Matthew 18:11 (YLT)

Passage

for the Son of Man did come to save the lost.

Nearby Context

Matthew 18:9 `And if thine eye doth cause thee to stumble, pluck it out and cast from thee; it is good for thee one-eyed to enter into the life, rather than having two eyes to be cast to the gehenna of the fire.

Matthew 18:10 `Beware! --ye may not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you, that their messengers in the heavens do always behold the face of my Father who is in the heavens,

Matthew 18:11 for the Son of Man did come to save the lost.

Matthew 18:12 `What think ye? if a man may have an hundred sheep, and there may go astray one of them, doth he not--having left the ninety-nine, having gone on the mountains--seek that which is gone astray?

Matthew 18:13 and if it may come to pass that he doth find it, verily I say to you, that he doth rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that have not gone astray;

Study Lenses

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

The nearby context moves from verse 10's "Beware ye may not despise one of..." into verse 12's "What think ye if a man may...", so "come" 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 "come" and "save" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.