This is really about clarity, realism, and honesty. Who is ‘the son of peace’? The term is similar to other terms we find in the word of God such as ‘children of light’ and ‘children of disobedience’.
We are concerned that people should be saved. We won't settle for anything less. Now there are certain courses that are arranged in people's homes as a means of spreading the gospel, and some of these schemes are very shallow, and they fudge the whole issue of salvation. Really they say to people, ‘You come together and we’ll tell you about the Bible, and we'll tell you about Christ, and all you have to do is agree with this, and assent to it, and say, “Yes, Christ is a good fellow, and I think I understand this a little more, and I agree with it all.”’ ‘Well now,’ they are then told, ‘you are a Christian’, and the issues are fudged. Whereas if the preachers were really plain and said, ‘Look, you need salvation, because you are rejected by God. You need to have a new life’, then it would have a different result. The people would say, ‘I’m not going to that home Bible study again.’ So there is this temptation, this tendency, for many Christian teachers to fudge the issue, and not to have clarity, not to get down to the things that matter. That is really what this verse is about. You have got to speak kindly, affectionately, but plainly. We have to be plain enough for souls to be challenged, for people to reject us, if they are not ready to receive the true gospel. It's a matter of saved or not saved. There is no middle ground. We are not to be like these evangelists who make it so easy to become a Christian – just a walk to the front or a raising of the hand, and then they will tell people authoritatively, ‘You are a Christian.’ How do they know they are Christians? How do they know whether the people have really taken this seriously, really repented, really submitted to God and come to him? We have got to be clear; we have got to have clarity and honesty.