DAVID ELLIS GRACE COMMENTARY

{my comments in parathesis}

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

A sword. These words seem hard to reconcile with the image of Jesus the Prince of Peace. But the sword he wields is not a Roman sword; it’s a sword of truth, and truth is divisive.

{We do not need to use swords or guns or bombs to win our battles. The sword of the spirit is the particular words of God spoken for the situation. It is a spiritual was not one against the flesh and blood enemies. Our weapons are mightier but but spirit and we can destroy the enemies who are lies with the truth}

People divide themselves by their response to Jesus.

{Jesus said He is the Truth. When people are hateful and divide themselves away from the truth it causes battles. But we fight back by loving our enemies more}

A Christian is not necessarily more moral than their unbelieving neighbor; a Christian is someone who does what Jesus says. Conversely, an unbeliever is not necessarily immoral; an unbeliever is someone who rejects what Jesus says. Like the hard-hearted leaders of Jerusalem, they “refuse to come to me to have life” (John 5:40). Jesus is the Life, and those who come to him shall live.

{Therefore it really is not Jesus who divides people but people divide themselves from Jesus. It is not God that judges, it is people who judge themselves evil and prefer to hand on to that which is hurting them. With God there is peace to all mankind, it is the humans who fight, divide themselves from God and each other!}