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Luke 12 · a question people ask

"I came to throw fire on the earth" (12:49), and "I have a baptism to be baptized with" (12:50). What are the fire and the baptism?

In the text

Neither Jesus nor Luke explains either one in this chapter. Here are his words: "I came to throw fire on the earth. I wish it were already kindled." (12:49), and "But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!" (12:50). He goes straight on to division: "Do you think that I have come to give peace on the earth? I tell you, no, but rather division." (12:51). Favor's Mark 10 asks what the cup and the baptism of Mark 10:38 are; it quotes 12:50, and doesn't say that these verses speak of the same baptism. These notes don't say it either, and give no reading of the fire.

The verses

““I came to throw fire on the earth. I wish it were already kindled. But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to give peace on the earth? I tell you, no, but rather division.”
Luke 12:49-51 · World English Bible
“But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?””
Mark 10:38 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Luke 12

Luke 12: Rich toward God

The rich man told his soul it had goods for many years, and God said, "tonight your soul is required of you". Then Jesus told his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life", and in Luke's Greek that soul and that life are one word. The ravens have no barn, and God feeds them.

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Last reviewed October 2, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions