And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:
Parallel translations
- WEB Whoever desires to be first among you shall be your bondservant,
- BSB and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave—
- NKJV And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—
- NASB and whoever desires to be first among you shall be your slave;
- NLT and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave.
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
Whoever wants to be first among Jesus' followers must be a bondservant of all. The path to true greatness is the lowest place of service.
Overview
Intensifying his point, Jesus says the one who would be first must become a 'bondservant'—a slave—to others. This deliberate use of the lowest social status redefines ambition entirely. Greatness in the Kingdom is measured by how fully one spends oneself in humble service for others' good, after the pattern of Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Luke 22:26But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.
- Mark 9:33–35And he came to Capernaum: and being in the house he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?
- Matt 18:4Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
- 2 Cor 4:5For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.
- Acts 20:34–35Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me.
- Rom 1:14I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise.
- 1 Cor 9:19–23For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.
- 2 Cor 12:15And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.
- 2 Cor 11:5For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.
- 2 Cor 11:23–27Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 20:27 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.