Peace: an Abolition of Sin
In the beginning, the earth was “chaos and waste,” (Genesis 1:2, TLV) and through God’s governance, order, and creative power He established peace, perfection, and purity. More succinctly, He established wholeness. While that wholeness of the new creation and the first parents was broken by the sin of Adam and Eve, God’s promises and descriptions of peace, perfection, and purity continue to mark the people of God in both the Old and New Testaments, just as they did in the beginning. When examining the definition of these three terms, the concept of wholeness is confirmed:
Peace, understood as "tranquility or lack of conflict” in the English language, is also the word we use to translate the multifaceted Hebrew word shalom, which means wholeness, completeness, welfare, prosperity, safety, rest, and, yes, peace.
Perfection means to “lack nothing”, completion, maturity, and wholeness.
Purity means to be without sin. Sin is “missing the mark” God has for us. Sin is not reaching the full measure of what God asks of us and so in effect sin is a lack of wholeness.
Peace, perfection, and purity find their common ground in the idea of wholeness. Obedience, surrender and life in community trend toward wholeness. God desires his people to be whole, lacking nothing.
Sin, however, robs us of peace, perfection, and purity. Sin robs us of wholeness. And so we have also that sin robs us of Shalom, the Hebrew word for wholeness (which biblical scholars translate into peace.) When the Bible calls Jesus the Prince of Peace, it calls him the Prince of Wholeness. This distinction matters because it eliminates confusion. In Matthew 10:34, Jesus says, “I did not come to bring peace, but the sword.” However, in this application, peace means harmony, a lack of discord, unity. Jesus didn’t come to bring harmony; it is He who separates the Light from the Darkness. He came to bring wholeness and calls us into a life in which there is no darkness.
In light of these definitions, we might read certain verses differently. When Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers,” and when the author of the letter to the Hebrews writes “live in peace with everyone,” the command in both directives is to create harmony as a result or byproduct of wholeness. And what is an obstruction of wholeness? Sin.
The logic follows, then, that to make peace and to live in peace there must be an abolition of sin.
When God gave the children of Israel the land of Canaan, He told them that it would be a place of peace when they dispossessed the wicked nations, when they abolished sin. He told the Israelites that the land was in chaos— sacrificing children in an effort to appease some god, engaging in self-destructing and community-destroying behaviors, and overall all not honoring the One True God of Heaven and Earth— and in order for there to be peace, the land and its people would have to submit to God’s governance and order. He told them that in order for there to be peace, there would have to be an abolition of sin.
What did the people of God do? They waged war against sin.
The author of Hebrews in chapter 11 applauds them, writing:
32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets. 33 By faith they conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, and made foreign armies flee. . . The world was not worthy of them! They wandered around in deserts and mountains, caves and holes in the ground. 39 And all these . . . commended for their faith . . .
By faith they waged war against armies that were antithetical to the Lord of Hosts and it was counted to them as righteousness.
But Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” And He himself is called the Prince of Peace and yet He is also called Faithful and True, and He makes war in righteousness. From His mouth comes a sword and with it He strikes down the unbelieving nations. Why? Is His nature and name contradictory? No, because He makes war for the sake of peace. It bears repeating that in order for there to be peace there must be an abolition of sin.
So what is meant, then, when Jesus calls us to be peace makers? The answer is that He is calling us to pursue lives of personal and corporate holiness. To pursue peace is to pursue maturity and purity— not tranquility or ease or lack of conflict.
In fact, conflict is a sure sign of a life of peace, if by peace you mean wholeness or holiness.
As it is written in chapters 10 and 11 of Hebrews:
33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to abuses and afflictions, and other times you became partners with those who were treated this way. 34 For you suffered along with the prisoners and joyfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better and lasting possession . . .
—
[O]thers were tortured, after not accepting release, so they might obtain a better resurrection. 36 Others experienced the trial of mocking and scourging—yes, and even chains and prison. 37 They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were murdered with the sword. They went around in sheepskins and goatskins; they were destitute, afflicted, mistreated.
Jesus encourages His followers saying, “Do not fear what kills the body but cannot kill the soul.” Again, the Holy One says, “Do not be surprised when they hate you; they hated me first.” Yes, a life of holiness will absolutely result in a life of conflict with worldly culture as the Light of God clashes with the Darkness.
And again, Jesus encourages us in the midst of conflict and persecution saying, “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will inherit the earth.” Likewise it is said in the reverse in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10:
9 Or don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Don’t be deceived! The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, those who practice homosexuality, 10 thieves, the greedy, drunkards, slanderers, swindlers—none of these will inherit the kingdom of God.
We see that those that seek peace inherit God’s kingdom and Paul reiterates in the opposite that those who indulge in sin will not. Can you see then, again and again, that peace is wholeness; peace is purity; peace is holiness, both personal and corporate?
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude—through this we may offer worship in a manner pleasing to God, with reverence and awe. 29 For our God is a consuming fire. Let brotherly love continue. 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers—for in doing so, some have entertained angels without knowing it. 3 Remember the prisoners as if you were fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you also were suffering bodily. 4 Let marriage be held in honor among all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers. 5 Keep your lifestyle free from the love of money, and be content with what you have. (Hebrews 12:28 - 13:1-5).
Let nothing prevent us from boldly and bodily holding fast to the confession of hope that we have in the gospel. Let us consider how to strengthen the faith and resolve of the Church and spur one another on toward holiness. Let us maintain the bodily fellowship of the saints, come what may.
Those that do these things: they are the peacemakers.