Luke 12:51

51 Think ye that I am come to the earth to give peace? No, I tell you, but rather division;

Luke 12:51 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 12:51

Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth?
&c.] To set up a temporal kingdom, in great pomp, and outward peace and tranquility? Christ came to make peace with God for men, and to give the Gospel of peace, and spiritual and eternal peace to men; but not external peace, especially that, which is not consistent with the preservation of truth:

I tell you, nay;
whatever suppositions you have made, or whatever notions you have entertained, I solemnly affirm, and you may depend upon it, I am not come into the world on any such account, as to establish outward peace among men;

but rather division;
so he calls the Gospel, which in Matthew is styled a "sword"; and the Ethiopic version seems to have read both here, since it renders it, "but a sword that I may divide": the Gospel is the sword of the Spirit, which divides asunder soul and Spirit, and separates a man from his former principles and practices; and sets men apart from one another, even the nearest relations, at the greatest distance; and is, through the sin of man, the occasion of great contention, discord, and division.

Luke 12:51 In-Context

49 I am come to cast fire into the earth; and what do I desire, except that it be kindled?

50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how I am anguished until it is accomplished!

51 Think ye that I am come to the earth to give peace? No, I tell you, but rather division;

52 for from now on there shall be five in one house divided: three against two and two against three.

53 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.