Arm Yourself!

And he said to them, "When I sent you out with no moneybag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?" They said, "Nothing." He said to them, "But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one. For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors.’ For what is written about me has its fulfillment." And they said, "Look, Lord, here are two swords." And he said to them, "It is enough" (Luke 22:35-38, ESV).

For a very long time, I was both fascinated and confused by this verse. The fascination comes from my love of stories and legends of King Arthur, Lord of the Rings, etc. I have even taken sword fighting lessons and worked on a bible study that could tentatively be called "Biblical Swordsmanship". Yet the passage also seems confusing. First Jesus tells his disciples to sell their cloaks if they don’t own a sword, then he tells them that two swords is enough for them all. Obviously, he is not speaking literally (despite how much I used to wish he was).

Through the years, things began to tie together. I asked my pastor in college about the verse, and he responded that it was a call to have a "war-time mentality." I can see that. Obviously, with Jesus gone and persecution on the way, the Jesus’s disciples were going to need to be on their guard. But then the question remains, "What does that look like?"

I have found numerous passages that help me piece together what kind of "sword" Jesus was talking about, but four stand out the most (for the sake of space, I’m going to link to Bible Gateway for the passage text):

  1. Ephesians 6:17-18 — I think this is the most blatant. The Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. We must arm ourselves with the Truth from God’s holy Word. Then, not only will we be armed, but we’ll be armed to the teeth! Revelation gives an image of Jesus with a double-edged sword for a tongue, with which He strikes down his enemies.

  2. 1 Peter 4:1-2 and Ephesians 5:15-17 — Peter actually says "arm yourselves" in this passage. But with what do we arm ourselves? Both passages agree on this: we are to arm ourselves with the same way of thinking as Christ. We are to seek the will of the Father and submit ourselves even to death for his glory.

  3. Romans 12:2 — the Japanese have an entire methodology of sword fighting called iai, which entails every act from drawing the blade to resheathing it. As Christians, we are not only called to preach the Good News, but to also "be transformed by the renewal of your mind." In sheathing a sharp blade, the blade is certainly going to cut the inside of the sheath. Likewise, we should not only use the Sword of the Spirit for the spreading of the gospel but allow the Word of God to work on us as well, through meditation and prayerful consideration.

Perhaps I’m a bit daft, comparing the Sword of the Spirit so literally to the martial art of sword fighting. However, we really are at war with a bitter enemy. Lives are at stake. For whatever reason, the Lord of heaven and earth has decided to work through us. We must therefore train ourselves and be prepared at all times to give a reason for the hope that we have with gentleness (1 Peter 3:15-16) and humility, trusting God for his provision and knowing He will establish us in his eternal kingdom (1 Peter 5:6-11).