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Matthew 10 · a question people ask

"I didn’t come to send peace, but a sword" (10:34). Didn't Jesus come to bring peace?

In the text

Here are his words as Matthew gives them: "Don’t think that I came to send peace on the earth. I didn’t come to send peace, but a sword" (10:34). He goes straight on: "For I came to set a man at odds against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law" (10:35), and "A man’s foes will be those of his own household" (10:36). Earlier in the same chapter he tells the twelve, "If the household is worthy, let your peace come on it" (10:13), and on the mountain he said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God" (5:9). Luke gives a saying like it, in another setting: "Do you think that I have come to give peace on the earth? I tell you, no, but rather division" (Luke 12:51). Matthew doesn't say how these sayings fit together, and these notes don't either. They don't explain the sword beyond Jesus's own next words, and apply none of 10:34-36 to anyone's family.

The verses

““Don’t think that I came to send peace on the earth. I didn’t come to send peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man at odds against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s foes will be those of his own household.”
Matthew 10:34-36 · World English Bible
“If the household is worthy, let your peace come on it, but if it isn’t worthy, let your peace return to you.”
Matthew 10:13 · World English Bible
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.”
Matthew 5:9 · World English Bible
“Do you think that I have come to give peace on the earth? I tell you, no, but rather division.”
Luke 12:51 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Matthew 10

Matthew 10: Sheep among wolves

In Matthew 10 the word worthy comes seven times: the twelve are to find out who is worthy in whatever city or village they enter (10:11), and Jesus ends by saying who isn't worthy of him (10:37-38). And many of the words Mark gives on the Mount of Olives (Mark 13:9-13), Matthew gives here, as Jesus sends out the twelve (10:17-22).

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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