Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Luke 17:2

λίθος μυλικός. אBDL, La[304] Ti[305] See note. μύλος ὀνικὸς is from Matthew 18:6.

[304] La. Lachmann.
[305] Ti. Tischendorf.

2. λυσιτελεῖ αὐτῷ εἰ κ.τ.λ. The literal rendering of the verse is ‘It is for his advantage if a millstone is hanging round his neck, and he has been flung into the sea, rather than that, &c.’ In other words, the fate of a man who is lying drowned at the bottom of the sea is better than if his continuance in life would have led to causing “one of these little ones” to stumble. The general thought is like that of Queen Blanche, who used to say of her son St Louis when he was a boy, that she would rather see him dead at her feet than know that he had fallen into a deadly sin. Marcion and Clemens Romanus seem to have read εἰ οὐκ ἐγενήθη ἢ λίθος κ.τ.λ.

λίθος μυλικός. The true reading here is not μύλος ὀνικός, a millstone so large as to require an ass to work it. This is introduced from Matthew 18:6.

περίκειται … ἔρριπται. ‘It were better for him if with the stone round his neck he has been cast into the sea and is now lying there.’ The tenses are very forcible.

ἤ. On the construction λυσιτελεῖ … ἢ see the note on Luke 15:7. The ἵνα (as often) has lost its proper force, and resembles some uses of the Latin ut. See a similar construction in 1 Corinthians 9:15.

τῶν μικρῶν τούτων ἕνα. ‘Of these little ones even one.’ The position of the ἕνα is emphatic. Better for the man to have been drowned, than so to live as to lead Christ’s little ones astray. St Mark adds “that believe in me” (Luke 9:42). The reference is not to children, or the young, though of course the warning applies no less to their case; but primarily to publicans and weak believers. Christ calls even the Apostles “children,” John 13:33 (cf. 1 John 2:12-13).

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Luke 17:2

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