Matthew 18:11

BSB

Parallel translations

4 additional translations

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KJV

For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.

ASV

YLT

for the Son of Man did come to save the lost.

DBT

For the Son of man has come to save that which was lost.

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A note on the manuscripts

Most scholars agree

"The Son of man is come to save that which was lost"

A much-loved sentence that the earliest manuscripts of Matthew do not contain — because it belongs, word for word, to Luke 19:10.

What it changes: No doctrine, and not even a phrase — the saying survives untouched in Luke 19:10, where nobody disputes it.

The manuscripts, and the case each way →

Commentary voices

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Voices6

On this verse

(Verses 10, 11.) See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. The Son of Man came to save what was lost. Above, he had said that all close relationships and connections that could cause scandal should be cut off by hand, foot, or eye. Therefore, he tempers the severity of the sentence with a subordinate command, saying: See that you do not despise one of these little ones.

Jerome· Commentary on Matthew, 420patristic

Related commentary

Wherefore, if the image of a "son" is not entirely suitable to a Jew either, our interpretation shall be simply governed with an eye to the object the Lord had in view. The Lord had come, of course, to save that which "had perished; " "a Physician.

Tertullian· On Modesty, 220patristic

For the Son of man is come to seek that which was lost.

John Gill· Exposition of the Entire Bible, 1771reformed

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-

Albert Barnes· Notes on the Old and New Testaments, 1870evangelical

For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost--or "is lost." A golden saying, once and again repeated in different forms. Here the connection seems to be, "Since the whole object and errand of the Son of man into the world is to save the lost, take heed lest, by causing offenses, ye lose the saved." That this is the idea intended we may gather from Mt 18:14.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871reformed

This is a reason, First, Why the little ones' angels have such a charge concerning them, and attend upon them; it is in pursuance of Christ's design to save them. Note, The ministration of angels is founded in the mediation of Christ; through him angels are reconciled to us; and, when they celebrated God's goodwill toward men, to it they annexed their own.

Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710puritan

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