Saying 16: Not Peace but Division
People think I have come to bring peace; I have come to bring divisions — fire, sword, war. Five in a house will be three against two, and they will stand alone.
Commentary
Luke ends with the household split. Thomas adds a further step: those who are divided from their families “will stand as solitary ones” — the *monachos*, the single one, who is the hero of sayings 49, 75 and 106.
Parallels
Luke 12:51–53; Matthew 10:34–36
Sayings on the same themes
- Saying 91 Saying 91: You Cannot Read This Moment They ask him to say who he is so they can believe; he replies that they examine the face of the sky…
- Saying 86 Saying 86: Nowhere to Lay His Head Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head and rest.
- Saying 10 Saying 10: Fire on the World I have cast fire on the world, and I am watching over it until it blazes.
- Saying 49 Saying 49: Blessed Are the Solitary Blessed are the solitary and the chosen, for you will find the kingdom; you came from it, and you will go back…
- Saying 105 Saying 105: Whoever Knows the Father and the Mother Whoever knows the father and the mother will be called the child of a prostitute.
- Saying 42 Saying 42: Be Passers-By Be passers-by.