Matthew 11:11

ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν. First Christ expresses His personal conviction in solemn terms. What follows refers to John's intrinsic worth, not to his historic position as the forerunner. The latter rests on the prophetic citation. Christ's aim now is to say that the Baptist's character is equal to his position : that he is fit to be the forerunner. For Christ, being the forerunner is no matter of luck. God will see that the right man occupies the position; nay, none but the right man can successfully perform the part. οὐκ ἐγήγερται, there hath not arisen; passive with middle sense, but the arising non sine numine, “surrexit divinitus, quomodo existunt veri Prophetae,” Elsner; cf. Matthew 24:11; Luke 7:16, vide also Judges 2:18; Judges 3:9. ἐν γεννητοῖς γυναικῶν = among mankind, a solemn way of expressing the idea. The meaning, however, is not that John is the greatest man that ever lived. The comparison moves within the sphere of Hebrew prophecy, and practically means: John the greatest of all the prophets. A bold judgment not easily accepted by the populace, who always think the dead greater than the living. Christ expresses Himself strongly because He means to say something that might appear disparaging. But He is in earnest in His high estimate, only it is not to be understood as asserting John's superiority in all respects, e.g., in authorship. The point of view is capacity to render effective service to the Kingdom of God. ὁ δὲ μικρότερος. Chrysostom took this as referring to Jesus, and, connecting ἐν τ. β. τ. οὐρ. with μείζων, brought out the sense: He who is the less in age and fame is greater than John in the Kingdom of Heaven. The opinion might be disregarded as an exegetical curiosity, had it not been adopted by so many, not only among the ancients (Hilar., Ambr., Theophy., Euthy.), but also among moderns (Eras., Luth., Fritzsche). In the abstract it is a possible interpretation, and it expresses a true idea, but not one Jesus was likely to utter then. No doubt John's inquiry had raised the question of Christ's standing, and might seem to call for comparison between questioner and questioned. But Christ's main concern was not to get the people to think highly of Himself, but to have high thoughts of the kingdom. What He says, therefore, is that any one in the kingdom, though of comparatively little account, is greater than John. Even the least is; for though μικρότερος, even with the article, does not necessarily mean μικρότατος (so Bengel), it amounts to that. The affirmative holds even in case of the highest degree of inferiority. The implication is that John was not in the kingdom as a historical movement (a simple matter of fact), and the point of comparison is the dominant spirit. The moral sternness of John was his greatness and also his weakness. It made him doubt Jesus, kept him aloof from the kingdom, and placed him below any one who in the least degree understood Christ's gracious spirit, e.g., one of the Twelve called in Matthew 10:42 “these little ones”.