>>12880801
I had said "for Christians" since you had addressed "darkness".
The physical sword is indeed appointed to all earthly governments.
The Sword of Christians in battling Darkness,
which is Satan,
is only the Word of God.
You are conflating the two.
Are Christians in earthly governments?
Yes,
and when they are,
they use the physical sword against physical enemies on behalf of their earthly government.
For Darkness however,
they use the Sword that is the Word of God.
As to the citation you used,
the rule of interpreting less clear verses so they don't contradict more clear ones,
is to abide by the clear ones.
It is clear in Ephesians,
Paul provided the interpretation of a "sword".
The use of the word "sword" by Christ was not to be understood as a physical sword,
no more than when He used the term "leaven" to mean physical leaven,
which He said was the teaching of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
Therefore,
going by the clear interpretation relative to the term "sword",
Christ was speaking about the Word of God.
The "cloaks" to which He referred would have been their unique outer garments of the colors of their families.
He was telling them they had to leave that loyalty to their families and traditions to exchange those for the Word of God.