InSlaveryToChrist
Puritan Board Junior
Mat 18:3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 18:4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Should we read verse 4 as a parallel of verse 3, because it really makes no sense that some virtue (here humility) is suddenly ascribed to infants, because the very point of the whole context has been that we ought to enter the Kingdom of God as helplessly as the infants that were brought to Christ to be blessed regardless of their own will. So, rather than interpreting verse 4, "humble himself as this little child [humbles himself]," shouldn't we read, "humble himself [becoming] as this little child" just as in verse 3 it talks about becoming as lowly and dependent as a little child. It should be pretty clear that becoming like a little child is very humiliating to sinners. Is it wrong to make this connection between the verses?
Let me remind that I'm asking this from my fellow Paedobaptists.
Mat 18:4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Should we read verse 4 as a parallel of verse 3, because it really makes no sense that some virtue (here humility) is suddenly ascribed to infants, because the very point of the whole context has been that we ought to enter the Kingdom of God as helplessly as the infants that were brought to Christ to be blessed regardless of their own will. So, rather than interpreting verse 4, "humble himself as this little child [humbles himself]," shouldn't we read, "humble himself [becoming] as this little child" just as in verse 3 it talks about becoming as lowly and dependent as a little child. It should be pretty clear that becoming like a little child is very humiliating to sinners. Is it wrong to make this connection between the verses?
Let me remind that I'm asking this from my fellow Paedobaptists.