sheep story in different situations with equal appropriateness? After all, the proud, self-seeking Apostles were in serious danger of the same insensitiveness and arrogance toward inferiors as were the Pharisean theologians in the other context.
How think ye? With this attention-getting question, Jesus hooks into the moral judgment of His listeners and turns on their emotions as they become absorbed in this story which is really a low-key rebuke of their callous disregard for the weak and straying. The basic mechanism is to push them to commit themselves to a value-judgment: how would a shepherd feel about the loss and recovery of just one of his lambs that had strayed?
If any man have a hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray. So often, when our brother sins against us, we are tempted to think of him as a ferocious beast ready to rip and tear us. This is why Jesus must give us another perspective, His, to be ready to envision our erring brother, not as a wolf, bear or lion, but as a lost, wandering sheep that belongs to God. From the point of view of the shepherd and from that of the potential damage a given lost sheep can do to the flock, he is relatively innocuous, so that we may see that any real damage we have suffered by our brothers offense is so very slight, compared to the sheeps loss to the Shepherd, hence his value to the Lord, (= Mat. 18:23-35!) Barclay (Matthew, II, 191) notes
Sheep are proverbially foolish creatures. The sheep had no one but itself to blame for the danger it had got itself into, Men are apt to have so little patience with the foolish ones. When they get into trouble, we are apt to say, Its their own fault; they brought it on themselves; dont waste sympathy on a fool. . . . Men may be fools, but God in His love loves even the foolish man who has no one to blame but himself for his sin and his sorrow.
Sometimes sheep go astray by following false shepherds. (Jer. 50:6; Mat. 15:14; 2Pe. 2:1 f) But their choice of shepherds and pastures is free and for which they are responsible. (Jas. 1:13 ff; 2Ti. 4:3 f) Nevertheless, the little ones may be unimportant to the selfish who cannot use them, since they have no influence, power nor wealth. They are only an embarrassment to the pious, because they are unable to keep up. They represent only 1% of the flock anyway, so why bother? Jesus answers eloquently: Because they are precious to God, thats all!
Doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and go unto the mountains and seek . . .
The Greek of both Matthew and Luke (on Mat. 15:4) states that the 99 were left upon the mountains or in the wilderness (Luk. 15:4). These prepositional phrases modify the preceding verbals, not the following verb preceded by ka. Obviously, the ASV translators of our text felt that the shepherd would not have abandoned the large flock in the hills to the greater danger of scattering during his absence in search of the one lost sheep, so they render the verse so as to have the shepherd go into the mountains. (But even ASV in Luk. 15:4 has: doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost . . .) The translators failed to see the other shepherds with whom our shepherd left the 99 while he went searching. And, if we are not at liberty to invent fellow shepherds, must we add equally unmentioned dangers like wolves, thieves and robbers, or scattering? Let us give Jesus credit for not creating a ridiculous parable, which, if pushed to its logical extreme would picture the Good Shepherd as abandoning His people to their fate while He goes traipsing around in search of strays! In fact, since the setting of the story is the hilly country of Palestine, unless the shepherd took the 99 clear back to town before beginning his search, he would have had to leave them right there where they were grazing on the mountains, since the major portion of Palestine devoted to pasture land is hilly.
Does he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go in search of the one? (RSV) Of course, he does, is the answer Jesus expects. (ouch afsei . . .;) Although there are sheepfolds out on the hills in Palestine, Jesus does not seem to refer to them here. Rather, the picture is that of the anxious shepherd who no sooner than the sheep is missed, leaves the remainder of the flock in good hands right where they are and begins the search at once.
Maclaren (PHC, XXII, 435) avoids the problem of the shepherds leaving the 99 out on the mountain, by imagining the flock of 100 sheep as the totality of Gods creations of which man is only one, however, the one that went astray: Not because man was so great; not because man was so valuable in comparison with the rest of creationhe was but one among ninety and nine unfallen and unsinfulbut because he was so wretched . . . so small, . . . so far from God, therefore the seeking love came after him, and would draw him to itself. But Jesus is picturing only the crisis of this one sheep now, but tomorrow the lost sheep might be another one. He is not discussing lost man as against unfallen nature, but one lost man as opposed to others who, at the moment of the story, did not need seeking.
The 991 emphasis is obviously on the one that went astray. This means that the Lord would have us understand how much He cares about each one personally. For the shepherd the one lost stray was not lost in the crowd: he missed it because it mattered to him. (Cf. 1Pe. 5:7) Nobody is unimportant to Jesus. (See on Mat. 18:5.) Everyone is significant to Him. He thinks in terms of persons, not humanity en masse, and by making individual concern for individuals the center of this story, He furnishes us motive and power to evangelize.
There is in this parable a tacit comparison between the attitude of the Good Shepherd and that of everyone else toward the straying. To the extent that this comparison sours into a contrast, to that degree the single disciple does not share the mind and heart of his Lord. The disciple is often tempted to harbor resentment and revenge at the misbehavior of his brother. In fact, he may calculate how much trouble and anxiety it costs him to be bothered by the others conduct that forces him to have to seek him. The Lord, on the other hand, reacts quite differently to the same situation, being moved to compassion to help the fumbling, stumbling, faltering man. (Cf. Mat. 9:36)
Doth he not leave . . . go . . . and seek? Jesus Himself is the Good Shepherd (Joh. 10:11 ff) who does everything divinely and humanly possible to rescue those left to the prey of wolves and hirelings, thieves and robbers. His mission was to seek and save the lost. (Luk. 19:10) This is why He stopped at Zacchaeus house. This is why He chose Matthew! (Mat. 9:12 f) He longed to save the wayward Jerusalem. (Mat. 23:37) And He found profound, genuine joy every time He succeeded. Bruce (Training, 200) sees that His love shows that
. . . there was not only no pride of greatness in the Son of God, but also no pride of holiness. He could not only condescend to men of humble estate, but could even become the brother of the vile . . . the charity of the Son of Man, in the eyes of all true disciples, surrounds with a halo of sacredness the meanest and vilest in the human race.
A Pharisee can never understand this. (Cf. Luk. 7:36-50)
And if so be that he find it. There is always the realistic possibility that even the Good Shepherd could fail to bring the lost sheep back, since the will of the human sheep is left free. (Heb. 6:4-6; Mat. 23:37) If the wandering one refuses to be found, he will not be compelled against his will, because the Kingdom of God is entered freely, not by constraint. (See on Mat. 13:9-10; also Apologetic Value after Mat. 13:43, esp. point 2.) Judas wandered away from the flock never to return, and he was not alone. (Joh. 6:66-71) Some are recovered. The formerly incestuous man was reclaimed for the Kingdom and the whole Corinthian congregation was held together around Jesus. (1 Corinthians , 5; 2Co. 2:1-11; 2Co. 7:1-16)
He rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. The ninety-nine just had not gone astray yet! This did not mean that one, two or ten of them could not do so the very next day. But the Shepherds gladness is unmarred because they have given Him no particular difficulty. In fact, this paradox is Jesus point: the one sheep that gave him the most trouble brought him the most happiness! The Shepherd lavishes special attention upon the lost one, not because he is worthy, or because he loves him more, or due to a supposedly greater intrinsic worth of the lost one. His greater rejoicing and special care is lavished on the one, just because he so desperately needs it.
In chapter 20 Matthew will illustrate what He means by picturing this Shepherd who hears the lost sheeps cry, as hearing the appeal for help by two stumbling blind men over on the edge of a pushy, arrogant crowd that was trying to hush them up. (Mat. 20:29-34) But Jesus stopped everything and mercifully healed them, enabling them to join the flock on its way to Jerusalem.
He rejoices: without recriminations, grudge-holding, lecturing or superior contempt, He rejoices to have His child back safe again. (Cf. the Fathers attitude in Luk. 15:20; Luk. 15:22-24) Lenski says it beautifully (Matthew, 695): Jesus is simply stating what we constantly experience: a sheep, a jewel, a child, any treasure takes on greater dearness when they are lost and then found or when they are endangered and then brought to safety.
This parable hits hard at the problem of grabbing for greatness in the Kingdom. Since the Son of man came to save what was lost, this which had been His clearest self-humiliation is also His most glorious exaltation. He who had laid aside His celestial splendor to don the slaves garb and undertake the worlds greatest man-hunt must be the greatest of the race! And if He care that much for the morally degraded and wicked, how much must He care for little weak ones? It is far harder to love the self-righteous, the calloused and cold-hearted ungodly than it is to interest oneself in relatively good people. (Rom. 5:6-8) But can He who did the more difficult fail to do the simpler?
Can the power-hungry disciples see themselves yet as like sheep gone astray and turned every one to his own way? (Isa. 53:6; 1Pe. 2:25) The major question is one of identification with Jesus story: what if I had been the lost sheep and those who held my attitude toward the little ones had despised me and left me out there to die?
As in the case of the angels care for the little ones, Gods watch-care looked over all, so also here Gods great Shepherd-heart goes seeking the lost. (Eze. 34:12-15) We must admit that Jesus did not identify the Good Shepherd. He is probably Ezekiels David, the Servant of Javh, the prince and shepherd for Israel. (Eze. 34:23 f) We are right to think of Jesus in this capacity, because He proved it over and over again. (John 10) Nevertheless God had already written an angry chapter on self-interested, self-serving shepherds whom He accused in words that sting the complacent of every age: The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the crippled you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. (Ezekiel 34, esp. Eze. 34:4) With compassion Javh lovingly sought them wherever they strayed and brought them to safe pasture. (Eze. 34:11-31; cfr, Isa. 40:10 f) Jesus must be God come in the flesh therefore.
See Mat. 18:22-35 for Fact Questions.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(11) For the Son of man is come.The words are wanting in many of the best MSS. Assuming their genuineness, two points call for special notice. (1.) The work of the Son of Man in saving that which was lost is given as the ground of the assertion of the special glory of the angels of the little ones. They are, in their ministry, sharers in His work, and that work is the highest expression of the will of the Eternal Father. To one at least of the disciples the words that he now heard must have recalled words that had been addressed to him in the most solemn crisis of his life, when he had been told that he should one day see the heavens opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man (Joh. 1:51). In that ascent and descent they were not only doing homage to His glory, but helping Him in His work. (2.) The words seem chosen to exclude the thought that there was any special grace or saintliness in the child round whom our Lord had folded His arms. To Him the childs claim was simply his need and his capacity for all that is implied in salvation. The words which He spake were as true of any wastrel child of the streets as of the offspring of the holiest parents.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. For the Son is come to save lost And this is the reason why their representatives are admitted to the face of God. Lost Such was their condition in themselves. And their lost condition is a reason why they are in danger of being despised. But it was for them that the Son of man came.
Having in the last verse described the Christian as originally lost, our Saviour proceeds from that very word to enhance our view of the value of his soul. Just because he was lost, the Son of God came to seek and save him. Had he not been a lost one he would have concentrated less interest upon himself. And this principle the Saviour illustrates by the case of the lost sheep, who by his loss gains to himself all the interest of the owner, who to save him leaves the rest of the flock comparatively uncared for.
And how shall we dare to be careless of the salvation of those on whom Christ lavishes such interest? The parable is given more fully in Luk 15:4-6. Leave the ninety and nine into the mountains The true rendering is, Doth he not leave the ninety and nine upon the mountains. That is upon the mountain pasture, where flocks were often richly fed.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
a “How do you think about this? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them is gone astray,”
Here in context the hundred sheep represent the new community, His new congregation. They are those who have been gathered out of the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Mat 9:36; Mat 10:6; Mat 10:16; and compare Eze 34:1-16).
The one who goes astray is the one who has been caused to stumble (Mat 18:6-7), or who has failed to take drastic action over sin (Mat 18:8-9). The whole picture here is limited to the needs of His own wider group of disciples, His ‘congregation’. A ‘hundred’ sheep indicates a complete flock. Up to this point not one was missing.
‘One is gone astray.’ Note the emphasis on its oneness. It is out there and alone. It is waiting for someone to come and help it. Shortly, in Mat 18:15, one will come to help it, and then if necessary two or three. And if that is not enough the whole of the remainder of the congregation (the whole ninety nine). For the whole congregation is a ‘self-help’ group with concern for each other, because they love one another, and are aware that they are all forgiven sinners. And they will be acting in the name of the shepherd.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Little Ones Are So Important To God That If One Goes Astray He Seeks Them Until He Finds Them (18:11-14).
Jesus here uses the idea of the shepherd seeking his sheep, which was something that happened fairly regularly in Palestine. Seeing a shepherd looking for a lost sheep, or returning home with it in triumph, was a familiar sight to all his listeners, and He used it to illustrate many truths. Here it illustrates the truth of God’s concern for His own, and the fact that He will never allow even one of them to perish (Joh 10:28-29). Elsewhere it can signify Jesus search for those who are lost (Luk 15:4-7).
Analysis.
a
b “Does he not leave the ninety and nine” (Mat 18:12 b).
c “And go to the mountains, and seek that which is going astray?” (Mat 18:12 c).
d “And if so be that he finds it” (Mat 18:13 a).
c “Truly I say to you, he rejoices over it” (Mat 18:13 b).
b “More than over the ninety and nine which have not gone astray” (Mat 18:13 c).
a “Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish” (Mat 18:14).
Note that in ‘a’ one little sheep has gone astray, and in the parallel their Father is concerned for that one little sheep. In ‘b’ the shepherd leaves the ninety nine sheep who are in safety, and in the parallel rejoices more over finding the lost one than over the ninety nine who did not go astray. In ‘c’ He seeks that which is gone astray, and in the parallel He rejoices over it. Centrally in ‘d’ is the fact that He finds it.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 18:11 f. Omitting Mat 18:11 , which is not genuine (see critical notes), we come to the parable Mat 18:12-14 , which is intended to show that it would be in direct opposition to God’s desire for human salvation to lead astray one of those , and to cause him to be lost, like a strayed sheep. Luk 15:4 ff. records the same beautiful parable, though in a different connection, and with much tenderer, truer, and more original features. But the time-hallowed parable of the shepherd came so naturally to Jesus, that there is no reason why He should not have employed it more than once, in a shorter or more detailed form, according as it happened to be appropriate to the occasion.
] “suavis communicatio,” Bengel.
, . . .] if a hundred sheep have fallen to a man’s lot , if he has come into the possession of them (Khner, II. 1, p. 364). The contrast to requires that we should conceive of as a large number (not as a small flock, Luk 12:32 ). Comp. Lightfoot.
It is preferable to connect with (Vulgate, Luther), because the connecting of it with (Stephanus, Beza, Casaubon, Er. Schmid, Bengel) would impart an unmeaning emphasis to . The man is pasturing his sheep upon the hills, observes that one of them is amissing, therefore meanwhile leaves the flock alone upon the hills (for the one that has strayed demands immediate attention), and, going away, searches for the one sheep that is lost. The reading of Lachmann represents the right connection.
] is not merely upon (as answering the question: where?), but expresses the idea of being scattered over the surface of anything , which corresponds exactly with what is seen in the case of a flock when it is grazing, and which is likewise in keeping with , which conveys the idea of being let out, let loose . Comp. notes on Mat 13:2 , Mat 14:19 , Mat 15:35 .
] if it should happen that he finds it . Comp. Hesiod, Theog. 639; in classical Greek, found mostly with, though also without, a dative. Xen. Mem. i. 9. 13; Cyr. vi. 3. 11; Plato, Rep. p. 397 B; Khner, II. 2, p. 582. This expression is unfavourable to the notion of irresistible grace.
, . . .] This picture, so psychologically true, of the first impression is not applied to God in Mat 18:14 (otherwise in Luk 15:7 ), although, from the popular anthropopathic point of view, it might have been so. Luke’s version of the parable is characterized by greater freshness.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
11 For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.
Ver. 11. For the Son of man came, &c. ] Therefore angels are so active and officious about them. This the reprobate angels could not bring their hearts to yield to, and therefore fell through envy from their first estate: and whereas the society of angels was much maimed by their fall, their room, say some, is supplied by the saints, whom therefore they take such care of and content in.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Mat 18:11 an interpolation from Luk 19:10 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Mat 18:11. , …, for, etc.) Infants are objects of Divine care, not because they have not been under the curse like others, but because they have been rescued from it.- , that which was lost) The human race was one mass of perdition, in which infants, even those of better disposition, are also included, on account of original sin, but the whole of it has been redeemed. If a king were to say that he would rebuild a city which had been consumed by fire, he would not wish his words to be understood of a single street. The loss of a sinner is, in the sight of God, something as it were contingent. Therefore foreknowledge does not imply necessity.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
lost
Son of man
(See Scofield “Mat 8:20”)
save (See Scofield “Rom 1:16”)
lost (Greek – ). (See Scofield “Joh 3:16”)
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Mat 9:12, Mat 9:13, Mat 10:6, Mat 15:24, Luk 9:56, Luk 15:24, Luk 15:32, Luk 19:10, Joh 3:17, Joh 10:10, Joh 12:47, 1Ti 1:15
Reciprocal: Psa 72:13 – shall save Isa 42:3 – bruised Isa 62:12 – Sought out Jer 50:6 – people Eze 34:16 – seek that Zec 13:7 – I will turn Mar 2:17 – I came Luk 5:32 – General Luk 15:10 – there Joh 3:15 – not Joh 21:15 – lambs 1Co 8:12 – ye sin against
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
8:11
The American Standard Version and some other translations omit this verse on the ground that it is not in the early Greek manuscripts. But the same thought is contained in Mat 9:13, so we lose nothing either way we consider the passage.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 18:11. This verse is omitted in the most ancient manuscripts. It seemed apt at this point, both in view of what follows, and as a reason for the admonition in Mat 18:10, presenting Christs conduct in contrast to this despising. He came to save those altogether lost, such contempt repels those who are apparently on the path of salvation.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
How our Saviour continues his argument against giving offence to his children and members; he came into the world to redeem and save them; therefore none ought to scandalize and offend them. And to illustrate this, he compares himself to a good shepherd, who regards every one of his sheep; and if any wander or go astray, he seeks to recover it with desire and joy.
Learn, 1. That the natural condition of mankind is like to that of wandering sheep; they err and go astray from God their chief good, and the object of their complete happiness.
2. That it was the work and business, the care and concern, of Jesus Christ, to seek and recover lost souls, as the shepherd doth his lost sheep.
3. That the love and care of Christ towards his sheep, in seeking to save and to preserve them, is a forcible argument unto all, not to scandalize and offend them, much less to persecute and destroy them.