49 I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? 50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! 51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: 52 For from henceforth 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. (Luke 12:49-53 KJV)
William Burkitt’s Commentary
Our Saviour in these verses declares what will be the accidental event and effect, but not the natural tendency, of his religion; so that we must distinguish between the intentional aim of Christ’s coming, and the accidental event of it. Christ’s intentional aim was to plant, propagate, and promote, peace in the world; but through the lusts and corruptions of men’s natures, the issue and event of his coming is war and division; not that these are the genuine and natural fruits of the gospel, but occasional and accidental only.
Hence learn, that the preaching of the gospel, and setting up the kingdom of Christ, though it be not the genuine and natural cause, yet it is the accidental occasion of all that war and tumult, of all that dissension and division, of all that distraction and confusion which the world abounds with: I am come to send fire on the earth. He is said to send the fire of dissension, because he foresaw this would be the certain consequence, though not the proper and natural effect, of the preaching of the gospel. There was another fire of Christ’s sending, the Holy Spirit; this was a fire to warm, not to burn, or if so, not men’s persons, but corruptions; but that seems not to be intended in this place.
Observe further, the metaphor by which Christ sets forth his own sufferings; he styles them a baptism: I have a baptism to be baptized with. There is a threefold baptism spoken of: a baptism with water, a baptism of the Spirit; both these Christ had been baptized with: but the third was the baptism of blood: he was soon to be drenched and washed in his own blood, in the garden, and on the cross; and he was straitened or pained with desire, like a woman in travail, until his sufferings were accomplished.
BURKITT | Luke 12:1-3 | Luke 12:4-5 | Luke 12:6-7 | Luke 12:8-9 | Luke 12:10 | Luke 12:11-12 | Luke 12:13-14 | Luke 12:15 | Luke 12:16-21 | Luke 12:22-30 | Luke 12:31 | Luke 12:32 | Luke 12:33-34 | Luke 12:35-36 | Luke 12:37-40 | Luke 12:41-44 | Luke 12:45-48 | Luke 12:49-53 | Luke 12:54-59 |