Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Luke 12:49

πῦρ ἦλθον βαλεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν. ‘I came to cast fire on the earth.’ The “send fire” of the A.V[269] is from the Vulg[270] mittere. St John had preached, “He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire,” and that “He should burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” The metaphor is probably to be taken in all its meanings; fire as a spiritual baptism; the refining fire to purge gold from dross, and burn up the chaff of all evil in every imperfect character; and the fire of retributive justice. There is a remarkable ‘unwritten saying’ of Christ, “He who is near me is near the fire,” which is preserved in Ignatius, Origen, and Didymus.

[269] A.V. Authorised Version.
[270] Vulg. Vulgate.

τί θέλω εἰ ἤδη�. ‘How I would that it had been already kindled!’ (as in Sir 23:14). It may also be punctuated, ‘What will I? O that it were already kindled!’ For the fire is salutary as well as retributive; it warms and purifies as well as consumes. In this idiom—(εἰ with the indicative to express a wish known by the speaker to be impossible)—εἴθε and εἰ γὰρ are more common in classical Greek. Winer, p. 562.

Continues after advertising

BibliaPlus

Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Luke 12:49

Old Testament

New Testament