Meditation on the Text of the Week

The Malignancy of Unbelievers Toward Christ Will Out

Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

Matthew 10: 34

These words of our Lord have been seized upon in recent days by those intent on blaspheming against the Lord, and on ridiculing and mocking His followers. They have alleged that Jesus Christ and Christianity is a religion of blood and violence—and cite this text to "prove" their case.

They then go on to draw equivalence with Islam to the effect that the bloodshed and oppression of Islam is equally intrinsic to our Lord's mission to bring bloodshed and violence—which in turn “proves” that all religions are alike in their bloodlust, primitiveness, and violent oppression. They, however, for their part, eschew violence. They are modern men. They are reasonable, sober, even-tempered individuals who weigh matters in cool rational discourse, with a fearless desire for the truth. They are in every way the modern enlightened scientific man.

Does this text establish the proposition that Jesus Christ is propagator of violence and oppression? Or have our cool, rational, modern, enlightened men merely used the text as a pretext for their hatred and rejection of our Lord? Have they used the text in an intellectually honest manner, or have they deceitfully misused the passage?

It is very clear that Jesus confirms that violence will always attend the Lord and His mission on the earth. But the question is begged, who is the aggressor? Who is the violent? Who lifts up the sword? The answer is not far away, nor difficult to find. Even a child taking the time and trouble to read the text and its context would be able to answer the question.

Matthew chapter 10 records Jesus sending out his disciples as missionaries to Israel. He gives them various instructions about the mission, then provides a frank and sober assessment of what they will face. He says that He is sending them out as sheep among the wolves (verse 16)—an interesting image, since when we compare sheep to wolves, we instinctively know that violence attends the wolf, not the sheep. It is the wolf which tears the sheep to pieces, not the other way around.

He says, “Beware of men; for they will deliver you up to the courts, and scourge you in their synagogues . . . and brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all on account of My name. . . . But when they persecute you in this city, flee to the next; . . . .” (verses 16—23)

We ask again—whence the violence? Who is wielding the sword?

But, the Christian is not to fear this violent outpouring of hatred upon him. “Do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." (verse 28) So, who is killing whom? In our Lord's warning and description it is clearly the Unbeliever who is persecuting, torturing, and killing the faithful Christian. That is what Jesus is speaking about—and it is given as a description of the norm. This is what will always occur when Unbelievers are confronted with the Lord Jesus and His disciples. They will turn like wolves upon the sheep.

Immediately after this, Jesus says, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come 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 own household.” (verses 34—37)

The reference to enmity and divisions in households refers back to His warning that brother will deliver up brother to death—but clearly Christ is referring to the unbelieving household member so hating the truth of the Gospel that he violently rejects the ties of blood and brings pseudo-judicial murder upon his own brother. He is referring to children rising up against parents, causing them to be put to death. (verse 21). That is what the disciples are to expect at the hands of their own children.

So when Christ declares He comes not to bring peace but a sword, in the context He is candidly telling His disciples that the effect of His coming will be bloodshed—but that the shedders of blood, the murderers and the violent will be the Unbelievers, and the one's whose blood will be shed will be the Christians.

Notice that He does not instruct His servants to carry weapons, and engage in violence in retaliation—but that they are to be as sheep. If they are delivered up to death, their vindication at the hands of God is yet to come.

Finally, we note that Jesus, when speaking of a man's enemies being the enemies of his own household, is quoting directly from Micah 7:6. In that passage, Micah is lamenting the murder, rape and pillage of the righteous in the land at the hands of the unbelieving wicked.

So, even the young Sunday School child could tell you at the drop of a hat that to suggest from Matthew 10:34 that our Lord was calling for violence and the shedding of blood is superstitious nonsense, intellectual deceit, and a grave slander.

How, then, should we assess the misuse of this text by those alleging that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a bloody, violent religion? Firstly, we note that it is a practice of deceit. While cloaking themselves in robes of cool, rational discourse and a relentless pursuit of the truth, in this matter they have trafficked in deceit, lies, slander, and deliberate distortions. While espousing honest intellectual inquiry, in this matter they have propagated egregious errors.

But why? Why such cant? Why such a bitter outburst? Why such hypocrisy? Why such intellectual legerdemain? Why have they acted in such a way that puts the lie to their carefully crafted self-delusions of rationality and love of the truth? The answer is simple. They are yet unwilling servants of God. They serve His purposes. They are being used by God to testify to His truth, and to the veracity of His Son.

Their hatred of Christ proves the very point that Christ was making. Their malignancy leads not only to deliberate slander and distortions of the truth—but also to a thorough going hypocritical denial of all that they pride themselves to be—cool, intellectual, objective, rational moderns. They cannot help themselves. Their natural hatred of Christ has to come out, even if they must traffic in lies and slander to do it.

Yes, the coming of Christ in our world brings a sword, not peace. But it is the Unbelievers who are the wolves. It is the Unbelievers who wield that sword. And their innocent victims are the peace-loving followers of Jesus Christ. Our erstwhile modern objective rationalists prove it so. And thus it has ever been.