Luke 9:46

Who Is the Most Important Person?

46 The disciples began to argue about which one of them would be the most important person.

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 carefully to what I am about to tell you. The Son of Man is going to be handed over to men."

45 But they didn't understand what this meant. That was because it was hidden from them. And they were afraid to ask Jesus about it.

46 The disciples began to argue about which one of them would be the most important person.

47 Jesus knew what they were thinking. So he took a little child and had the child stand beside him.

48 Then he spoke to them. "Anyone who welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me," he said. "And anyone who welcomes me welcomes the One who sent me. The least important person among all of you is the most important."