D* ε. τοις γ. των γυναικ.
αυτ. εστ. c. אBDEFGKLMSUVXZΓΔ�* al omnvid b k Cyr4,474 … Ti εστ. αυτ. c. C itpler vg (for more, see Swanson)

11. In our judgement, 11:11 was at one time an isolated logion. In favour of this, the verse could stand on its own (cf. Gos. Thom. 46); its addition to 11:7–9(10) par. would be natural; the ‘(And) I say to you’ is rather awkward coming so soon after ‘Indeed, I say to you’ (11:9 par.); and v. 11b creates tension with the high, unqualified praise expressed in 11:7–9 par.

There are good reasons for holding to both the unity and authenticity of the saying (cf. Schlosser 1, pp. 159–61). Since v. 11a did not originally follow upon v. 9 or v. 10 (see above), and since v. 11b could not have circulated by itself, and since vv. 11a and b are in antithetical parallelism, the two halves of our line must have come into being at the same time. As to an origin with Jesus, one has great difficulty supposing that a Christian decided to put John in his place by first proclaiming his exceeding greatness.

ἀμὴν λ�*γω ὑμῖν· οὐκ ἐγήγερται ἐν γεννητοῖς γυναικῶν μείζων Ἰωάννου τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ. Compare Lk 7:28: perhaps Matthew has changed οὐδείς ἐστιν to the more Semitic οὐκ ἐγήγερται69 and moved it to the front, displacing μείζων; he has almost certainly added ‘the Baptist’. Q otherwise has only ‘John’, and Matthew has tacked on the qualification elsewhere (in 17:13; cf. also 3:1 diff. Mk 1:4; 14:2 diff. Mk 6:14). Whether ‘amen’* is redactional or whether Luke omitted it, who could say? ‘Born of woman’ (cf. yělûd ˒ iššâ) is a Semitism.70 That it here connotes frailty or the distance between mortals and the celestials is doubtful (cf. Schlosser 1, p. 161). μείζων equals gādôl + min. For ἐγείρω of prophets see 24:11, 24; Jn 7:52 (cf. the use of qûm in Jer 29:15; Amos 2:11).

ὁ δὲ μικρότερος ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τῶν οὐρανῶν μείζων αὐτοῦ ἐστιν. Compare Zech 12:8, Lk 7:28 has ‘kingdom of God’ (so Q). μικρότερος probably has superlative sense (cf. 13:32; Lk 9:48; BDF §§ 60, 244). ἐν … οὐρανῶν can carry local sense and go with ‘least’ (‘least in the kingdom of Heaven’; so most modern translations). But the phrase can also be causal (cf. the Hebrew bě) and be taken with ‘is greater than he’ (‘greater than he because of the kingdom’ or ‘greater than he when the kingdom comes’; cf. 6:7). The parallelism with v. 11a (‘there has not arisen ἐν those born of women’; cf. 5:19) argues for the local sense.

Although Mt 11:11 is a secondary addition, this should not blind us to how it functions in its present context. 11:7–11a heaps praise upon John the Baptist, making him indeed the greatest among those born of women—and then v. 11b turns around and makes John less than the least. In this way John’s greatness, which is no longer the subject, becomes a foil for the surpassing greatness of the kingdom.

The meaning of v. 11b is disputed. The problem concerns ‘the least in the kingdom of Heaven’. These are the three major options: (i) Jesus, with reference to his humility, to his being younger than John, or to his being John’s disciple, was speaking of himself.71 Chrysostom, while observing that some identified ‘the least’ with angels or the apostles,72 adopts this interpretation and writes of Jesus’ ‘condescension’ (οἰκονομικῶς; Hom. on Mt. 37:3; cf. Tertullian, Adv. Marc. 4:18). (ii) ‘The least in the kingdom of Heaven’ really means ‘anyone in the kingdom of Heaven (when it comes)’. On this view, ‘Jesus is not contrasting all begotten (sic) of women, with John at their head, and some other group of men, the least of which is greater than John; he is contrasting the present state of the greatest of men with the future state of the least in the coming kingdom’.73 In other words: ‘the least in the kingdom will be greater than the greatest is now’. This interpretation does not exclude John from the kingdom. (iii) ‘The least in the kingdom’ means ‘anyone now in the kingdom of Heaven’. ‘Just as Moses led the children of Israel to the borders of the Promised Land, but could not himself enter, so John led his followers up to the verge of the new order initiated by Jesus, but could not himself enter’ (Manson, Sayings, p. 70). This understanding, which excludes John from the present kingdom, is the most popular with modern commentators.74 In some of the Fathers it is combined with NT texts according to which Christians are born not of the flesh but of God, this making a contrast with John, who was only ‘born of woman’ (see e.g. Cyril of Jerusalem, Comm. on Lk. 38, citing Jn 1:12–13).

Interpretation (ii) or (iii) would seem the best for the redactional level. Matthew is not likely to have thought of Jesus as ‘the lesser’ or ‘the least’.75 As for the choice between (ii) and (iii) one can hardly be dogmatic. In the First Gospel the kingdom of Heaven is both present and future. But perhaps (ii) makes the most sense; for 11:12 (q.v.) would seem to include John, the herald of the kingdom, in the kingdom.76

As to what Jesus himself meant, (i) strikes us as out of character. Such a strong statement about his own greatness is hardly expected. And where else does Jesus call himself ‘the lesser’ or ‘the least’? We are left, again, with (ii) and (iii). The former is the choice if 11:11 was uttered before John’s death. Since Jesus included the Baptist in the kingdom, he could hardly have demoted him, were he alive, beneath ‘the least in the kingdom’. If, however, 11:11 was spoken after Herod had John killed, one could hold interpretation (iii), for the saying might very well have been about the presence of the kingdom: those who are now alive and who submit themselves to the rule of God are the greatest, that is, the most blessed and privileged, of all men (cf. 12:38–42; 13:16–17). (The place of John, as well as of all the other dead saints, would in this case just simply not be addressed.)

Davies, W. D. ; Allison, Dale C.: A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to Saint Matthew (or via: amazon.co.uk). London; New York : T&T Clark International, 2004, S. 250