---
title: Luke 22:36
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/luke-22-36/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/luke-22-36.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Luke 22:36
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Luke 22:36

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> “Now, however,” He told them, “the one with a purse should take it, and likewise a bag; and the one without a sword should sell his cloak and buy one.

## JW Usage

Luke 22:36 is rarely cited in JW publications, and for visible reason — Jesus' instruction to the disciples to "sell his outer garment and buy" a sword sits awkwardly beside the Watchtower's reading of Matthew 26:52 as a categorical weapons prohibition. Where the verse does appear, it is typically read symbolically as a warning of coming hostility rather than a literal instruction to be armed.

## Protestant Usage

Hours before his arrest, in the upper room, Jesus tells the disciples that conditions are about to change — earlier they travelled without provisions or protection (v.35), but the coming opposition will require both. He tells those without a sword to sell a cloak and buy one. Whether the instruction is literal or pedagogical (the disciples' "Lord, here are two swords" gets the response "it is enough" — perhaps a rebuke of the literalism), the verse cannot be read as a categorical weapons prohibition. Jesus' rebuke of Peter at Matthew 26:52 a few hours later targets vigilante violence against the lawful arresting party, not weapons as such. The two verses harmonise on the principle that armed force is forbidden in private vengeance and authorised in the office Romans 13:4 describes.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Career Extension of Blood-Guilt](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/blood-guilt-firearms-careers.md) — Romans 13:4 — God Appoints the Sword-Bearer [Practice]