This teaching is found, with some variations, Mt 19:13–15, Mk 10:13–16 and Lk 18:15–17.

This is Luke’s version;

8:15 Now people were even bringing their babies to him for him to touch. But when the disciples saw it, they began to scold those who brought them. 18:16 But Jesus called for the children, saying, “Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 18:17 I tell you the truth, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”

See also Mt 18:3 – “I tell you the truth, unless you turn around and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven! ”

In what sense does ‘the kingdom of God belong to such as these’?  And what does it mean to ‘receive the kingdom of God like a child’?

Summary

It is all too easy to assume that our Lord is referring to some virtue in children – innocence, perhaps, or trustfulness or simplicity.  But no: he is referring to their objective humility and dependence.

In detail

It is a temptation to multiply child-like characteristics and imagine that they all fit Jesus’ words here:

‘Little children receive with a sense of awe, wonder and joy…in simple trust and complete dependency…[and] with no pretentiousness.’ (Source)

Or this:

‘Children are generally humble, obedient, forgiving, tolerant, trusting and inquisitive. They are neither proud nor malicious.’

But such descriptions largely miss Jesus’ point.  It is the weakness, the helplessness, and the consequent dependance of little children that would-be disciples are to emulate if they are to receive and enter God’s kingdom.

We may quickly dismiss the idea of receiving the kingdom of God in the same way that one would receive a little child as fanciful.

It is helpful to understand how children were viewed in ancient societies.  As Edwards notes:

‘The modern West regards tenderness to children as a virtue. Relief organizations appeal for support by showing little lives disfigured by hunger and war. Politicians secure votes by holding and kissing infants. Ancient Jewish society, however, did not regard children with the same affection. Children, like women, derived their position in society primarily from their relationship to adult males. Sons, to be sure, were regarded as a blessing from God, but largely because they insured the continuance of the family for another generation—and increased its workforce. Childhood was typically regarded as an unavoidable interim between birth and adulthood, which a boy reached at age 13. One will search Jewish and early Christian literature in vain for sympathy toward the young comparable to that shown by Jesus.’

It is tempting to think of supposedly childlike qualities such as innocence, spontaneity and simplicity. Then, by extension, we begin to praise attributes such as immaturity and even ignorance.

This source, while not praising ignorance, nevetheless understands this teaching to mean that we should come to God’s kingdom ‘joyfully…expectantly…trustingly…innocently…and humbly.’  But the text makes no reference to such things.  The fact that children are not innocent, coupled with the fact that the children here are small enough to be held in Jesus’ arms (Luke actually calls them brephe, ‘infants’), indicates that it is the characteristics of weakness, helplessness and dependence that is being taught here.  They are blessed simply because they are children.

As Cranfield comments, Jesus is not referring to any subjective quality in children, but rather to

‘their objective humbleness, the fact that they are weak and helpless and unimportant, and in the fact that God has chosen “the weak things of the world,” 1 Cor 1:26ff; cf. Mt 11:25-26 = Lk 10:21.’

Cranfield clarifies:

‘The reference …is not to the receptiveness or humility or imaginativeness or trustfulness or unselfconsciousness of children, but to their objective littleness and helplessness. To receive the kingdom as a little child is to allow oneself to be given it, because one knows one cannot claim it as one’s right or attempt to earn it… Jn 3:3,5 seem to be the Johannine version of this saying and provide an illuminating comment upon it. Nicodemus has to learn that he cannot enter the kingdom of God as a learned theologian and highly respected religious leader; if he is to enter it at all, it must be as one who is helpless and small, without claim or merit.’

Lane agrees that this saying reveals

‘the startling character of the grace of God who wills to give the Kingdom to those who have no claim upon it.’

Harper’s Bible Commentary links this teaching with the preceding section, on marriage and divorce:

‘Children are also without legal rights (like women under first-century divorce laws) so the two incidents reflect Jesus’ concern for the powerless.’

The main focus of this teaching is not on children per se, but on childlikeness, in the sense in which our Lord meant it.  Keener draws this out:

‘Some thought that the kingdom would be achieved by force of arms; others, by radical moral reform, and so on. But although Jewish people (unlike Greeks) respected humility, no one expected the kingdom to come by becoming powerless like children. The totally powerless can depend on no one but God.’ (NT Background Cmt’y)

So also Schnabel.  This statement

‘is not a pronouncement about children but about people who are like children, who share a child’s status.’

Schnabel adds that in ancient times the features most strongly linked to children were

‘their vulnerability, their dependence on their parents and their social marginality before they reached adulthood…Just as children are completely dependent upon their parents, so receiving the kingdom of God requires utter dependence on God.’

Schnabel concludes:

‘Jesus does not favour children because they have virtues that qualify them for the kingdom of God (suggestions range from their innocence, gentleness, purity, humility—stances that are not characteristic of the normal behaviour of children). He points to children as exemplifying the disposition of people who receive, enter into and belong to the kingdom of God—people who are not defined by social status and self-perceived significance but by the receptivity of those who don’t have anything unless others give it to them, by the dependence of those who need the care and provision of others.’

Wiersbe comments:

‘We enter God’s kingdom by faith, like little children: helpless, unable to save ourselves, totally dependent on the mercy and grace of God. We enjoy God’s kingdom by faith, believing that the Father loves us and will care for our daily needs. What does a child do when he or she has a hurt or a problem? Take it to Father and Mother! What an example for us to follow in our relationship with our Heavenly Father! Yes, God wants us to be childlike, but not childish! There is no suggestion here that Jesus baptized these children, for Jesus did not even baptize adults. (Jn 4:1-2) If the disciples had been accustomed to baptizing infants, they certainly would not have turned the people away. Jesus took these precious little ones in His loving arms and blessed them-and what a blessing that must have been!’

Nolland comments:

‘Though Jesus will be no romantic about children, somewhere among their openness, willingness to trust, freedom from hypocrisy or pretension, conscious weakness, and readiness for dependence Jesus finds those qualities that are essential for entry into the kingdom of God.’

Edwards puts it tellingly:

‘If we assume that Jesus commends children because of their innocence, purity, or even spontaneity, then we must conclude that the disciples’ acceptability in God’s kingdom depends on similar virtues. But, as Mark’s depiction of the disciples makes repeatedly clear, that is exactly what they are not, nor are we. We are not innocent and eager, but slow, disbelieving, and cowardly. In this story children are not blessed for their virtues but for what they lack: they come only as they are—small, powerless, without sophistication, as the overlooked and dispossessed of society. To receive the kingdom of God as a child is to receive it as one who has no credits, no clout, no claims.23 A little child has absolutely nothing to bring, and whatever a child receives, he or she receives by grace on the basis of sheer neediness rather than by any merit inherent in him- or herself. Little children are paradigmatic disciples, for only empty hands can be filled.’

Hurtado links this teaching with that of Mk 9:33-37, and concludes:

‘This statement does not refer to any supposed innocence or humility or any other imagined qualities of children (romantic notions after all), but instead refers to Jesus’ cultural situation, where children were totally dependent upon the will of others and had no legal or social weight to make claims for particular treatment. It is this objectively humble position in society that Jesus has in mind, and he means that one must take the position of a child, unable to make demands and dependent upon the good pleasure of God. The person who imagines that he or she is somehow worthy of God’s favor and that participation in the kingdom of God depends upon social or religious rank will never really enter the kingdom that Jesus announces.’

Garland:

‘Jesus does not say that we are to become like little children, and he does not refer to some inherent quality in children, such as their imagined receptivity, humility, trustfulness, lack of self-consciousness, transparency, hopefulness, openness to the future, simplicity, freshness, excitement, or any other idealized quality that commentators often attribute to children. None of these virtues were associated with children in first-century culture, and they reflect a contemporary, sentimental view of children.

‘In light of the preceding parable of the tax collector who pled for mercy from God out of his helplessness, Luke must have had in mind the child’s total helplessness and dependence on others, which explains the mention of “infants.” Infants do not display the qualities mentioned above; they are utterly helpless and dependent on others for survival. Consequently, infants are open to being helped; in fact, they cry out for help, even when others object to their cries. They are not selfsufficient but receive everything as a gift. Likewise, disciples are to receive the reign of God as those who are totally helpless and recognize their total dependence on God for their salvation.’