Luke 12:49-53

Not Peace, but Division

12:49 “I have come ¹  to bring ²  fire on the earth – and how I wish it were already kindled! 12:50 I have a baptism ³  to undergo, ⁴  and how distressed I am until it is finished! 12:51 Do you think I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! ⁵  12:52 For from now on ⁶  there will be five in one household divided, three against two and two against three. 12:53 They will be divided, ⁷  father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

[12:49]  ¹ sn This mission statement, “I have come to bring fire on the earth,” looks to the purging and division Jesus causes: See Luke 3:9, 17; 9:54; 17:29 for fire, 5:32; 7:34; 9:58; 12:51 for the topic of mission.

[12:49]  ² tn Grk “cast.” For βάλλω (ballw) in the sense of causing a state or condition, see L&N 13.14.

[12:50]  ³ sn The figure of the baptism is variously interpreted, as some see a reference (1) to martyrdom or (2) to inundation with God’s judgment. The OT background, however, suggests the latter sense: Jesus is about to be uniquely inundated with God’s judgment as he is rejected, persecuted, and killed (Ps 18:4, 16; 42:7; 69:1-2; Isa 8:7-8; 30:27-28; Jonah 2:3-6).

[12:50]  ⁴ tn Grk “to be baptized with.”

[12:51]  ⁵ tn Or “hostility.” This term pictures dissension and hostility (BDAG 234 s.v. διαμερισμός).

[12:52]  ⁶ sn From now on is a popular phrase in Luke: 1:48; 5:10; 22:18, 69; see Mic 7:6.

[12:53]  ⁷ tn There is dispute whether this phrase belongs to the end of v. 52 or begins v. 53. Given the shift of object, a connection to v. 53 is slightly preferred.