Grace Bible Chapel, December 8, 2024, Greg Rhodea PhD

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I. Peace: The Wholeness of One’s World, Made Right by God

See the Bible Project video “Shalom – Peace” in their Advent series. You can view this in our church mobile app. Scroll down on the home page until you see “Premium Content Library.”

A. The Old Testament Hebrew Word for “Peace” Is Shalom (שָׁלוֹם)
(content below adapted from the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, 931)

Suggested Translations: Peace, prosperity, well, health, completeness, safety

Shalom means “absence of strife” in approximately fifty to sixty usages; e.g. I Kgs 4:25 reflects the safety of the nation in the peaceful days of Solomon when the land and its neighbors had been subdued.

“Peace,” in this case, means much more than mere absence of war. Rather, the root meaning of [the verb it’s related to] better expresses the true concept of shalom. Completeness, wholeness, harmony, fulfillment, are closer to the meaning. Implicit in shalom is the idea of unimpaired relationships with others and fulfillment in one’s undertakings.

About twenty-five times in the Old Testament, shalom is used as a greeting or farewell (Jud 19:20; I Sam 25:6, 35). To wish one shalom implies a blessing (II Sam 15:27); to withhold shalom implies a curse (I Kgs 2:6). In modern Hebrew shalom is used for “hello” and “goodbye.” Note the cognate Arabic salaam.

Shalom is the result of God’s activity in covenant and is the result of righteousness (Isa 32:17). In nearly two-thirds of its occurrences, shalom describes the state of fulfillment which is the result of God’s presence. This is specifically indicated in those references to the “covenant of peace” (Num 25:12; Isa 54:10; Ezk 34:25; Mal 2:5) with his chosen representatives, the Aaronic priests and the Davidic monarchs. The peace that marks the conclusion of an agreement between adversaries (Isaac and Abimelech, Gen 26:29), business partners (Solomon and Hiram, I Kgs 5:12), and man and God (Abraham, Gen 15:15) is couched in terms of covenant agreement.

This sort of peace has its source in God. He is the one who will speak shalom to his people (Ps 85:8). His promise to David in I Chr 22:9–10 puts shalom in context with “calmness,” “rest,” and “to be quiet,” as these are gifts from God. The classic statement of this concept is the Aaronic benediction (Num 6:24–26) which identifies the man to whom God has given shalom as the one who is blessed, guarded, and treated graciously, by Yahweh. This is fulfillment through the divine gift.

There is also a strong eschatological element present in the meaning of shalom. Messiah, “David’s greater son,” is specifically identified as the Prince of Peace (Isa 9:6)—the one who brings fulfillment and righteousness to the earth.

Paul (Eph 2:14) links these themes in his identification of Christ as our peace. He is the messianic prince who brings wholeness, but he is also God’s last word—the “concluding sacrifice” that brings redemption to mankind.

B. The New Testament Greek Word for “Peace” Is Eirene (εἰρήνη)
(content below adapted from the A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 287-88; and Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, 412-17)

Suggested Translations: (1) A state of concord, peace, harmony; (2) a state of well-being, peace (corresponding to the Hebrew word shalom = welfare, health)

1. “Peace” in its widest sense as the normal state of all things (1 Corinthians 14:33).
The “healthy” or normal state which corresponds to the will of God is not to be limited to the soul or even to man. It extends basically to the universe as a whole.

2. “Peace” as the final salvation of the whole person (Luke 1:79; 2:14; 19:42; Heb 13:20; Eph 6:15; John 14:27; 16:33; Luke 10:5; Rom 8:6; 2 Pet 3:14; Rom 16:20; 1 Thess 5:23; Heb 13:20)
On the basis of Old Testament and Rabbinic usage, “peace” thus acquires a most profound and comprehensive significance. It indicates the eschatological salvation of the whole man which is already present as the power of God. It denotes the state of the new creation as the state of definitive fulfilment. In this sense salvation has been revealed in the resurrection of Jesus.

3. “Peace” with God (Eph 2:4-17; Rom 5:1)
Only rarely in the New Testament is this word used for the relationship of peace with God.

4. “Peace” of people with one another (Rom 14:17; 1 Cor 7:15; 2 Tim 2:22; Eph 4:3; Heb 12:14; James 3:18; 1 Peter 3:11)
Here, too, it implies the divinely willed and therefore salutary state of all things, the normal state, to the degree that sin is a disruption of the normal. The peace of men with one another is included, however, in this normal state.

5. “Peace” of the soul (Rom 15:13; but see also Phil 4:6-7; John 14:27; Col 3:15)
As “peace” is used for the normal state of man’s total being, so God creates in man the salvation which is the normal state of the soul that is in order—a state inseparable from joy.

II. Peace: Vandalized by Sin

“God hates sin not just because it violates his law but, more substantively, because it violates shalom, because it breaks the peace, because it interferes with the way things are supposed to be…. God is for shalom and therefore against sin. In fact, we may safely describe evil as any spoiling of shalom, whether physically (e.g., by disease), morally, spiritually, or otherwise.”
(Cornelius Plantinga, Not the Way, 14).

Painting: “The First Mourning,” by Bouguereau, 1888.

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Genesis 4:8
Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

III. Peace: Hope for Tomorrow, Strength for Today

Isaiah 25:6-8

Isaiah 26:1-3

Ephesians 2:14-17

Romans 15:13

The Bottom Line

No Jesus? No Peace.

Know Jesus? Know Peace.