Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.
Wait, didn’t Jesus come to bring “Peace on Earth, good will toward all men?” No, that’s a mistranslation of the Greek NT. The KJV says “Peace on earth, good will toward men.” but look it up in a modern translation, most of them say something like “on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests.” That’s a big difference. The difference is one letter in Greek. εὐδοκία is what’s known as the nominative form “good will” in general as the subject. But in the previous 400 years, we’ve found so many more (and older) manuscripts, we can better recreate what the original writings most likely said. The original Greek is the word εὐδοκίας. Do you see how similar that is? It’s very easy to see how someone who was copying the NT hundreds of years after it was written happened to leave of that final letter. εὐδοκίας (the original reading) is the genitive form meaning “of good will” describing the quality of the subject, not the subject itself. So in other words, the peace that the angels were talking about is a description of those characterized by being pleasing to God. The way we please God is by believing in His Son (see: Romans 5:1). So, did Jesus come to bring peace for the world? No. He came to offer peace for those who would surrender under His terms. Not peace at all costs. Put Jesus first, and it may cause issues with friends and family, but He’s worth it!
