Matthew 18 — Clausal Layout (Greek)

independentparticipialrelativepurposecausecomparativecontentconditionalphrase modifierdashed = verbless / suspended

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The question and the child 18:1–2

vv. 1–2 — who is greatest? — a child set in the midst

Ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ὥρᾳ προσῆλθον οἱ μαθηταὶ τῷ Ἰησοῦindependent — the temporal hinge from 17:24–27 — προσέρχομαι, Matthew's verb of approach to the teacher

λέγοντες·participial — speech-participle — the frame of the agenda-setting question

Τίς ἄρα μείζων ἐστὶν ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν;content — inferential ἄρα — the status-rivalry the whole discourse will overturn; μείζων, comparative for superlative

καὶ προσκαλεσάμενος παιδίονparticipial — preposed participle — forward-leaning on ἔστησεν; the middle voice: Jesus' own beckoning

ἔστησεν αὐτὸ ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῶνindependent — the enacted parable — the answer set on exhibit before it is spoken

The discourse: the child, the millstone, the lost sheep, the church's reproof 18:3–20

vv. 3–5 — turn and become like the children

καὶ εἶπεν·independent — the discourse's single narrative frame — all of vv. 3–20 hangs on this εἶπεν

Ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν,content — the solemn ἀμήν-formula — keynote of the community rule (again vv. 13, 18, 19)

ἐὰν μὴ στραφῆτε καὶ γένησθε ὡς τὰ παιδία,conditional — forward ἐὰν μή — στραφῆτε, a radical reorientation, not improvement; childlikeness the condition of entry

οὐ μὴ εἰσέλθητε εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν.content — οὐ μή + subjunctive, the strongest denial — not 'be greatest' but 'enter' at all

ὅστις οὖν ταπεινώσει ἑαυτὸν ὡς τὸ παιδίον τοῦτο,conditional — fronted indefinite relative (typed cnd — a virtual protasis) — deictic τοῦτο, the child still standing there

οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ μείζων ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν.content — resumptive οὗτος — the direct answer: greatness is self-lowering; ὁ μείζων answers v. 1

καὶ ὃς ἐὰν δέξηται ἓν παιδίον τοιοῦτο ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματί μου,conditional — ὃς ἐάν protasis — the child now the type of the lowly disciple; ἕν, even a single one

ἐμὲ δέχεται.content — fronted emphatic ἐμέ — Christ identified with the least

vv. 6–9 — the millstone and the severed members

Ὃς δ’ ἂν σκανδαλίσῃ ἕνα τῶν μικρῶν τούτων τῶν πιστευόντων εἰς ἐμέ,conditional — the counter-case, ὃς δ’ ἄν — σκανδαλίζω opens the trap-stick word-group of vv. 6–9; the μικροί defined by faith, not age

συμφέρει αὐτῷcontent — impersonal συμφέρει — grim profit-language: drowning would be the lighter fate

ἵνα κρεμασθῇ μύλος ὀνικὸς περὶ τὸν τράχηλον αὐτοῦcontent — epexegetic ἵνα — μύλος ὀνικός, the great stone a donkey turns, no hand-mill

καὶ καταποντισθῇ ἐν τῷ πελάγει τῆς θαλάσσης.content — coordinate ἵνα-verb — καταποντίζω, drowned in the πέλαγος, far from rescue

οὐαὶ τῷ κόσμῳ ἀπὸ τῶν σκανδάλων·content — verbless prophetic woe — the world endangered by its own traps

ἀνάγκη γὰρ ἐλθεῖν τὰ σκάνδαλα,cause — γάρ-ground, verbless ἀνάγκη [ἐστίν] — inevitability inside a fallen world

πλὴν οὐαὶ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳcontent — πλήν — inevitability does not excuse the agent; the second verbless woe

δι’ οὗ τὸ σκάνδαλον ἔρχεται.relative — δι’ οὗ — personal agency named and held to account

Εἰ δὲ ἡ χείρ σου ἢ ὁ πούς σου σκανδαλίζει σε,conditional — εἰ + indicative, first-class — the case assumed real; from tripping others to one's own members

ἔκκοψον αὐτὸνcontent — urgent aorist ἐκκόπτω — decisive severance, hyperbole in deadly earnest

καὶ βάλε ἀπὸ σοῦ·content — the paired imperative — rid of it utterly

καλόν σοί ἐστιν εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν ζωὴν κυλλὸν ἢ χωλόν,content — καλόν with comparative force — 'life' = the kingdom entered in v. 3

ἢ δύο χεῖρας ἢ δύο πόδας ἔχοντα βληθῆναι εἰς τὸ πῦρ τὸ αἰώνιον.comparative — the ἤ-alternative on καλόν — concessive ἔχοντα: wholeness kept, and lost with it everything

καὶ εἰ ὁ ὀφθαλμός σου σκανδαλίζει σε,conditional — the parallel case — the eye, organ of desire and the most precious member

ἔξελε αὐτὸνcontent — ἐξαιρέω — even sight surrendered rather than life forfeited

καὶ βάλε ἀπὸ σοῦ·content — the refrain of renunciation, verbatim from v. 8

καλόν σοί ἐστιν μονόφθαλμον εἰς τὴν ζωὴν εἰσελθεῖν,content — μονόφθαλμος — maimed yet alive; the comparison restated

ἢ δύο ὀφθαλμοὺς ἔχοντα βληθῆναι εἰς τὴν γέενναν τοῦ πυρός.comparative — γέεννα τοῦ πυρός — the Hinnom-valley name of final judgment, sharpening v. 8's 'eternal fire'

vv. 10, 12–14 — the little ones and the straying sheep (v. 11 absent from the critical text)

Ὁρᾶτεcontent — the guarding imperative — ὁράω, 'watch yourselves': contempt is the little ones' quieter danger

μὴ καταφρονήσητε ἑνὸς τῶν μικρῶν τούτων·content — μή + aorist subjunctive of prohibition — καταφρονέω, to think slightingly; ἑνός, the 'one' again

λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖνcause — γάρ-ground of the command — the formula pressed into the argument

ὅτι οἱ ἄγγελοι αὐτῶν ἐν οὐρανοῖς διὰ παντὸς βλέπουσι τὸ πρόσωπον τοῦ πατρός μου τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς.content — their angels see the King's face — courtiers with constant access: the little ones' hidden rank. NOTE: v. 11 ('the Son of Man came to save the lost') is omitted by the critical text as a Luke 19:10 intrusion — the numbering jumps 10 → 12

Τί ὑμῖν δοκεῖ;content — the dialogic opener — the hearers made judges of the shepherd's logic

ἐὰν γένηταί τινι ἀνθρώπῳ ἑκατὸν πρόβαταconditional — forward ἐάν — dative of possession; the parable's premise

καὶ πλανηθῇ ἓν ἐξ αὐτῶν,conditional — coordinate protasis — πλανάω, the parable's keyword; ἕν, the single straying one

οὐχὶ ἀφήσει τὰ ἐνενήκοντα ἐννέα ἐπὶ τὰ ὄρηcontent — οὐχί expecting yes — ἀφίημι here 'leave': the flock risked for the one

καὶ πορευθεὶς ζητεῖ τὸ πλανώμενον;content — vivid present ζητεῖ after the future — the search under way; τὸ πλανώμενον, still wandering as he seeks

καὶ ἐὰν γένηται εὑρεῖν αὐτό,conditional — forward ἐάν — leaning past the ἀμήν-formula onto χαίρει; recovery not presumed, 'if he should find it'

ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖνcontent — the formula solemnizing a shepherd's joy

ὅτι χαίρει ἐπ’ αὐτῷ μᾶλλον ἢ ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐνενήκοντα ἐννέα τοῖς μὴ πεπλανημένοις.content — disproportionate joy — perfect πεπλανημένοις, the settled state of the never-strayed, outweighed by the one recovered

οὕτως οὐκ ἔστιν θέλημα ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖςcontent — οὕτως — the application; ἔμπροσθεν, a reverential periphrasis for the Father's own will

ἵνα ἀπόληται ἓν τῶν μικρῶν τούτων.content — epexegetic ἵνα on θέλημα — ἀπόλλυμι, the fate the Father's will excludes; ἕν closes the 'one' thread and grounds the procedure that follows

vv. 15–17 — the three-step reproof: alone, with witnesses, before the church

Ἐὰν δὲ ἁμαρτήσῃ εἰς σὲ ὁ ἀδελφός σου,conditional — first ἐάν of the chained procedure — εἰς σέ read by many witnesses, omitted by א B: a personal wrong, or any sin at all

ὕπαγεcontent — asyndetic double imperative begins — the offended party takes the initiative

ἔλεγξον αὐτὸν μεταξὺ σοῦ καὶ αὐτοῦ μόνου.content — ἐλέγχω — exposure aimed at winning back, privacy guarding his dignity

ἐάν σου ἀκούσῃ,conditional — the happy exit from step one — ἀκούω with genitive, 'heed'

ἐκέρδησας τὸν ἀδελφόν σου·content — proleptic aorist κερδαίνω — restoration counted as gain already banked: the procedure's whole aim

ἐὰν δὲ μὴ ἀκούσῃ,conditional — step two — the procedure escalates only on refusal

παράλαβε μετὰ σοῦ ἔτι ἕνα ἢ δύο,content — the circle widened — still not public

ἵνα ἐπὶ στόματος δύο μαρτύρων ἢ τριῶν σταθῇ πᾶν ῥῆμα·purpose — Deut 19:15 — the Torah's evidentiary rule; ἐπὶ στόματος a Septuagintism, ῥῆμα Hebraistic 'matter'

ἐὰν δὲ παρακούσῃ αὐτῶν,conditional — step three — παρακούω, to hear past, to disregard

εἰπὲ τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ·content — ἐκκλησία — in the Gospels only here and 16:18; the assembled community as the last court

ἐὰν δὲ καὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας παρακούσῃ,conditional — the last refusal — ascensive καί: even the whole assembly unheeded

ἔστω σοι ὥσπερ ὁ ἐθνικὸς καὶ ὁ τελώνης.content — the outsider verdict — spoken by the friend of tax-collectors (9:9–13): exclusion that still aims at recovery

vv. 18–20 — heaven's ratification, agreed prayer, the present Lord

Ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν,content — the formula now plural — the keys of 16:19 widened to the community

ὅσα ἐὰν δήσητε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆςconditional — fronted ὅσα ἐάν (typed cnd — a virtual protasis) — δέω, the rabbinic verdict-verb 'declare forbidden'

ἔσται δεδεμένα ἐν οὐρανῷcontent — periphrastic future-perfect — earth's verdict aligned with what already stands settled in heaven, not heaven rubber-stamping earth

καὶ ὅσα ἐὰν λύσητε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆςconditional — the paired protasis — λύω, 'declare permitted, absolve'

ἔσται λελυμένα ἐν οὐρανῷ.content — the matching future-perfect — the church's discipline of vv. 15–17 heaven-backed

Πάλιν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖνcontent — πάλιν — a further assurance stacked on v. 18

ὅτι ἐὰν δύο συμφωνήσωσιν ἐξ ὑμῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς περὶ παντὸς πράγματοςconditional — recitative ὅτι carried by the fronted protasis — συμφωνέω, to sound together; πρᾶγμα, perhaps the disciplinary case itself

οὗ ἐὰν αἰτήσωνται,relative — indefinite relative on πράγματος — the petition folded inside the condition

γενήσεται αὐτοῖς παρὰ τοῦ πατρός μου τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς.content — the apodosis — the Father the doer behind the agreed prayer

οὗ γάρ εἰσιν δύο ἢ τρεῖς συνηγμένοι εἰς τὸ ἐμὸν ὄνομα,conditional — fronted locative οὗ-clause (typed cnd; no locative key) — γάρ grounds vv. 18–19; periphrastic perfect συνηγμένοι

ἐκεῖ εἰμι ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῶν.content — the Emmanuel ground (1:23; 28:20) — the Shekinah-promise in the first person; ἐν μέσῳ echoes the child of v. 2

Peter's question and the unforgiving servant 18:21–35

vv. 21–22 — Peter's arithmetic and its abolition

Τότε προσελθὼν ὁ Πέτρος εἶπεν αὐτῷ·independent — the spokesman interrupts the discourse — from the offender's accountability to the offended one's duty

Κύριε, ποσάκις ἁμαρτήσει εἰς ἐμὲ ὁ ἀδελφός μουcontent — ποσάκις — the offended party's ledger opened; ἀδελφός carried over from v. 15

καὶ ἀφήσω αὐτῷ;content — deliberative future — ἀφίημι, the chapter's keyword, now on Peter's lips

ἕως ἑπτάκις;content — verbless bid — seven, a generous-seeming round number, offered for approval

λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς·independent — historic-present frame — everything through v. 35 hangs on this λέγει

Οὐ λέγω σοι ἕως ἑπτάκιςcontent — the arithmetic refused — Peter's ἕως ἑπτάκις quoted back

ἀλλὰ ἕως ἑβδομηκοντάκις ἑπτά.content — elliptical — 'seventy-seven' or 'seventy times seven,' the phrase genuinely ambiguous: Lamech's vengeance (Gen 4:24 LXX) inverted into mercy beyond counting

vv. 23–27 — the ten-thousand-talent debt cancelled

Διὰ τοῦτο ὡμοιώθη ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν ἀνθρώπῳ βασιλεῖcontent — διὰ τοῦτο — the parable grounds the seventy-seven; its narration runs coordinate at the speech's own depth

ὃς ἠθέλησεν συνᾶραι λόγον μετὰ τῶν δούλων αὐτοῦ.relative — συναίρειν λόγον — the audit idiom; δοῦλοι as royal stewards

ἀρξαμένου δὲ αὐτοῦ συναίρεινparticipial — genitive absolute — forward-leaning on προσηνέχθη; the reckoning barely starts before it stalls

προσηνέχθη αὐτῷ εἷς ὀφειλέτης μυρίων ταλάντων.content — μύριοι, the largest Greek numeral, of the largest unit — an unpayable hyperbole; εἷς, again the 'one'

μὴ ἔχοντος δὲ αὐτοῦ ἀποδοῦναιparticipial — causal genitive absolute — ἀποδίδωμι enters, the parable's driving verb (vv. 25–34)

ἐκέλευσεν αὐτὸν ὁ κύριος πραθῆναι καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ τὰ τέκνα καὶ πάνταcontent — the ancient remedy — the whole household under the hammer

ὅσα ἔχει,relative — vivid present ἔχει inside the narration

καὶ ἀποδοθῆναι.content — the command's second infinitive — the sale merely services the debt

πεσὼν οὖν ὁ δοῦλος προσεκύνει αὐτῷcontent — iterative imperfect προσεκύνει — prostrate, pleading on and on

λέγων·participial — the plea's frame

Μακροθύμησον ἐπ’ ἐμοί,content — μακροθυμέω — he asks only for time

καὶ πάντα ἀποδώσω σοι.content — the impossible promise — πάντα: ten thousand talents, on a servant's means

σπλαγχνισθεὶς δὲ ὁ κύριος τοῦ δούλου ἐκείνουparticipial — σπλαγχνισθείς, gut-level pity — forward-leaning on ἀπέλυσεν: the parable's mainspring

ἀπέλυσεν αὐτόν,content — more than the plea asked — not patience but freedom

καὶ τὸ δάνειον ἀφῆκεν αὐτῷ.content — ἀφῆκεν — the chapter's forgiveness-verb applied to the whole unpayable debt: sheer grace, the parable's measure

vv. 28–30 — the hundred denarii exacted

ἐξελθὼν δὲ ὁ δοῦλος ἐκεῖνος εὗρεν ἕνα τῶν συνδούλων αὐτοῦcontent — the pivot δέ — straight from pardon to the hunt; σύνδουλος, an equal, sharpening the cruelty

ὃς ὤφειλεν αὐτῷ ἑκατὸν δηνάρια,relative — a hundred days' wages against ten thousand talents — some six-hundred-thousandfold less

καὶ κρατήσας αὐτὸν ἔπνιγενcontent — inchoative imperfect ἔπνιγεν — violence where he had just received mercy

λέγων·participial — the demand's frame

Ἀπόδοςcontent — Ἀπόδος — the very verb he was himself forgiven

εἴ τι ὀφείλεις.conditional — backward εἴ τι (anchored) — 'if you owe anything': the pedantry of the pitiless

πεσὼν οὖν ὁ σύνδουλος αὐτοῦ παρεκάλει αὐτὸνcontent — the same posture as v. 26 — durative παρεκάλει, pleading unheard

λέγων·participial — the echo's frame

Μακροθύμησον ἐπ’ ἐμοί,content — verbatim the first servant's own plea (v. 26) — the refusal that follows is thereby damned in advance

καὶ ἀποδώσω σοι.content — and this debt actually repayable

ὁ δὲ οὐκ ἤθελεν,content — durative imperfect — 'he would not': the mercy received, not extended

ἀλλὰ ἀπελθὼν ἔβαλεν αὐτὸν εἰς φυλακὴνcontent — debtor's prison — βάλλω, the casting-verb of vv. 8–9 in miniature

ἕως ἀποδῷ τὸ ὀφειλόμενον.conditional — backward ἕως-temporal (typed cnd; no temporal key) — release priced at full payment

vv. 31–34 — the pardon revoked

ἰδόντες οὖν οἱ σύνδουλοι αὐτοῦ τὰ γενόμεναparticipial — temporal participle — forward-leaning on ἐλυπήθησαν; the community as witnesses (cf. vv. 15–17)

ἐλυπήθησαν σφόδρα,content — grief, not glee — the right response to unmercy

καὶ ἐλθόντες διεσάφησαν τῷ κυρίῳ ἑαυτῶν πάντα τὰ γενόμενα.content — διασαφέω — the full account laid before the king: the parable's own 'tell it to the church'

τότε προσκαλεσάμενος αὐτὸν ὁ κύριος αὐτοῦ λέγει αὐτῷ·content — the reckoning reopened — historic present inside the parable; the same προσκαλεσάμενος as v. 2

Δοῦλε πονηρέ,phrase modifier — vocative verdict — πονηρέ, the moral judgment pronounced before the sentence

πᾶσαν τὴν ὀφειλὴν ἐκείνην ἀφῆκά σοι,content — fronted πᾶσαν — the whole of it; ἀφῆκα, the grace rehearsed as the ground of the verdict

ἐπεὶ παρεκάλεσάς με·cause — ἐπεί — a plea was ground enough for the king

οὐκ ἔδει καὶ σὲ ἐλεῆσαι τὸν σύνδουλόν σου,content — οὐκ ἔδει expecting yes — mercy received becomes mercy owed: the parable's moral center

ὡς κἀγὼ σὲ ἠλέησα;comparative — ὡς κἀγώ — the king's mercy the measure of the servant's; cf. 6:12, 14–15

καὶ ὀργισθεὶς ὁ κύριος αὐτοῦ παρέδωκεν αὐτὸν τοῖς βασανισταῖςcontent — ὀργισθείς where he had been σπλαγχνισθείς (v. 27) — παραδίδωμι, delivered up; βασανισταί, beyond mere jailers

ἕως οὗ ἀποδῷ πᾶν τὸ ὀφειλόμενον.conditional — backward ἕως οὗ (typed cnd) — an unpayable sum: a term without end

v. 35 — the application: from your hearts

οὕτως καὶ ὁ πατήρ μου ὁ οὐράνιος ποιήσει ὑμῖνcontent — οὕτως καί — the king unveiled as the Father; the discourse's last, sober word

ἐὰν μὴ ἀφῆτε ἕκαστος τῷ ἀδελφῷ αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ τῶν καρδιῶν ὑμῶν.conditional — backward ἐάν (anchored) — ἀφίημι closes the chapter it ruled; ἕκαστος individualizes the duty, ἀπὸ τῶν καρδιῶν disallows the merely formal

Analysis. Matthew 18 is the fourth of the five great discourses — the community rule — and the layout is two frames and two speeches. The disciples' status-question (vv. 1–2) is answered first by an enacted parable (the child set ἐν μέσῳ) and then by the discourse proper: from the single καὶ εἶπεν of v. 3 the whole teaching of vv. 3–20 hangs as one coordinate blue cnt catena at constant depth, and after Peter's interruption (v. 21) a second frame — the historic-present λέγει of v. 22 — carries everything to v. 35, the unforgiving-servant parable running as parable-narration at the speech's own depth (the Mark 4 precedent), its inner dialogue nesting under its own λέγων frames. Against those columns the chapter's casuistic grammar indents: this is a discourse ruled by conditions, and every fronted protasis (ἐὰν μή v. 3, the ὅστις/ὃς ἐάν/ὃς δ' ἄν indefinite relatives of vv. 4–6, the εἰ-pairs of vv. 8–9, the chained ἐάν-steps of the discipline procedure in vv. 15–17, the ὅσα-ἐάν pair of v. 18, the locative οὗ γάρ of v. 20) leans forward anchor-less, one step deeper than its apodosis, while backward conditions and the ἕως-temporals of the debtors' prisons (vv. 30, 34) take anchors. The critical-text decisions are shown, not smoothed: v. 11 ('the Son of Man came to save the lost' — a harmonizing intrusion from Luke 19:10) is absent, so the numbering jumps 10 → 12 and the gap is flagged in the tags; εἰς σέ in v. 15 is printed with its variant noted (א B omit — 'sins against you,' or any sin at all); ἑβδομηκοντάκις ἑπτά (v. 22) is glossed both ways — seventy-seven or seventy-times-seven, either way Lamech's vengeance (Gen 4:24 LXX) inverted into unaccountable mercy; and the periphrastic future-perfects of v. 18 (ἔσται δεδεμένα/λελυμένα) are tagged as heaven's prior ratification rather than its rubber stamp. The tags follow the chapter's own verbal threads: εἷς and the μικροί (the 'one little one,' vv. 5–14), σκάνδαλον/σκανδαλίζω (vv. 6–9), ἀφίημι from Peter's question to the last verse, and ἀποδίδωμι driving the parable to its βασανισταί.