Luke 9:46

46 Jesus' followers began to have an argument about which one of them was 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 "Don't forget what I tell you now: The Son of Man will be handed over to people."

45 But the followers did not understand what this meant; the meaning was hidden from them so they could not understand. But they were afraid to ask Jesus about it.

46 Jesus' followers began to have an argument about which one of them was the greatest.

47 Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he took a little child and stood the child beside him.

48 Then Jesus said, "Whoever accepts this little child in my name accepts me. And whoever accepts me accepts the One who sent me, because whoever is least among you all is really the greatest."