Do not assume that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
All these verses relate to the sufferings of Christ's ministers in their work, which they are here taught to expect, and prepare for; they are directed also how to bear them, and how to go on with their work in the midst of them.
Commenting on Matthew 10:16-42
For I am come to set a man at variance against,.... Or "to divide a man from his father". Here our Lord opens and explains what he means by the sword, intestine divisions, domestic broils, family differences, as well as such as appear in towns, cities, and kingdoms, which are exemplified by other instances following; and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against...
Verses 34-36. Think not that I am come, etc. This is taken from . Christ did not here mean to say that the object of his coming was to produce discord and contention, for he was the Prince of peace, ; but he means to say that such would be one of the effects of his coming.