MATTHEW 10:21 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.”
Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. The social disruption that the mission produces: family divisions as severe as the delivering of relatives to death. The gospel that requires a decision for or against Jesus will divide households along those lines of decision. Luke 12:51–53 records Jesus saying he came not to bring peace but division: from now on five in one household will be divided. The family that was the basic unit of ancient society is restructured by the kingdom's claim — the new family of disciples (12:46–50) takes precedence over the biological family.
Church Fathers on Matthew 10:21
Having placed the comfort first, He adds the more alarming perils; 'Brother shall deliver up brother to death, and the father the son; children shall rise against parents, to put them to death.'
Wrongs which we suffer from strangers, pain us less than those we suffer from men on whose affections we had counted; for besides the bodily affliction, there is then the pain of lost affection.
This we see often happen in persecutions, nor is there any true affection between those whose faith is different.
Read all 9 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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