Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 18:15-17

"And they were bringing unto him also their babes, that he should touch them: but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them unto him, saying, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for to such belongeth the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall in no wise enter therein." — Luke 18:15-17 (ASV)

And they brought to him also infants.—See Notes on Matthew 19:13-15; Mark 10:13–16. Luke, for some reason or other (possibly because he had recorded similar teaching in Luke 16:18), omits the previous teaching regarding divorce. The use of the specific word for “infants” is peculiar to him. The use of the word in Luke 1:41; Luke 1:44; Luke 2:12; Luke 2:16, where it is rendered “babe,” shows that it includes the very earliest stage of childhood, and so is not without its importance in its bearing on the question of infant baptism, so far as that question is affected by this narrative.

Suffer little children to come to me.—The close agreement with Mark in this and the following verse makes it probable that this is one of the passages which Luke derived from personal communication with him. (See Introduction.)