Matthew 18:7

Woe to the world for the causes of sin. These stumbling blocks must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Jesus addresses His disciples immediately after warning that causing a believer to stumble warrants a millstone and the sea (v. 6), and immediately before the hyperbolic self-mutilation of v. 8.

The words — σκανδάλων (skandalōn) is the plural of skandalon, literally the trigger-spring of a trap, not a generic "stumbling block"; the BSB's "causes of sin" softens the mechanical image.

The thread — Luke 17:1 preserves the same two-clause structure (inevitability + woe) in a parallel saying; Matthew 26:24 applies the identical "woe to that man by whom" formula to Judas's betrayal.

Why it lands — The verse separates what is inevitable from what is personal: the blocks must come, but the moral charge lands on the specific individual who becomes their channel, not on the world at large.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Greek words

King James Version

Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!

Cross-references

Luke 17:1 Jesus said to His disciples, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks will come, but woe to the one through whom they come!
1 Corinthians 11:19 And indeed, there must be differences among you to show which of you are approved.
Matthew 26:24 The Son of Man will go just as it is written about Him, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed. It would be better for him if he had not been born.”
1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons,
Jude 1:4 For certain men have crept in among you unnoticed—ungodly ones who were designated long ago for condemnation. They turn the grace of our God into a license for immorality, and they deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
2 Timothy 3:1 But understand this: In the last days terrible times will come.
Jude 1:11 Woe to them! They have traveled the path of Cain; they have rushed for profit into the error of Balaam; they have perished in Korah’s rebellion.
Revelation 2:14 But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.
2 Thessalonians 2:3 Let no one deceive you in any way, for it will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness—the son of destruction—is revealed.
2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires.