Like Children

Abstract

There is a saying of Jesus, found in Mark x. 15 and Luke xviii. 17, which seems to have exercised considerable influence on the imaginations of early Christians. “Whoever will not receive the kingdom of God as a child shall not enter into it.” Another form of the same saying apparently interprets it in relation to conversion and regeneration. “Unless you turn and become like children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew xviii. 3). A further development of the same thought is to be found in John iii. 3: “Verily, verily, I say to you, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” And in John iii. 5, after Nicodemus' misunderstanding, the saying is finally clarified: “Unless a man is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Justin thinks of the two sayings as closely related, for in Apol. i. 61. 4 he conflates them: ἂν μὴ ἀναγεννηθῆτε, οὐ μὴ εἰσέλθητε εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τῶν οὐρανῶν.