Luke 9:46

46 An argument arose among the talmidim as to which of them might be the greatest.

Luke 9:46 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 9:46

Then there arose a reasoning among them
The Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions read, "a thought entered into them"; suggested very likely by Satan, which broke out into words, and issued in a warm dispute among them; and this was in the way, as they were travelling from Caesarea Philippi, to Capernaum; see ( Mark 9:33 ) .

Which of them should be greatest;
that is, "in the kingdom of heaven", as in ( Matthew 18:1 ) in the kingdom of the Messiah, which they expected would be a temporal one: wherefore the dispute was not about degrees in glory, nor in grace; nor who should be the greatest apostle and preacher of the Gospel; but who should be prime minister to the king Messiah, when he should set up his monarchy in all its grandeur and glory.

Luke 9:46 In-Context

44 "Listen very carefully to what I'm going to say. The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men."

45 But they didn't understand what he meant by this. It had been concealed from them so that they would not grasp its meaning, and they were afraid to ask him about it.

46 An argument arose among the talmidim as to which of them might be the greatest.

47 But Yeshua, knowing the thoughts of their hearts, took a child, stood him beside himself,

48 and said to them, "Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the One who sent me. In other words, the one who is least among you all -- this is the one who is great."