I am come to send fire on earth Our Lord concludes his charge to his disciples with foretelling the divisions that should be occasioned by his gospel. See on Matthew 10:34. As if he had said, After all that I have done and spoken to promote peace and love, so opposite is my doctrine to the prejudices and the lusts of men, and such are the violent contentions that my gospel will occasion, through the wickedness of those among whom it is preached, that it will seem as though I came to kindle a fire on earth, that should produce destructive and wide-spreading desolation. And what will I, if it be already kindled
Τι θελω, ει ηδη ανηφθη, which Dr. Campbell renders, What would I, but that it were kindled? which is, according to the Vulgate, quid volo, nisi ut accendatur? It is justly observed by Dr. Whitby, that ει, here rendered if, sometimes signifies that; as Acts 26:23, where ει παθητος Χριστος, is properly rendered, that Christ should suffer and that he should rise; and it is also a particle, of wishing: so Numbers 22:29, ει ειχον μαχαιραν, I wish I had a sword; Isaiah 48:18, ει ηκουσας, O that thou hadst hearkened; Psalms 81:13, ει ο λαος μου ηκουσε, O that my people had hearkened, &c.; Luke 19:42, ει εγνως, O that thou hadst known! The sense, therefore, of this passage is, “I come to deliver to the world a doctrine which will incense the world against me and my followers, and subject us to great sufferings, signified in Scripture by fire, and will baptize me in my own blood; but yet I am so far from being moved from prosecuting my Father's pleasure, by the prospect of them, that I wish the time of my suffering were at hand, and my gospel were preached to the world.” Of the baptism here spoken of, see on Matthew 20:23. And how am I straitened Πως συνεχομαι, how am I pressed in spirit; (see Acts 18:5;) till it be accomplished. He longed for the time when he should suffer and die, having an eye to the glorious issue of his sufferings. The words allude to a woman in travail, that is pained to be delivered, and welcomes her pains, because they hasten the birth of the child, and wishes them sharp and strong, that the work may be cut short. Christ's sufferings were the travail of his soul, which he cheerfully underwent, in hope that he should by them see his seed. Isaiah 53:10-11. So much was his heart set upon the redemption and salvation of man. Suppose ye that I am come to send peace on earth By subduing all the nations of the world into one great monarchy, under the Jews, and establishing that temporal tranquillity and prosperity which you expect should attend the Messiah's kingdom? I tell you nay, but rather division For notwithstanding that my gospel is the gospel of peace, proclaiming peace between God and man, and enjoining all that embrace it to follow peace with all men; yet it will be so opposed and perverted, that, instead of peace and unity, discord, strife, and division will be frequently occasioned by it. For from henceforth On account of the introduction of my religion, there shall be five in one house divided, &c. Contentious heats and animosities will frequently arise in families; that part of the family which does not obey the gospel opposing and persecuting the part which obeys it. And this shall be the case even when those families consist of persons who stand in the nearest relations to each other; the father, for instance, differing with the son, and the son with the father. It may be proper to observe here; so many prophecies of the Old Testament speak of the peaceful state of the Messiah's kingdom (see Psalms 72:7; Isaiah 2:4; Isaiah 11:6-9; Isa 65:25) “that it is hard to say how Christ could completely answer the character of the Messiah if he should never establish peace, even universal peace, on earth. But the error of the Jews lay in supposing he was immediately to accomplish it; whereas the prophecies of the New Testament, especially those contained in the book of Revelation, show, and those of the Old Testament most plainly intimate, that this prosperous state of his kingdom was not only to be preceded by his own sufferings, but by a variety of persecutions, trials, and sufferings, which should in different degrees attend his followers, before the kingdoms of the earth became, by a general conversion, the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.” Doddridge.