Bible Synapse
Did Jesus come to bring peace or a sword?
Hard question · The life of Jesus · raised by 3 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
Jesus came not to send peace but a sword: families will be divided, and a man’s foes will be those of his own household.
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.
Jesus came not to give peace on earth but division, even within one house.
Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Jesus leaves his own peace with his disciples, not as the world gives.
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
At his birth the angels praise God and proclaim peace on earth.
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
The objection
At Jesus’ birth the angels sang of “on earth peace, good will toward men”, and Jesus told his disciples, “Peace I leave with you.” But he also said, “I came not to send peace, but a sword.” Did he come to bring peace or not?
The answer
Jesus brings peace with God and peace of heart to those who trust him: “my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth” (John 14:27). He also warned that this peace is not freedom from trouble: “in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation” (John 16:33). The ‘sword’ of Matthew 10:34 is not a war he starts but the division his coming causes as people take sides over him, as the next verses explain from Micah 7:6: “a man’s foes shall be they of his own household” (Matthew 10:36). Luke reports the saying with the plain word: “Nay; but rather division” (Luke 12:51). Jesus is warning the Twelve that following him will cost them, sometimes at home, not telling them to fight; when Peter drew a sword, Jesus told him to put it away (Matthew 26:52; John 18:10–11).
The angels’ song fits the same pattern. Many older manuscripts of Luke 2:14 read “on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests” (BSB): the peace of the gospel is offered to all and given to those who receive God’s favour, and its full outward form awaits Christ’s return.
Other answers Christians give
The sword of Luke 22 and Revelation 19
Some lists also cite Luke 22:36, where Jesus speaks of buying a sword, and Revelation 19:11, where Christ returns to judge and make war. The first is a warning of danger to come (see the question on non-resistance); the second describes the judgment by which lasting peace is finally established.
From the classic commentators
Christ came to give us peace with God, peace in our consciences, peace with our brethren, but in the world ye shall have tribulation.Matthew Henry, Commentary on Matthew 10:34 (1706–1721)
see Luke 12:51 where, instead of a ‘sword’, it is ‘division’; because the sword divides asunder, as does the sword of the Spirit, the word of God.John Gill, Exposition on Matthew 10:34 (1746–1763)
Sources
- Matthew Henry, Commentary on Matthew 10, at HelloAO
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: Matthew 10, at Bible Hub