Matthew Chapter 18 verse 4 Holy Bible
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
read chapter 18 in ASV
Whoever, then, will make himself as low as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
read chapter 18 in BBE
Whoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, *he* is the greatest in the kingdom of the heavens;
read chapter 18 in DARBY
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
read chapter 18 in KJV
read chapter 18 in WBT
Whoever therefore humbles himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.
read chapter 18 in WEB
whoever then may humble himself as this child, he is the greater in the reign of the heavens.
read chapter 18 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 4. - Whosoever therefore. This verse gives a direct application of the principle just enunciated, and supplies an answer to the apostles' question. Shall humble himself. Not that a child consciously humbles itself, but is humble by nature. The disciple must become that by deliberate choice which the child is by reason of his constitution and natural disposition. The same is greatest; rather, greater (μείζων), Christ using the same term as the questioners in ver. 1. The more a man annihilates self and casts away pride, conceit, obstinacy, the fitter is he to become a living member of Christ's kingdom. "Quanto humilior, tanto altior," says Thomas Aquinas. But this is a joint work. St. Gregory says well, "The good which a man doeth is both the work of God and the work of man: of God, as being the Author, in giving grace; of man, as being actor, in using grace, yet so that he cooperate with grace by grace" (quoted by Ford, in loc.).
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(4) Whosoever therefore shall humble himself.--This, then, was the answer to the question "Who shall be the greatest." The secret of true greatness lay in that unconsciousness of being great, which takes the lowest position as that which of right belongs to it. For a man to "humble himself" with the purpose of attaining greatness would frustrate itself, and reduce humility to an hypocrisy. The "pride that apes humility," the false lowliness of Colossians 2:18, is even more hateful and contemptible than open self-assertion.As this little child.--That which was to be the result of a deliberate act in the disciples was found in the child's nature as it was. They were to make themselves lowly as he was lowly. The transition from the plural to the singular gives an almost dramatic vividness to the form of our Lord's teaching. We seem to see the child shrinking timidly, with blushing face and downcast eyes, from the notice thus drawn to him.
