I have been working on an essay. Here is a draft of the introduction.
What do you think? Shall I finish the essay? Do you have any suggestions about how it should unfold that won’t entirely derail me? Any encouragement for a slow writer? 🙂
You may share your feedback in the comments below. Thank you!
Here is a PDF of the entire introduction draft: Why did Jesus Command his Disciples to Buy Swords – Intro Draft
Here is a link to download it: Why did Jesus Command his Disciples to Buy Swords – Intro Draft
And here is a part of what you can read in the PDFs above:
Why did Jesus Command his Disciples to Buy Swords?
On the night when he was betrayed, our Lord in his kindness said many things that troubled and confused his unprepared disciples. Of all his words from that night, few still confuse his disciples today more than this statement: “Let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one” (Luke 22:36 ESV).[1] An online survey using Google reveals how much this statement still cuts Christians into opposing interpretive camps today. Among current scholarly commentators there is less diversity of opinion, but still not a clear consensus interpretation of what Jesus meant.
This essay will consider two primary interpretive questions: (1) Was Jesus teaching his disciples to use swords in human combat? (2) What is the relationship between Jesus’ sword command and his subsequent quotation of the prophecy in Isaiah 53:12 that he would be “numbered with the transgressors” (Luke 22:37)? These two questions are not the only important questions raised by Jesus’ sword command. When combined as variables on a two-dimensional graph, however, they offer four interpretive quadrants or positions (see Table 1), and these four positions represent the most important interpretive options held today by both popular readers and biblical scholars:
- Self-defense: Jesus told his disciples to buy swords so they would use them, to defend themselves from enemies.
- Among transgressors: Jesus told his disciples to buy swords so they would use them, so the prophecy would be fulfilled that he would be “numbered with the transgressors.”
- Appearance of transgressors: Jesus told his disciples to buy swords so the prophecy would be fulfilled that he would be “numbered with the transgressors,” but he didn’t want them to actually use them.
- Metaphor for dangerous times: Jesus told his disciples to buy swords but didn’t want them to actually buy or use them; he was speaking figuratively about dangerous times to come.
What interpretation will this essay defend? Before I gave this verse much thought, my assumptions were probably most in line with interpretive option…
[1] The English Standard Version (ESV) will be used in this essay unless otherwise noted. Note: The Greek syntax behind this statement is somewhat difficult to parse, as technical commentaries usually discuss. But no matter how the syntax is understood, the resulting instruction is the same: The disciples are urged to buy swords.
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