Language Studies

Difficult Sayings

"I come to hurl fire on the earth"
Luke 12:49

"I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!" (Luke 12:49)

This passage has been described as containing "obscure expression … [and] obscure language"^F1 and lacking in precise meaning. What is the fire and why should Jesus be impatient for it to spread?

The Greek aorist "I came" when put back into Hebrew can equally be "I have come" expressing a future intent not yet realised, hence the desire or aversion to seeing it commence.

Joachim Jeremias in his Parables of Jesus^F2 argues that behind "send fire" is a Semitic idiom "to kindle" echoing the last verb of the clause and creating the phrase "I have come to kindle a fire and how I wish it were already burning". The "sending" or "casting" of fire sounds imprecise and judgemental whereas "kindling" appears more cautious and nurturing of a more positive form of fire. Yet the Greek βαλλω ballô (Strong's #906) is unconcerned with gentleness or accuracy and refers more to a general throwing or indiscriminate "casting out".

As in the interpretation of parables where the seed can represent the word or faith or growth we have multiple possibilities with the interpretation of "fire" here. In the gospels alone we could interpret fire as judgement (as with John the Baptist, Matthew 3:10,12; Luke 3:17) or as hell fire (Matthew 5:22; 18:8-9 etc) or as the work of the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:16; Matthew 3:11).

Fire can therefore be seen as judgement, purification or power. In addition, Jeremiah describes God's word as fire, a passionate but powerful burning within and without (Jeremiah 20:9, cf. Luke 24:32; Jeremiah 23:29). So Jesus could be describing the Gospel itself as the fire that he brings. It seems unlikely that the fire is the fire of an Acts 2 Pentecost pouring out, which despite necessitating Jesus' death, which he appears to talk about using the language of baptism in the next verse (Luke 12:50) would not have brought trepidation of final judgement and family division in the way that Jesus imagines in succeeding verses.

Alternatively, Jesus could be alluding to the future judgement of the earth as in (2 Peter 3:7,12) which, whilst being unpleasant, will purge the earth ready for Jesus' new earth reign. This, Jesus may wish for it to be already done, not just being kindled. David Bivin,^F3 however points out that when kindled is put back into Hebrew which can have the full range of meaning from "start a fire" through "be on fire" to "burn up/consume" it could thus mean "burned up" and Jesus could be looking forward to the final cleansing of the earth being finished, rather than just started.

So perhaps it is not the fire that is kindled but the earth that is to be burned up as in 2 Peter 3 above. Ezekiel also has similar "kindling" language speaking of coming judgement upon the righteous and wicked alike which caused Ezekiel's hearers to say that he was speaking in parables, just the thing Jesus was renowned for doing:

"Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall burn up every green tree in you, and every dry tree among you. The flaming flame shall not be put out, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned in it. And all flesh shall see that I the LORD have kindled it. It shall not be put out. And I said, Ah Lord Jehovah! They say of me, Does he not speak parables? (Ezekiel 20:47-49)

The phrase "how I wish it were" or more literally "and what I wish if…" is awkward but may be a crude Greek attempt at rendering one of various rhetorical rabbinic styled statements such as "and what do I say" all basically meaning "I do say/decree". Equally, the Greek "what" likely represents the Hebrew "what/how" hence the half-decent translation "how I wish …". This still leaves out the Greek "if" which might be rendered "how could I wish". Another Hebrew double meaning lies in the word "and" which can also be translated "but" so we could use "I have come to send fire on the earth but how could I wish it started?"

Certainly, Jesus' apparent desire that this fire "were already kindled" might mitigate against a judgement interpretation even though the positive outcome of this would be to cleanse the world from sin. Thus, we may be tempted towards the meaning "how could I wish [for judgement]".

The context certainly leads us toward a judgement interpretation of sorts for Jesus goes on to speak of death (his baptism, v.50) and "division" rather than "peace on earth" (vv.51-53) and then of "discerning the time" (vv.54-59), implying that judgement is near.

Jesus came to bring peace on earth but only through and after division. Harmony in society can only be achieved with either the transformation or expulsion of its evil or harmful members. The Lord's coming is said by the prophet Malachi to be hard to endure for he comes as a "refiner's fire" (Malachi 3:2). Jesus may not have relished lighting the fire of judgement but he certainly looked forward to its final result, a cleansed earth and people.

FOOTNOTES:
F1: Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D., A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments.
F2: Jeremias, J., The Parables of Jesus, 1954 (London: SCM Press), p.122 and note 83 on p.122.
F3: Bivin, D., Blizzard, R., Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus, 1983/84 (Ohio: Destiny Image Publishers), pp.132-33.

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