Jesus routinely spoke of his “followers” with tenderness. They were His “disciples” and his “servants” (Matt. 10:24, 25). But Jesus preferred to think of his disciples as “friends” (John 15:15) though they were also his “children” (Mark 10:24; John 21:5). Jesus often expressed His gentle affection for His disciples as “little children” (John 13:33), “flock” (Matthew 26:31; John 10:16), “little flock” (Luke 12:32), “sheep” (Matthew 10:6), “Little sheep” (John 10:7, 16); and his “lambs” (Luke 10:3).
Another of these “pet names” or “endearing diminutive’s” that we find in the Bible referring to Jesus’ disciples is “these little ones.” This pet name was an expression of pure affection. Some commentators believe that this expression just means “children” and some even believe that it is meant literally to be actual children and still others think this refers to immature Christians. But the term “these little ones” can only mean Christ’s disciples. As B. B. Warfield concludes in Christ’s “Little Ones” “We may take it, then, as established that the phrase “these little ones” on the Masters lips meant not “children,” but distinctly “my disciples.”
The phrase “these little ones” appears in Scripture several times, a couple of times spoken by Jesus Himself and other times by other biblical writers. Each time it refers to Christ’s disciples.
Let’s look at Matthew 18:1-10 as an example to understand the meaning of the term these little ones In Matthew 18:10, the first sentence of which reads See that you do not despise one of these little ones. Jesus’ disciples asked him the question “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” in verse 1. In verse 2, Jesus called an actual child to His side and used this child as an example when he said in verse 3 “unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Here the word “child” in verse 2 refers to an actual child and the phrase “become like children” in verse 3 refers to the attitude of humility that a child possesses. In verse 4 Jesus tells them that whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. So, Jesus is using “like this child” to refer to his followers approaching Christ in humility just like this child does.
Now, in verses 5 and 6 Jesus says “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.” Many believe that the “one such child” in verse 5 refers to a child like the one Jesus called to His side in verse 2. But this is incorrect. “One such child” refers to the previous verse which states “Whoever humbles himself like this child” in verse 4. So, the “one such child” means a person who humbles himself like this child who is sitting among them or in other words, a follower of Jesus who comes to Jesus with a humble spirit like the child sitting among them as an example.
In the preceding discussion, a person who “turn and become like children and “humbles himself like this child” and “one such child” and “these little ones” all refer to the disciples of Christ or followers of Christ or believers in Christ and do not refer to actual children or immature Christians.
