And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.
Living by God's truth and obeying His will sets members of the same family at variance, so that a person's closest relatives become foes and following Christ involves a cross that is among the hardest forms of persecution to bear. The division is not created by Christ or the gospel, though He is accused of creating it, for He draws all people but brings a sword and not peace when some are convicted, converted and made obedient while others refuse that drawing. A disciple must therefore love and follow Christ above even father, mother, son or daughter and bear the cross rather than refuse heaven's light or make concession to the world to avoid separation from unbelieving relatives. This loyalty is tested over conscience and the Sabbath, where God's claims are greater than those of husband, family or friends and must be obeyed even at the cost of scorn, expulsion from home, and continual strain. In the refreshing of the latter rain and the loud cry of the third angel, fear of relatives no longer holds back those who recognize the truth, but honest believers sever family and church ties that hinder obedience because truth is more precious than life.
Meaning of Household Division
Living by God's truth and obeying His will for this age sets family members at variance, so that a person's closest relatives become foes. Accepting Christ can bring conflict inside the home when members who refuse to believe in a way that leads to salvation turn hostile toward those who believe. Obedience involves a cross because living out present truth produces that variance. Following Christ in this way brings opposition and estrangement within one's own family, making it among the hardest forms of persecution to bear.
The gospel does not create the strife; opposition to it does. Although Christ draws all people to Himself, not all respond to His drawing, so He brings a sword and not peace on earth. When some are convicted by truth, repent, are converted and made obedient children of God, division enters the family because others refuse that drawing, and opposition arises from within the household itself. Christ has been accused of creating division in families and dissension among neighbors, but the division is created by truth working upon the human heart. Such divisions have always existed and always will.
When truth is presented it involves a cross, so some see the cost and refuse it, while other members of the same family yield to the Holy Spirit, open their hearts to Jesus, and obey God's requirements, and that opposite response makes them foes. Those who turn away stop their ears lest they hear and turn to fables, then lay blame on the truth-loving and obedient, declaring that they create disunion among neighbors and dissension among families. Those who respond reverence and love Jesus, surrender in obedience to His will, find in Him the highest realization of hope and rest and peace for the troubled soul, look to Him as the complete Pattern, seek to be like Him, and openly acknowledge Him.
When one member gives his heart to God and the others do not, the believer is purified, sanctified and ennobled, and is made more dutiful, kind, faithful and affectionate. Christ becomes his hope and consolation, woven into his best affections and confessed in word and deed, spirit and actions. The unbelieving members remain under the control of Satan, Christ's worst enemy, and feel annoyed and angry at the division, while the two masters are in deadly conflict. Satan stirs bitter opposition, deceives the soul, perverts the judgment and misleads the mind, so that the believer's very best motives are misinterpreted and the disloyal think they are badly used and treated unkindly. The enmity created in the unbelieving heart against God's children is not against men simply, but against Christ.
The same household enmity is also fulfilled when false ideas and the influence of Satan's agents set children against parents and siblings. In that condition true friends are treated as enemies, while those who divide close relationships are accepted. A man's foes of his own household can be his wife and children. They can also be his own hereditary and cultivated tendencies that continually seek for mastery and must be strictly guarded by watchfulness and prayer, with the heart made right through fervent prayer for a clean heart.
Loyalty and Last-Day Application
Christ must be loved and followed above father, mother, son or daughter, and the cross must be taken up to follow Him rather than abandoning faith to keep household peace. This loyalty can bring opposition and division from those closest, and that conflict may be unavoidable when one obeys God and others oppose that choice. Such estrangement is among the hardest forms of persecution to bear, bringing scorn, ridicule and continual strain.
Light from heaven and truth must not be refused in order to avoid separation from unbelieving relatives, neighbors or the world. No concession must be made to the world to stay bound with it for the fires of the last days, but the Lord must have the whole heart. God's binding law must still be kept through the merits of Jesus Christ by those who choose Christ over family unity, neighbors, darkness and unbelief.
That loyalty is tested over the Sabbath and conscience, where hesitation to keep the Sabbath for fear of friends and family must yield to obedience because loyalty to Christ and His requirements takes precedence over their favor. God's claims are greater than a husband's claims, so God must be feared and pleased above all and conscience followed even when peace and harmony are broken and home becomes a place of enemies. A wife and daughter who kept the seventh day were expelled from home and would not give up the Sabbath or stop attending meetings, because disobeying God would make them unfaithful to Him. Standing firm in that position requires strength from God to break away from old friends and associates and to keep walking the humble, self-denying path Jesus traveled.
Household opposition takes the form of restraint from hearing the truth by husbands or parents, as well as scorn, ridicule and continual strain. It also takes the form of rejection, cursing, disowning and mistreatment because of embracing truth and following Christ.
In the refreshing of the latter rain from the Lord's presence and the loud cry of the third angel, wives and children who recognize the truth are no longer held back by fear of relatives, because truth becomes more precious to them than life. In the final giving of the message, when truth is seen in its clearness by deep conviction of the Spirit of God, honest believers sever family connections and church relations that have held them from fully comprehending truth or yielding obedience. Family ties are powerless to stay them because truth is more precious than all besides, and notwithstanding the agencies combined against the truth a large number take their stand on the Lord's side.
Conversion changes loyalties and separates from worldly influence of family and friends, and that separation brings pain to both sides. The believer longs for loved ones to follow Christ, knowing that refusing Him leads to final separation. Present opposition may later give way to repentance and reconciliation, as when expulsion for Sabbath-keeping was followed by repentance.
In this conflict the believer needs the whole armor of God and must fight the good fight of faith with assurance of victory through the Spirit of God. This means standing firm and steadfast in truth without letting a husband's strange life confuse the senses, closing the ears to his arguments and opening them to Christ's invitation, so as to become a saving influence in the family. Victory is battled for by beginning aright at one's own heart with fervent prayer from unfeigned lips for a clean heart, with conscientious and constant seeking of the Lord, watchfulness and prayer, and doing all that has been taught in order to stand.
Living by God's truth and obeying His will sets members of the same family at variance, so that a person's closest relatives become foes and following Christ involves a cross that is among the hardest forms of persecution to bear. The division is not created by Christ or the gospel, though He is accused of creating it, for He draws all people but brings a sword and not peace when some are convicted, converted and made obedient while others refuse that drawing. A disciple must therefore love and follow Christ above even father, mother, son or daughter and bear the cross rather than refuse heaven's light or make concession to the world to avoid separation from unbelieving relatives. This loyalty is tested over conscience and the Sabbath, where God's claims are greater than those of husband, family or friends and must be obeyed even at the cost of scorn, expulsion from home, and continual strain. In the refreshing of the latter rain and the loud cry of the third angel, fear of relatives no longer holds back those who recognize the truth, but honest believers sever family and church ties that hinder obedience because truth is more precious than life.
Meaning of Household Division
Living by God's truth and obeying His will for this age sets family members at variance, so that a person's closest relatives become foes. Accepting Christ can bring conflict inside the home when members who refuse to believe in a way that leads to salvation turn hostile toward those who believe. Obedience involves a cross because living out present truth produces that variance. Following Christ in this way brings opposition and estrangement within one's own family, making it among the hardest forms of persecution to bear.
The gospel does not create the strife; opposition to it does. Although Christ draws all people to Himself, not all respond to His drawing, so He brings a sword and not peace on earth. When some are convicted by truth, repent, are converted and made obedient children of God, division enters the family because others refuse that drawing, and opposition arises from within the household itself. Christ has been accused of creating division in families and dissension among neighbors, but the division is created by truth working upon the human heart. Such divisions have always existed and always will.
When truth is presented it involves a cross, so some see the cost and refuse it, while other members of the same family yield to the Holy Spirit, open their hearts to Jesus, and obey God's requirements, and that opposite response makes them foes. Those who turn away stop their ears lest they hear and turn to fables, then lay blame on the truth-loving and obedient, declaring that they create disunion among neighbors and dissension among families. Those who respond reverence and love Jesus, surrender in obedience to His will, find in Him the highest realization of hope and rest and peace for the troubled soul, look to Him as the complete Pattern, seek to be like Him, and openly acknowledge Him.
When one member gives his heart to God and the others do not, the believer is purified, sanctified and ennobled, and is made more dutiful, kind, faithful and affectionate. Christ becomes his hope and consolation, woven into his best affections and confessed in word and deed, spirit and actions. The unbelieving members remain under the control of Satan, Christ's worst enemy, and feel annoyed and angry at the division, while the two masters are in deadly conflict. Satan stirs bitter opposition, deceives the soul, perverts the judgment and misleads the mind, so that the believer's very best motives are misinterpreted and the disloyal think they are badly used and treated unkindly. The enmity created in the unbelieving heart against God's children is not against men simply, but against Christ.
The same household enmity is also fulfilled when false ideas and the influence of Satan's agents set children against parents and siblings. In that condition true friends are treated as enemies, while those who divide close relationships are accepted. A man's foes of his own household can be his wife and children. They can also be his own hereditary and cultivated tendencies that continually seek for mastery and must be strictly guarded by watchfulness and prayer, with the heart made right through fervent prayer for a clean heart.
Loyalty and Last-Day Application
Christ must be loved and followed above father, mother, son or daughter, and the cross must be taken up to follow Him rather than abandoning faith to keep household peace. This loyalty can bring opposition and division from those closest, and that conflict may be unavoidable when one obeys God and others oppose that choice. Such estrangement is among the hardest forms of persecution to bear, bringing scorn, ridicule and continual strain.
Light from heaven and truth must not be refused in order to avoid separation from unbelieving relatives, neighbors or the world. No concession must be made to the world to stay bound with it for the fires of the last days, but the Lord must have the whole heart. God's binding law must still be kept through the merits of Jesus Christ by those who choose Christ over family unity, neighbors, darkness and unbelief.
That loyalty is tested over the Sabbath and conscience, where hesitation to keep the Sabbath for fear of friends and family must yield to obedience because loyalty to Christ and His requirements takes precedence over their favor. God's claims are greater than a husband's claims, so God must be feared and pleased above all and conscience followed even when peace and harmony are broken and home becomes a place of enemies. A wife and daughter who kept the seventh day were expelled from home and would not give up the Sabbath or stop attending meetings, because disobeying God would make them unfaithful to Him. Standing firm in that position requires strength from God to break away from old friends and associates and to keep walking the humble, self-denying path Jesus traveled.
Household opposition takes the form of restraint from hearing the truth by husbands or parents, as well as scorn, ridicule and continual strain. It also takes the form of rejection, cursing, disowning and mistreatment because of embracing truth and following Christ.
In the refreshing of the latter rain from the Lord's presence and the loud cry of the third angel, wives and children who recognize the truth are no longer held back by fear of relatives, because truth becomes more precious to them than life. In the final giving of the message, when truth is seen in its clearness by deep conviction of the Spirit of God, honest believers sever family connections and church relations that have held them from fully comprehending truth or yielding obedience. Family ties are powerless to stay them because truth is more precious than all besides, and notwithstanding the agencies combined against the truth a large number take their stand on the Lord's side.
Conversion changes loyalties and separates from worldly influence of family and friends, and that separation brings pain to both sides. The believer longs for loved ones to follow Christ, knowing that refusing Him leads to final separation. Present opposition may later give way to repentance and reconciliation, as when expulsion for Sabbath-keeping was followed by repentance.
In this conflict the believer needs the whole armor of God and must fight the good fight of faith with assurance of victory through the Spirit of God. This means standing firm and steadfast in truth without letting a husband's strange life confuse the senses, closing the ears to his arguments and opening them to Christ's invitation, so as to become a saving influence in the family. Victory is battled for by beginning aright at one's own heart with fervent prayer from unfeigned lips for a clean heart, with conscientious and constant seeking of the Lord, watchfulness and prayer, and doing all that has been taught in order to stand.