Matthew 18:6. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me,
It does not mean put him out of temper by his taking his silly offence but shall cause him to sin, shall make him stumble, shall scandalize him -whosoever shall do that.
Matthew 18:6. It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
If you have the revised version, you will see in the margin that it is an ass millstone - not a common millstone, which women used to turn, but a bigger stone, which was turned by an ass, in a mill which thus was of a larger kind altogether. The very heaviest conceivable doom were better than to be a stumbling block in the way of the very least of God’s people. Yet I have known some say "Well, the thing is lawful, and if a weak brother does not like it, I cannot help it, he should not be weak." No, my dear brother, but that is not the way Christ would have you talk. You must consider the weakness of your brother; all things may be lawful to you, but all things are not expedient, and if meat make your brother to offend, eat no meat while the world standeth. Remember, we must, after all, measure the pace which the flock can travel by the weakest in the flock, or else we shall have to leave behind us many of the sheep of Christ. The pace at which a company must go, must depend upon how fast the weak and the sick can travel - is it not so? - unless we are willing to part company with them, which I trust we are not willing to do. So let us take care that we cause not even the weakest to stumble by anything that we can do without harm to ourselves, but which would bring harm to them. Then I am not sure if it would harm the weakest, whether it would not harm us also, because we are not as strong as we think we are; and, perhaps, if we took a better measure, we might put ourselves among the weakest, too.
Matthew 18:6. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me,
It does not mean put him out of temper by his taking his silly offence but shall cause him to sin, shall make him stumble, shall scandalize him -whosoever shall do that.
Matthew 18:6. It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
If you have the revised version, you will see in the margin that it is an ass millstone - not a common millstone, which women used to turn, but a bigger stone, which was turned by an ass, in a mill which thus was of a larger kind altogether. The very heaviest conceivable doom were better than to be a stumbling block in the way of the very least of God’s people. Yet I have known some say "Well, the thing is lawful, and if a weak brother does not like it, I cannot help it, he should not be weak." No, my dear brother, but that is not the way Christ would have you talk. You must consider the weakness of your brother; all things may be lawful to you, but all things are not expedient, and if meat make your brother to offend, eat no meat while the world standeth. Remember, we must, after all, measure the pace which the flock can travel by the weakest in the flock, or else we shall have to leave behind us many of the sheep of Christ. The pace at which a company must go, must depend upon how fast the weak and the sick can travel - is it not so? - unless we are willing to part company with them, which I trust we are not willing to do. So let us take care that we cause not even the weakest to stumble by anything that we can do without harm to ourselves, but which would bring harm to them. Then I am not sure if it would harm the weakest, whether it would not harm us also, because we are not as strong as we think we are; and, perhaps, if we took a better measure, we might put ourselves among the weakest, too.