"Children" - 4) "The Least"

In our last article, we discussed the Greek word, mikros, meaning “small ones” and “young ones.” Jesus uses this word to refer to children. In only one verse (John 12:35), does he use it to mean “little” in its more general sense. This fact makes me want to look closer at the translation of the comparative form of this word. mikroteros (μικρότερος). It is usually mistranslated in the Bible as the “least.” “Least” is not a comparative, but a superlative. The comparative means “lesser,” “smaller,” and, of course, “younger.” The superlative is the “least,” smallest,” and “youngest.”

My interest here is this word’s connection to the young. If Jesus almost always uses mikros to mean “young ones,” could he have primarily used the comparative, mikroteros, to mean “younger?” Let us see how that might work in the verses where he uses this word.

To analyze this idea, we can look at all the verses that use “lesser” or “younger. They are all interesting.

The Child and the Younger

Luke 9:48 is interesting because it refers to children as well as the “least.”

NIV: Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest.”
Listeners Heard: Whoever welcomes here this little child here, upon this name of mine welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one sending me because the younger among you all, being at the beginning, this one is full-grown. 

The word translated as “little child” here is paidon, and the word translated as “least” and “the younger, is mikroteros. When we translated mikroteros as “younger” it ties the two ideas together. Being young at heart, like a child, as Jesus says elsewhere, is the key to being the best we can be. Seeking the trust of the young is better than seeking the positions in society acquired with age.

We should also remember that these Greek words have both meanings as once, both “smaller” and “younger. There is a untranslated verb (in the Bible) after mikroteros that means literally “being high above” or “being at the beginning,” (in italics) which ties this to being small and being young. The word translated as “great” is again not in a superlative form, but nor is it the comparative. It is just the adjective, which means “big” and “full-grown.” This idea works both for '“smaller” and “younger.”

The Realm of the Skies

The next verse looks at Matthew 11:11 and its parallel verse in Luke.

NIV: Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Listeners Heard: Truly, I tell you, none has been awakened among the offspring of women more mature than John the Dunker. However, the younger among the realm of the skies? More mature than he is!

Luke 7:28 is very similar:

NIV: I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
Listeners Heard: I tell you all, among the offspring of women, no one is more mature than John. However, the younger among the realm of the Divine is more mature than him!

Notice how this verse is also tied to children, through the word translated as “those born,” which also means “offspring” and “child.” It does reference birth because it is from the same root word, but it is not the verb’s participle as translated. Again, we see the word translated as “greater,” which is translated correctly in the NIV as “greater.” However, in the context of maturity, this word means “more mature..” This verse can also be about size, where the '“greater” is “bigger” and the “younger” is “smaller.” It does not as easily work as describing a “hierarchy” because mikroteros doesn’t mean "lower". I would prefer not to think of the realm of the skies as a hierarchical, but one where we can grow and become even more mature.

But this is confusing. Is maturity a good think or a bad. As so often in Jesus’s words, values are reversed. The values of the sky are the opposite of those of the skies,

The Mustard Seed

Only in the last set of verses, Matthew 13:32 and its parallel in Mark, do we have more of a problem with “younger,” but the idea of children is still subtly referenced.

NIV: Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants.
Listeners Heard: This is, of all those seeds, smaller, indeed. When, however, it is raised up? It is larger than those herbs.

This parallels the first part of Mark 4:31:

NIV: It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth,
Listeners Heard: Just as a grain of mustard which, when it is seeded upon the ground, is smaller than all of the seeds, those upon the ground. 

The seed is a kind of child. In the next verse, they grow and are raised up. Here, we could argue and say that if these seeds are smaller than all others, they must be the smallest. This is true, but Jesus didn’t use that word so we should still translate instead of fixing the verse.

The Younger and Smaller

This is every verse that in which Jesus uses this word. Notice how 1) they all relate to children in some way. 2) that are all compared to that which is more mature or bigger. As one of Jesus’s multi-meaning words, the context is what helps his listeners decide what the word means. We cannot know that context without accurate translation.