Whoever Lives by the Sword Dies by the Sword?

On the night that he was arrested, Jesus and his disciples were in the Garden of Gethsemane when Judas showed up with a crowd armed with swords and clubs. Peter wanted to defend Jesus, so he drew a sword and lopped off the ear of the servant of the high priest.

Jesus said to Peter, put your sword back to its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Now often these words are used to mean that if you devote yourself to weapons and violence, eventually violence is going to come back on you.

But that's not actually what Jesus was saying. He wasn't being philosophical, he was paraphrasing the words of Genesis 9, 6, where the Lord said, whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.

Capital Punishment and the God-Given Authority of Government

Deuteronomy 19 expounds on this edict, saying that such punishment must only be carried out by those to whom authority is given, specifically the judges and men of high office. The context here is capital punishment.

When Jesus said, whoever lives by the sword dies by the sword, he was telling Peter that if he had killed the servant, Peter would have been executed for murder, and it would have been within the God-given authority of the government to carry that out.

Romans 13 and the Sword of Civil Authority

Romans 13 says, whoever resists the authorities, resists what God has appointed. In verse 4 it says, if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer.

Peter's Lesson on Suffering as a Christian

Peter learned his lesson as he wrote in 1 Peter 4, that if we are to suffer for the name of Christ, it shouldn't be as a murderer or an evildoer. He wrote that we must be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, for this is the will of God when we understand the text.