<p>7:28 <i>I say to you, among those that are born of women- there is none greater than John- </i>The Lord Jesus was Himself the greatest of all born of women (Gal. 4:4), but in His humility He adds no rider to the effect 'John was the greatest of all born of women, Myself excepted, of course'. How we love Him for His humility.</p><p><i>Yet he that is but little in the kingdom of God is greater than he</i>- The little ones were the disciples, according to what the Lord had recently said in Mt. 10:42 (s.w.). He was urging them, yet again, to see their exalted status and to get over Judaism's attitude that the prophets were icons to whom the rank and file of God's people should never pretend. The Lord is using hyperbole here to make the point- that His immature 'little ones' were going to be far greater than even John, the greatest prophet. Or He could be implying that there will be some element of rank in God&rsquo;s future Kingdom- ruling over different numbers of cities, one star differing from another in glory. And the least in that age will be far greater than John was&nbsp;<i>in this life</i>. And yet Jesus was proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom in the sense of the breaking in of God&rsquo;s principles in the lives of men. He could mean that John was the greatest under the old system, but the least of those within the new system were greater than John. Oscar Cullmann made a case for translating&nbsp;<i>mikroteros</i>&nbsp;here as &ldquo;the youngest&rdquo;, with reference to the Lord being younger than John the Baptist and yet greater than him (see Jn. 3:30).</p>