Reply #37: The first reference is clearly to a physical sword; the second,

[Joe Chi Minh]

to the sovereign reality underlying all human affairs, i.e. that we are in the midst of a war of unimaginable dimensions and ferocity.

Peace in society and the world at large can only be obtained through justice; the children of darkness and evil spirits / devils / fallen angels fight very hard to suppress justice in the world - even such imperfect though recognizable justice as we can aspire to with God's grace on this earth.

By God's grace, through faith, prayer, etc., at the macro level, the Christian fights their evil deeds primarily by politics, struggling often to the point of death, to change the viciously unjust structures, which penalise the poor. Many Christians have witnessed to their beliefs before such killers to the point of death, and some probably are at this moment. So this kind of sword refers to "leading with your chin", by witnessing against the militant opposition of Christianity's foes - which alas, include many liberal Christians as well as conservative ones and militant atheists.

On the personal level, again with God's grace, the Christian fights against the temptations the world continually presents, struggling to lead a life of devotion to God, compassion towards his fellows, purity, patience, etc. One of the great ironies concerning the so-called "fundamentalists" in America, is that being "born again", as is clear from Solzhenitsin's life, entails a life of what he calls, "self-limitation". This means not lusting after material possessions, but preferring the life of the spirit. The attachment of the "fundies" to riches is simply anathema to Christianity.

Peace in the human heart, on the other hand, is like joy, a gift of God, and is a function of our loving response to God's love and the love we show to our fellow human beings, whether we are formally religious or not.