I Did Not Come to Bring Peace, But a Sword

"Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it." Matthew 10:34-39 NASB

Biblical interpretation is and always has been a bit of a hot button issue and in my experience, that passage from the first book of the New Testament just might be one of the most misused and most widely misinterpreted out there. Both atheists and Christians alike have a tendency to jump on at least a portion of Matthew 10:34-39, if not the whole passage, to justify their stances on a wide variety of things that really aren't related to what's actually written there, at all. Ironically, though, both the atheists and the Christians who've been the most guilty of misinterpreting that passage for their own nefarious agendas throughout history have often done it in exactly or almost exactly the same way.

Those verses are not, contrary to popular belief, saying anything about creating intentional conflict or advocating religious violence, war or oppression in any way. In fact, what Jesus was really saying there was almost exactly the opposite. Yes, it does seem pretty clear that what's being said is that following Jesus would be a source of conflict, but that doesn't mean these verses are advocating for that conflict in the literal way in which so many people claim they are.

But if these statements aren't meant as an encouragement of war, violence and hatred for family, what do they mean? To answer that question, one must first understand the culture in which Jesus was living. What He was preaching at the time and still to this day, stood in stark contrast to the societal norms of many people in the world. Most of what has been accepted by a significant part of society for most of the history of the world doesn't align at all with what Jesus taught throughout His ministry and many of the things that don't line up have a tendency to be loved by many.

For that reason, this passage was really nothing more than a warning, rather than an encouragement or advocation for anything. When people are told the way they live their lives and the things they enjoy doing are sinful and shouldn't be the focus of our lives, it doesn't typically go over all that well. Given that fact, it stands to reason that accepting the teachings of Jesus and following Him would create conflict and force rifts to form among families.

Most modern day Christians can probably attest to this, as well. Many of us, especially those who didn't always have that influence in life, have lost friends, been ridiculed, or otherwise felt the sting of turning away from a life of worldly pleasure.

On top of the simple fact that these things stand to reason, many of the same people to whom Jesus preached throughout His roughly three-year earthly ministry were the ones who were ultimately responsible for His crucifixion. And despite the fact that it hadn't happened yet while that preaching was going on, Jesus always knew that crucifixion was coming.

Given that foreknowledge, it's not hard to see why Jesus would have felt the need to point out the risk involved in following His ministry, but that's where the end of the passage comes into play. In verse 39, Jesus brings the whole subject full circle when he points out that, "He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it."

Yes, we must acknowledge that life as a Christian isn't going to be easy and encountering people who disagree with our way of life or even commit violence against us is likely, but in the end, it will all be worth it. Those who die in Christ may be gone from the physical world, but the promise of eternal life with Him is all we need to know it wasn't all in vain. By contrast, he who dies outside of the Body of Christ will have nothing to look forward to but the weeping and gnashing of teeth that comes with an eternal separation from our holy God (Luke 13:28).

This is far from the only passage in the New Testament and certainly even further from the only one in the Bible as a whole that's been widely misinterpreted, but it is one that I've seen misinterpreted in very dangerous ways far more than most other passages. Given just a little bit of in-depth thought and cultural consideration, however, it and many other commonly misinterpreted portions of Scripture can be much more adequately explained.

Stay tuned for future posts where we'll explore more misinterpretations and feel free to leave a comment if there are any particular passages you'd like to see explained.