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):
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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.
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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.
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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).
4 Comments
this this was great. and I think it makes perfect sense to compare the two, especially since that’s clearly what Paul does in Ephesians. Piper talks a lot about the "war-time" mentality, as well. Just in how earthy-minded we typically are, and if we really saw what was going on around us like it is (spiritually) we would act so differently.
We have been going through Ephesians 6 in our class for the past several weeks. One interesting point that our teacher brought up was related to the sword being our only offensive weapon. He compared it to a toy that was around when he was a boy – it was called the "Johnny Seven O.M.A."
The O.M.A. stands for "One Man Army", and it was essentially the Swiss Army Knife of weapons (at least in the play world!)! It could be transformed into several different types of ""depending on what your "battle situation" called for. (here’s a link to one on Ebay if you’re curious )
He compared our Sword of the Spirit to this weapon. I had never thought about it in those terms before, but it makes sense. An actual sword isn’t always the best weapon to use in a given situation, but our "Sword" is one that really can become whatever type of weapon we need it to be.
God only gave us one weapon so we can’t over-analyze which one to use and lose valuable time, or even worse, choose the wrong one, but at the same time, that one weapon is really infinitely adaptable to the situation we are in. His Word can be used to keep us away from dangerous situations, and it can also be used to defeat the enemy when we are in one of those dangerous situations. It is the same tool, but it can be used in different ways to be most effective for the given situation.
I really thought that was a good insight on the Sword of the Spirit, and definitely not something I had thought about before.
That’s awesome, Carissa. Thanks for sharing that. In fact, the word used for sword is gladium in Latin. This was the sword used for close fighting, as opposed to the spatha, which was longer and used by cavalry. (The spatha also appeared later.) This was one of the first swords to truly replace the spear as the weapon of choice.
Also, swords were the only pure weapon of the ancient world. Axes could be used to chop wood. Spears were also used for hunting. Many "soldiers" used pitchforks and various other farm tools. However, a sword is a two to three and a half feet long, sharpened piece of metal with no other useful purpose than to be used for killing. Being sharpened on both sides, pointed at the tip, and balanced for accurate slicing and stabbing, it was well suited to the task.
So the Sword of the Spirit is a tool of war, and a very precise and penetrating tool at that. It is not meant to be lobbed at someone or something, but rather for precise and accurate close range attacks. In essence, you must get close to whatever you are fighting or fighting for and use the weapon with precision and accuracy. Therefore you must study and train for the day of battle.
Pretty accurate.
And thanks, Kristen, for letting me know I’m not crazy. Good to be reminded sometimes.
Great point – we are supposed to be trained to use the weapon we’ve been given. I am certain that I wouldn’t do too well if we took the swords off of your wall and started a duel since you have trained and I have never even held a sword! It’s certainly no different with our spiritual weapon.
So, now that you bring that up, it seems it’s less of the weapon being different in given situations, and more of our training showing us how to use the weapon most appropriately for the particular battle at hand. There’s still an element of having a weapon that is suited to many different situations, but the difference isn’t in the weapon itself, but rather in how we use it.
I can always count on you to make me think harder and deeper about these things! :)