‘Then said he unto the disciples, “It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him’ (Luke 17:1–3).
Scandals will come, the Lord says. Nevertheless, the one who brings them is held responsible, and cannot appeal to the ‘way things are,’ or to his own valiant efforts to fulfill the Lord’s prophecy. Such a man is held responsible in a striking way. If he scandalizes ‘one of these little ones,’ it would be better for him to have a millstone tied around his neck and be thrown into the sea. In other words, what is actually going to happen to him is going to be a whole lot worse than that.
Douglas Wilson