“We have peace with God…” (Romans 5:1).
Somewhere along the line I managed to lose my post regarding the first of the benefits of coming into a relationship with Jesus that Paul teaches in Romans, chapter five. So let me go back for a minute and comment on this great result of being “justified by faith”.
Those are the words which precede today’s text. Everything Paul reveals in this chapter is a result of our receiving what Jesus did on our behalf on the cross. When we say “Yes” to Jesus, God declares us to be “right” with him. We get justified. Once we are justified, we enter into this relationship with God that is characterized by peace.
The Bible uses several words that our English bibles translate “peace”. Here, the word is the Greek word “irene”. There was a time when this word was a popular name for little girls. Unlike the name, the final “e” here is pronounced like a long “a”. The most common meaning of this word is “the cessation of hostility”. It would have been the word used to speak of the end of a war.
It is obvious to me that many people in our culture are at war with God. I’m sure they wouldn’t view it that way, but as I’ve reflected before, it is amazing how angry some people seem to be at a God they say they don’t believe exists. If we use the war analogy, the difference in this hostility is that it is one sided! God is not at war with us. He has done everything he possibly can to extend love to us. But once we understand how his love has been expressed through Jesus, and we respond by receiving that love, the hostility from our side ends and we enter into a state of peace with God.
But peace with God is bigger than simply the cessation of hostility. Most scholars agree that what Paul probably has in mind when he uses this expression “peace with God” is the Hebrew concept of peace. In the Old Testament, “peace” is the translation of the Hebrew word “shalom”. Shalom was a comprehensive concept that included a state of total well-being that comes from living in the proper relationship with God. It had material and relational dimensions along with the spiritual. It was always intimately connected to the concept of God bestowing his blessing. It also involved the inner peace that we experience when we are living under God’s blessing.
Are you experiencing peace today? Do you know that the war is over? Put a “P” on your hand today to remind you that when you receive Christ, you entered into the peace of God! And remember, it is yours because of what Jesus did on the cross.
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