---
title: Matthew 18:6
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-18-6/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-18-6.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Matthew 18:6
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Matthew 18:6

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

## JW Usage

JWs quote this verse when criticising other religions for child abuse scandals. The millstone warning is understood as applying to individual sin that harms children but is rarely applied to institutional or structural failures within the organisation itself — including the two-witness rule that shields abusers.

## Protestant Usage

Matthew 18:6 is Jesus' most severe Gospel warning on institutional responsibility toward children. The Greek skandalizō describes setting a trap or causing someone to stumble — any policy that traps a child with an abuser meets the description. The two-witness rule (Deuteronomy 19:15) was given for public disputes in ancient Israel's civil courts, not to shield predators from accountability. The rule is applied selectively: a single elder can testify to smoking or doctrinal dissent, but a child's testimony of abuse requires a second witness to the crime. Romans 13:1 names civil authorities as "God's minister" — mandatory reporting cooperates with God's arrangement rather than undermining it. A policy that produces victims who "stumble" out of the faith is itself the skandalon Jesus warned about.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Fruit Test Must Examine the Whole Harvest](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/fruit-test-whole-harvest.md) — Matthew 7:16-20 — 'By their fruits you will recognise them' [Epistemology]
- [The Millstone Warning — Jesus on Harming Children](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/matthew-18-6-millstone-warning.md) — Matthew 18:6 — better a millstone than to cause a little one to stumble [Authority]
- [Honest Acknowledgment — The SBC's Abuse of Faith Reckoning](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/sbc-abuse-of-faith-acknowledgment.md) — Protestant failure, Protestant response, and what the comparison reveals [Authority]
- [The Two-Witness Rule as a Shield for Abusers](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/two-witness-rule-abuse.md) — Deuteronomy 19:15 was never meant to silence children [Authority]