Then there arose a reasoning among them, which of them should be greatest.
Parallel translations
- WEB There arose an argument among them about which of them was the greatest.
- BSB Then an argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest.
- NKJV Then a dispute arose among them as to which of them would be greatest.
- NASB Now an argument started among them as to which of them might be the greatest.
- NLT Then his disciples began arguing about which of them was the greatest.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
An argument arises among the disciples about who is the greatest. Their pride stands in sharp contrast to Jesus' teaching on the cross.
Overview
Just after Jesus speaks of His humiliation and death, the disciples dispute over rank. The juxtaposition exposes how far their thinking is from His. It reveals the persistent human craving for status that Jesus must continually confront and overturn.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Matt 18:1–5At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
- Matt 20:20–22Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.
- Mark 9:33–37And he came to Capernaum: and being in the house he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?
- 3 Jn 1:9I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.
- Phil 2:3Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
- Matt 23:6–7And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,
- Phil 2:14Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
- Gal 5:25–26If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
- Luke 22:24–27And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.
- Luke 14:7–11And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them,
- Gal 5:20–21Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
- Rom 12:10Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;
- Rom 12:3For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 9:46 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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