Luke 9:46

Who Is the Greatest?

46 Then an argument started among them about who would be the greatest of them.

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 "Let these words sink in: the Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men."

45 But they did not understand this statement; it was concealed from them so that they could not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask Him about it.

46 Then an argument started among them about who would be the greatest of them.

47 But Jesus, knowing the thoughts of their hearts, took a little child and had him stand next to Him.

48 He told them, "Whoever welcomes this little child in My name welcomes Me. And whoever welcomes Me welcomes Him who sent Me. For whoever is least among you-this one is great."