1 mot, tout petit

Or en anglais, "one word, tiny."

As tiny as an embryo...
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The Greek word is βρέφος [brephos], ους, τό.

It means, BABY.^

In Luke's gospel, brephos is used not only for a newborn baby, but also an unborn baby.

Any occasional stalkers of me on f’book (or anyone un/fortunate enough to hear or see me in public for 30 min. or more) will notice that I spend a lot of time engaging with little children. (My profile pic., for instance, is a dead giveaway. And currently, it's my job.)

So hunting this word brephos up (in 2017), post-Doctrine 1 exam - after I picked an “infant-baptism” topic - was a rare and treasured pearl.

First occurrences of this “baby” word in the NT?
John the Baptist, in utero.

For six months after conception, he's been growing inside the womb of his not-exactly-young mother Elizabeth. Though not yet born, John hears the voice of mummy's cousin Mary coming into the house and leaps, sir, leaps into action. Luke uses the word twice over four verses (“the baby in the womb” LK. 1:41-44, τὸ βρέφος ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ).

Then there’s John’s cousin, Jesus, the Saviour born Christ the Lord, who is a sign by virtue of being a [newborn] baby, swaddled and mangered.
Again, Luke uses the word twice - this time over five verses (“you will find the baby...in the manger”, LK. 2:12-16, τὸ βρέφος.. ..ἐν τῇ φάτνῃ).

Which brings me to the bit of Luke I really, REALLY like…

See how angry the grown man Jesus gets when His disciples rebuke those who bring babies to the Lord (in LUKE 18).

Yes, the word is the newborn/unborn baby word:
People were “[bringing] also babies in order that He might place hands on them” (LK. 18:15 - καὶ τὰ βρέφη ἵνα αὐτῶν ἅπτηται).

Jesus’ point?

Let the little children - AND the babies - come to Him.
And do not hinder or prevent them.
Because the kingdom of heaven is to be received, as babies would receive it...and this kingdom, based on the context of the brephos word Luke has used so far, is even for the unborn.

In Mark's account of Jesus with the little children, the writer adds,
"Then He took the children in His arms and blessed them."

I love that.

Because by association, aligning Luke's recount with Mark's one,
this means that Jesus took the babies in His arms.
Surely this means that He lifted them up from their parents' arms and cuddled them.
Like the Lord as a shepherd in ISAIAH 40, He gathered little ones in His arms and carried them close to His heart (ISA. 40:11).

That's what I do when I hold a baby, esp. at work - support and cuddle them nice and close so that they feel as secure as I can make them (considering I'm no replacement for their mums/primary carers!). I cannot think of a lovelier picture than the Lord Jesus doing this too - surrounded by little ones, holding babies close just the way that we do.

I've written up my thoughts/studies on this because I want you to know how much Jesus loves all of us and wants us to be in His kingdom. All of us - not only the tallest, biggest or oldest - but, from looking into Luke's gospel, even those who exist but are not yet born.

Even those who existed, but whose mothers miscarried and so they were never born.

Even those who were recently born, but lived for only hours or days or weeks after birth...

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life,
neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future,
nor any powers, neither height nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us
from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
~ ROMANS 8:38-39

L/T.

^Ideas about this Greek word for newborn or unborn baby were first written in my f'book Note, titled, "Greek of the Week", 25/12/2017.