Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 10:34

"Think not that I came to send peace on the earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword." — Matthew 10:34 (ASV)

Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

That is to say, the first consequence of Christ's coming will not be that we will lead easy and comfortable lives, but, on the contrary, he comes to enlist us in his army, and to make soldiers of us, and soldiers have to endure many hardships.

Do not think that I have come to send peace on earth: I did not come to send peace, but a sword.

The ultimate result of Christ's mission will be peace. Swords shall be broken into ploughshares, and the spears into pruning hooks; but on the way to peace there will be war. On the way to universal peace there will be a general confusion. When true religion comes into a man's heart, it makes him a warrior at once.

He begins to contend against evil – to contend against contention.

He fights for peace, though it may seem strange that it should be so.

Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

Do not misunderstand the Saviour's words. Christ usually spoke in a very plain manner, and plainness is not always compatible with guardedness.

Christ did come to make peace; this is the ultimate end of His mission. Yet for the present, Christ did not come to make peace. Wherever Christianity comes, it causes a quarrel, because the light must always quarrel with the darkness, and sin can never be friendly with righteousness.

It is not possible that honesty should live in peace with theft; it cannot be that there should be harmony between God's servants and the servants of the devil. In this sense, then, understand our Saviour's words.