Luke 12:52 Commentary and Bible Study

‘From henceforth’, that is, from the time that Christ’s baptism of suffering and redemption are accomplished on Calvary’s cross, there will be a new order prevailing over the people of God, and with that new order will come divisions which were not apparent before. These divisions are not all against all; they are not personal divisions, as if each individual was against every other individual, and there was widespread general hostility. Instead, these divisions are all centred around one matter: the kingdom of heaven. Those within the kingdom of heaven are aligned, and those outside of the kingdom are aligned, and it is these two parties who are opposed to each other. That is why it is three against two, and it is the same two against the same three. It is the gospel which has created these divisions, and therefore the Lord says that he has come to send fire on earth. The gospel does not unify mankind; it divides mankind. Why? Because the gospel calls us to new allegiances which supersede all previous allegiances. Those who might have natural reason for being at odds with one another will find that, in Christ, they have much in common. So then a church operating in a cosmopolitan city may find that its members are taken from many different nations. Any hostility due to ethnic differences is nothing compared to the things they now hold in common in Christ. The gospel has brought the gift of tongues, which has figuratively overcome not just language differences, but cultural differences, and differences based on longstanding traditions of living apart. What will earthly distinctions count for in heaven? Members of two different nations have far more in common as believers, than they have differences as people born into different cultures. Those earthly differences will disappear in time, but the spiritual things they hold in common are eternal.The new loyalties are good, and the new divisions are necessary, for they are engineered by God. The Christian however is commanded to love his enemy, and to win his enemy for Christ if he can. On his side it is an enmity that he wants to overcome. But he will not cross back over to the world’s side for the sake of unity. There is only one way the division can be healed, and that is by the worldling repenting and putting his trust in Christ. It is the unbeliever that must change sides, not the believer. The unbeliever persecutes the believer, but the believer does not persecute the unbeliever. Instead he tries to win him for Christ, and to deliver his soul from hell. The gospel cuts across the closest of family ties. ‘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.’ The nearest of human relations are broken by the gospel. But the blame for this division lies entirely on the side of the unbeliever. It is a consequence of the enmity in his heart which is against Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, against the whole Godhead. In the case of the believer, that enmity has ended through the sweet peace of the gospel, but from the perspective of the unbelieving the new convert has joined the ranks of those who have turned their back on the kingdom of this world. The unbeliever understands that, for the believer, loyalty to God now comes before anything else including family loyalties. It is not that the believer is hostile to his family – he would rather win them to the gospel during the limited time that remains – but a gulf has opened up, and when circumstances force him to make a choice, the believer will be choose the Lord’s side against his family.