This paper explores Pope Paschal II's use of violence and the resulting exegetical crisis in the early twelfth century, focusing on his letter of January 21, 1103, to Robert, Count of Flanders, and the critical response of Sigebert of Gembloux. Paschal II employs Old Testament citations—notably 1 Samuel 15 (Saul and Agag) and Jeremiah 48:10—to justify armed action by the milites in defense of the Church and the libertas ecclesiae. The enemy is explicitly identified: rebels against God, usurpers of Church authority, simoniacs, and the excommunicated. By linking Petrine authority, lay obedience, and biblical precedent, the pope frames warfare as a divinely sanctioned act and a tool for protecting Roman primacy. Sigebert's Epistola Leodicensium adversus Paschalem papam exposes the tensions created by this approach. He challenges the materialization of the two-swords doctrine, condemns the grant of remissio peccatorum to combatants, and repurposes the same Old Testament texts to argue that violence, even against Church enemies, cannot constitute a divine sacrifice. The claim of a "third sword" exemplifies what Sigebert sees as a dangerous innovation in canonical and exegetical tradition. This case reveals a broader crisis of interpretation: the Old Testament becomes a battleground for competing visions of ecclesiastical authority. Paschal II uses it to define the enemy and legitimize coercion, while critics like Sigebert expose the moral and theological limits of such claims. The correspondence highlights the intersection of papal authority, the construction of the enemy, and the use of biblical precedent in shaping political and religious power. The case of Robert of Flanders thus illuminates how the early twelfth-century Church navigated the tension between spiritual leadership and coercive action, showing that the legitimacy of violence was deeply entangled with scriptural interpretation and the contested primacy of Rome.