The accusation, “You are either with us or against us!” has been used for centuries to divide and conquer, to build commitment, to arouse emotion, to win elections, etc. Republican President George W. Bush and Democrat Senator of New York Hilary Clinton both used it in September 2001 to encourage the support of other nations for a US war against terrorism. Those and many other examples including Sarah Palin using the phrase to gain 2016 support for Donald Trump are in this Wikipedia article.
The Gospels include four similar Jesus quotes that seem, at first glance and without context, to be contradictory. Two declare that everyone is either with Jesus or against him and two declare that whoever is not against the church (the disciples or Jesus and the disciples) is for it. Here are the four quotes, pronouns in bold print:
“Whoever is not with me is against me.” – Matthew 12:30a NRSV
“Whoever is not with me is against me.” – Luke 11:23a NRSV
“Whoever is not against us is for us.” – Mark 9:40 NRSV
“For whoever is not against you is for you.” – Luke 9:50b NRSV
In the Matthew 12 and Luke 11 examples, Jesus uses the first person singular, referring to himself, and says, “Whoever is not with me is against me.” These are apparently slightly different versions of the same incident, accusations by the Pharisees that Jesus has cast out a demon using demonic power and a lecture by Jesus that no divided kingdom can survive. So, in these two cases, the statement that “whoever is not with me is against me,” may be a personal reference by Jesus about his power vs. demonic power, absolute perfection vs. total unrepentant depravity. His statement challenges us to follow him.
In Mark 9, Jesus uses the first person plural (98% of English translations), apparently referring to himself and the disciples, and says “Whoever is not against us is for us.” In Luke 9, Jesus uses the third person plural (80% of English translations), apparently referring to the disciples, and says, “whoever is not against you is for you.”
Both the Mark 9 and Luke 9 examples are apparently slightly different versions of the same incident, complaints by disciples that they had seen someone they didn’t recognize casting out demons in the name of Jesus. Perhaps it was an egotistical personal concern of the disciples about a stranger in their territory. Only Mark adds an interesting comment about the reward due to anyone who offers a cup of water to one bearing the name of Christ.
A lesson that might be drawn from the Matthew 12 and Luke 11 passages is that all lovers of Jesus, whether Baptists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Church of God, Orthodox, Non-Denominational, Catholic, whatever, should be united in following Jesus and fighting demonic power instead of criticizing each other.
And a lesson that might be drawn from the Mark 9 and Luke 10 passages is that all lovers of Jesus, whether Baptists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Episcopalians, Church of God, Orthodox, Non-Denominational, Catholic, whatever, should be offering each other cups of water, figuratively speaking, instead of criticizing each other.
Either way, mutual criticism is not productive. So, perhaps all the various Christian lovers of Christ should be proclaiming the Gospel as they understand it without criticizing those with different understandings. Eventually, “The truth will out.”
Below are handy links for reading the four Jesus quotes in context.
Confession: I’m not an authorized interpreter of Sacred Scripture but am just making observations and suggesting possibilities. And, I’m not qualified to discuss translation of Greek pronouns but suffice it to say that they are more complex than English pronouns, well at least more complex than English pronouns used to be. That is probably the reason for some variation in the pronoun translations in the Mark 9 and Luke 9 examples.
Comments, correction, and complaints are welcome.