Matthew 18:11 (WEB)

Passage

For the Son of Man came to save that which was lost.

Nearby Context

Matthew 18:9 If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna of fire.

Matthew 18:10 See that you don’t despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 18:11 For the Son of Man came to save that which was lost.

Matthew 18:12 “What do you think? If a man has one hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine, go to the mountains, and seek that which has gone astray?

Matthew 18:13 If he finds it, most certainly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "came", "save", and "lost". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "came" and "save", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 10's "See that you don t despise one..." into verse 12's "What do you think If a man...", so "came" and "save" belong inside that flow. In Matthew context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "came" and "save" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.