SCRIPTURE MEANING

Gen 41:15  And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can
interpret it: and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it. 
Gen 41:16  And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an
answer of peace. 
(Gen_41:16. God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.] Heb. “God will answer as to the peace
(or welfare) of Pharaoh.” The meaning is, that God will give an answer such as shall prove to be for
the welfare of Pharaoh.)
Jdg 8:9 And he spake also onto the men of Penuel, saying, When I come againe in peace, I will
breake downe this towre.
(Judges 8:9
And he spake also unto the men of Penuel, saying, When I come again (f) in peace, I will break
down this tower.
(f) Having gotten the victory.)

Job 5:24  And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace; and thou shalt visit thy
habitation, and shalt not sin. 
(Domestic peace and felicity (Job_5:24). “Thou shalt know,” &c, i.e., by a Divine assurance and a
happy experience. To discern a mercy is itself a new mercy in its bosom [Brookes]. “Thy tabernacle
shall be in peace,” or, “be peace,”—so thoroughly pervaded by it. In safety from others; in harmony
with itself; and enjoying a general prosperity. “A peaceable habitation, a sure dwelling, and a quiet
resting place,” among promised blessings (Isa_32:18).)

Psa 38:3  There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my
bones because of my sin. 
(Psa_38:3): There is no soundness in my flesh because of thy anger. The bitterness of it, infused in
his mind, affected his body; but that was not the worst: it caused the disquietude of his heart, by
reason of which he forgot the courage of a soldier, the dignity of a prince, and all the cheerfulness
of the sweet psalmist of Israel, and roared terribly, Psa_38:8. Nothing will disquiet the heart of a
good man so much as the sense of God's anger, which shows what a fearful thing it is to fall into his
hands. The way to keep the heart quiet is to keep ourselves in the love of God and to do nothing to
offend him.)
Zec 8:16  These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour;
execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates: 
Zec 8:17  And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false
oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the LORD.

Zec_8:16
These are the things. To secure the fulfilment of the promise of good, they must do the will of God
(Zec_7:9. etc.). Truth. This was to be observed in all conversation and transactions with their
neighbours. St. Paul quotes this injunction (Eph_4:25). Execute the judgment of truth and peace;
literally, judge ye truth and the judgment of peace. So the Septuagint and Vulgate. Practise perfect
equity in judgments, and so decide, according to truth and justice, as to secure peace and concord
between the parties concerned. In your gates. Where the judges sat, and justice was administered
(Deu_16:18; Deu_21:19; see note on Amo_5:10).
Zec_8:17
Let none of you imagine (see note on Zec_7:10, where these words occur). Love no false oath.
The prevalent sins at this time were not idolatry, but cheating and lying and injustice, vices learned
in the land of exile, where they had turned their energies to traffic and commerce (see Zec_5:2-4,
and note on Zec_5:3 there).

Luk 1:76  And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the
face of the Lord to prepare his ways; 
Luk 1:77  To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, 
Luk 1:78  Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited
us, 
Luk 1:79  To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet
into the way of peace. 

Rom 16:20  And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. 
(The God of peace - Who neither sends nor favors such disturbers of the tranquillity of his Church.
Shall bruise Satan - Shall give you the dominion over the great adversary of your souls, and over
all his agents who, through his influence, endeavor to destroy your peace and subvert your minds.
Several critics suppose that the word Satan is a sort of collective term here, by which all opposers
and adversaries are meant; and especially those false teachers to whom he refers above.
The grace of our Lord - That you may be truly wise simple, obedient, and steady in the truth, may
the favor or gracious influence of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you! without which you cannot be
preserved from evil, nor do anything that is good.)
 Romans 16:20
CRITICAL NOTES
Rom_16:20.—Here is St. Paul’s own superscription, written with his own hand in all his epistles.
The Author of peace is the Giver of victory. συντρίψει, selected with special regard to Gen_3:15.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Rom_16:20.
The peace-destroyer’s destruction.—From the visible enemy who threatens, the apostle’s eye turns
to the invisible world, where he discovers, on the one side the more formidable enemy of whom his
earthly adversaries are the instruments, and on the other the all-powerful ally on whose succour the
Church can reckon in this struggle. The expression “God of peace” is designedly chosen to describe
God as one who, if the Church fulfil its task well in these circumstances, will take care to overthrow
the designs of its adversaries and preserve harmony among the faithful. No wonder that the
Christian’s energies are paralysed if he only considers the smallness of his own resources and the
greatness of the powers with which he has to cope; but his heart may be strengthened by the
reflection that he has a powerful Friend on whom he may rely, and whose help he may successfully
invoke. The Christian may be inspired by the thought that the valour of God is his defence. He may
well rise superior to difficulty, remembering that victory is finally certain, for God fights on his
side. The work is now going forward under the direction of God. Shortly the finishing stroke will be
given. Satan will be a bruised foe under the feet of the triumphant saints.
I. The peace-maker.—The endearing character under which God is presented before us in
this passage is that of the peace-maker. The God of peace—the author, originator, and
maker of peace. Peace-maker! Delightful to be able to introduce harmony into a world of
disorder, to cause a holy calm to reign in a realm which had presented the scene of wild
chaos. Among the Saviour’s greatest material works is that by which he calmed the
troubled waters of the storm-tossed lake. If he be great who introduces harmony into the
disorder of material things, what shall be affirmed of the greatness of Him who
introduces order where moral discord prevailed, who gives peace to troubled natures?
Jesus Himself says, “Blessed are the peace-makers.” The highest type of man is the
peace-maker. Christ as the peace-maker is endeared to troubled hearts. God is by pre-
eminence the God of peace. He gave Christ to be a peace-maker. It was God that first
made this planet beautiful by the gentle sway of peace. When sin touched with its
spoiling hand the calm sea of this world’s peace, it was God’s mercy that floated over
the troubled waters the words of hope. When the world attained its highest and darkest
reach of moral confusion, it was God that brought into the world the gospel method
whereby spiritual unrest was to be removed and peace flow into the hearts of mankind.
The character of the peace-maker is ennobled by the thought that God is the offended
being, and yet He proposes conditions of peace and makes possible a way of peace. He
secures the method of peace at infinite cost. He spared not His Son.

II. The peace-destroyer.—By how much the character of the peace-maker is ennobled, in the same
proportion may the character of the peace-destroyer sink in our estimation. It is Godlike to create. It
is devil-like to destroy. Destructionists should always bring forward good reasons for the methods
they pursue. Our natures would rise in rebellion and in wrath against the wretched and powerful
being who should disturb the harmonies of the celestial spheres. But a worse catastrophe has
happened. Satan with his tainting hand has touched our humanity, and lost spirits are seen
wandering, through a dismal planet, from the Source of life, from the Spring of eternal strength and
happiness. The devil destroyed the world’s moral peace when he first entered the garden of peace,
and ever since he has been working in the same direction. Satan has destroyed the peace of hearts,
the peace of individuals, the peace of Churches, and the peace of nations.
Into that land of peace no ruthless disturber can ever enter.
III. The peace-destroyer’s destruction at the hand of the peace-maker.—In order to perpetuate
harmony it is necessary to banish that, or at least to eliminate the power of that, which has been the
cause of discord. To preserve the harmony of a kingdom it may be needful to banish the rebels. The
peace of the family can be preserved by the exclusion of the quarrelsome member, or by its
reformation. The peace of God’s human family is always endangered by the presence of Satan. He
appears to be beyond reform. We do not limit the power of the Infinite. But as that power did not
prevent Satan’s fatal meddling, so we have no reason to suppose that God’s power will turn the
prince of darkness into a veritable angel of light. Satan must be bruised, and so bruised as to be able
to do no further moral mischief. He has been bruised in part by Christ’s victorious achievements.
Bruised, but not effectually rendered harmless. He is being bruised by the dispensation of the Holy
Spirit and by the instrumentality of God’s Church. God will finish the work in righteousness, and
Satan will be effectually bruised beneath the feet of God’s people. Satan will be powerless, and over
his slain form the Church will ride in triumph. Let us, then, not fear for God’s truth. Relying on
God’s promises, we are not to fear the wiles of our great adversary. We must battle and not be
dismayed. We must pray and wait in hope for the period of final extinction of Satan as a harmful
foe.
IV. The peace-maker’s “due time” we cannot measure.—God’s “shortly” is not to be measured
by our minutes. The little child with its inadequate notions of time cannot measure the “shortly” of a
wise father. How can the children of time, whose day is but as a butterfly existence, measure the
day of Him who is from everlasting to everlasting? We are sometimes disposed to ask, Has the
Eternal been so taken up with the consideration and the management of other and higher worlds that
He has forgotten us in our low estate—forgotten that His children are well-nigh overwhelmed by
the triumphant progress of sin and misery—forgotten that the world has been long groaning beneath
the oppression of the evil one—forgotten that the lovers of the truth are comparatively few and their
efforts seemingly uninfluential—forgotten that many anxious souls are waiting for the fulfilment of
the promise that shortly God will bruise Satan under their feet? But when we get away from the
contracting influences of the present world, when we breathe the enlarging atmosphere of God’s
broad realm of infinite thoughts, we may get to understand that our “shortly” is a word that
impatience utters in moments of defeat and perplexity—that God’s “shortly” may be a word uttered
by a Being possessed of infinite wisdom and power, and who can wait, to use a human word,
through the slow-moving centuries of time. Where is the mind sufficiently large that can sweep with
rapid glance through all that space—if of space or of any notion of limitation we may speak in this
connection—that must be comprehended in the “shortly” of Him who fills the boundless realm of
eternity? A season must be allowed in which the efficacy of the Saviour’s mediatorial mission shall
be vindicated—in which the glory of the Church as a militant force must be evidenced. A great
work has to be done before God’s “shortly” can be consummated. We must consider God’s
“shortly” in the light of eternity and by the side of those comprehensive plans which must be
entertained by the infinite mind.
V. Human peace-makers will share in the final triumph.—The limbs of the Church will not
always be fettered; the feet of God’s saints will not always be fastened in the stocks; the iron of
oppression will not always eat into their souls. With firm and joyous tread they will victoriously
walk over their crushed adversary. Under our feet for ever will be the enemy of our souls. Peaceful
millennial reign! blessed sabbatic repose! when
Rom_16:20. Satan bruised.
I.—1. A reference to Gen_3:15 : apostle points to certainty of Christ’s victory as guarantee of ours.
2. An echo of promise in Psalms 91 of victory over all antagonists—pestilence, terror, flying arrow,
destruction. “Thou shalt tread upon the lion,” on “the adder.” Power to conquer sins known and
hidden. 3. An echo of Luk_10:19. All these are gathered into the promise of the text. Christ’s heel
being on the head, we have only to keep down a little fragment of the writhing body, a little bit of
vertebræ. If we try in His strength, we shall come off more than conquerors.
II. What strenuous effort is needed to keep down a snake’s head, a desperate life-and-death
struggle! Incongruous epithet at first sight, “the God of peace.” Why not “God of strength?” Our
victory only possible by possessing the peace of God. The reason we fall so easily is because we
lack that sense of rest in God. That peace of God, and the God who gives that peace, will help us to
overcome.
III. “The peace of God” (see Php_4:7) will keep us as a garrison keeps a fortress. The Christian’s
armour the gospel of peace (Eph_6:15).
IV. Ask God for His peace; then in the fiercest struggle we shall have quiet hearts,—peace amid
endless agitation; repose in tempest; quiet spirit in the battle.

V. All will come by communion with Christ; His conquest our inspiration. “Shortly?” Yes; by
simple obedience and loving fellowship swift victory comes. If not, not His fault, but ours. On
eternity’s dial seventy years but a moment. The longest life-struggle but a little while; then the far-
exceeding weight of glory. Thy Master conquered; keep near Him, scorning short-lived temptations,
calm in such brief struggles; then “under our feet for ever the enemies of our souls.”—Alexander
Maclaren, D.D.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Rom_16:20
Conquest of Satan ensured.—The conquest of Satan is ensured by this: When we are at peace with
God, the devils themselves are subject to us. When God was in Christ reconciling the world, He was
in Christ “destroying him that had the power of death” (Heb_2:14), and bringing Satan under the
feet of the Mediator and the feet of His members. This was the intent of God in the first promise of
a Mediator, to destroy him who had infected mankind and brought death into the world. The
bruising his head was the design of Christ’s mission (Gen_3:15), that the great incendiary who had
broken the league and set afoot the rebellion might feel the greater smart of it. And ever since it is
by the gospel of peace and the shield of faith that we are only able to “quench the fiery darts of the
devil,” and make his attempts fruitless (Eph_6:15-16), by the reconciliation God hath wrought and
published by the gospel. God, as a “God of peace,” “shall tread him under the feet” of believers
(Rom_16:20). Unless He had been a God of peace, we had never been delivered from that jailor
who held us by the right of God’s justice. And since we are delivered, God, as a God of peace, will
perfect the victory, and make him cease for ever from bruising the heel of the spiritual seed. As God
hath given peace in Christ, so He will give the victory in Christ. Peace cannot be perfect till it be
undisturbed by invading enemies and subtle adversaries endeavouring to raise a new enmity. Our
Saviour spoiled him of his power upon the cross, and took away the right he had to detain any
believer prisoner by satisfying that justice and reconciling that God who first ordered their
commitment. He answers his accusations as He is an “advocate” at the right hand of God; and at the
last, when death comes to be destroyed, and no more to enter into the world, the whole design of the
devil for ever falls to the ground. Since we are at peace with God, while we are here the devil
himself shall serve us; and the messenger of Satan shall be a means to quell the pride of a believing
Paul by the sufficiency of the grace of God, while he fills the heart of an unbelieving Judas with
poison and treason against his Master.—Charnock.
Satan not to be feared.—And as good angels shall not, so it is certain likewise that evil angels shall
not; good angels will not, and bad angels shall not. Saith He, “I will build My Church upon this
rock”—that is, “this faith and confession that Christ is the Son of God, and a heart and life
answerable”—“and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Mat_16:18). They may assault it,
but they shall not prevail. My brethren, this devil whom you fear, and who tempteth you, as Jesus
Christ hath under His feet, so He will have him under your feet too one day; do but stay awhile, He
shall tread down Satan under your feet shortly (Rom_16:20) You need fear nothing, therefore,
either in heaven or in earth.—Goodwin.

The Reconciler the Subduer.—All corrupters of divine truth and troublers of the Church’s peace are
no better than devils. Our Saviour thought the name Satan a title merited by Peter, when he breathed
out an advice, as an axe at the root of the gospel, the death of Christ, the foundation of all gospel
truth; and the apostle concludes them under the same character which hinder the superstructure, and
would mix their chaff with his wheat. “Get thee behind Me, Satan” (Mat_16:23). It is not, “Get thee
behind Me, Simon,” or, “Get thee behind Me, Peter”; but, “Get thée behind Me, Satan: thou art an
offence to Me.” Thou dost oppose thyself to the wisdom and grace and authority of God, to the
redemption of man, and to the good of the world. 1. As the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of truth, so is
Satan the spirit of falsehood; as the Holy Ghost inspires believers with truth, so doth the devil
corrupt unbelievers with error. Let us cleave to the truth of the gospel, that we may not be counted
by God as part of the corporation of fallen angels, and not be barely reckoned as enemies of God,
but in league with the greatest enemy to His glory in the world. 2. The Reconciler of the world will
be the Subduer of Satan. The God of peace sent the Prince of peace to be the restorer of His rights,
and the hammer to beat in pieces the usurper of them. As a God of truth, He will make good His
promise; as a God of peace, He will perfect the design His wisdom hath laid and begun to act. In the
subduing Satan, He will be the conqueror of His instruments. He saith not, God shall bruise your
troublers and heretics, but Satan. The fall of a general proves the rout of the army. Since God, as a
God of peace, hath delivered His own, He will perfect the victory, and make them cease from
bruising the heel of His spiritual seed. 3. Divine evangelical truth shall be victorious. No weapon
formed against it shall prosper; the head of the wicked shall fall as low as the feet of the godly. The
devil never yet blustered in the world but he met at last with a disappointment. His fall hath been
like lightning, sudden, certain, vanishing. 4. Faith must look back as far as the foundation-promise,
“The God of peace shall bruise,” etc. The apostle seems to allude to the first promise—a promise
that hath vigour to nourish the Church in all ages of the world. It is the standing cordial; out of the
womb of this promise all the rest have taken their birth. The promises of the Old Testament were
designed for those under the New, and full performance of them is to be expected, and will be
enjoyed by them. It is a mighty strengthening to faith to trace the footsteps of God’s truth and
wisdom from the threatening against the serpent in Eden to the bruise he received on Calvary and
the triumph over him upon Mount Olivet. 5. We are to confide in the promise of God, but leave the
season of its accomplishment to His wisdom. He will bruise Satan under your feet, therefore do not
doubt it; and shortly, therefore wait for it. Shortly it will be done, that is, quickly, when you think it
may be a great way off; or shortly, that is, seasonably, when Satan’s rage is hottest. God is the best
judge of the seasons of distributing His own mercies, and darting out His own glory. It is enough to
encourage our waiting, that it will be, and that it will be shortly; but we must not measure God’s
shortly by our minutes.—Charnock.
 Peace
PEACE.—From Latin pax, through French.—
1. Except in Dan_8:25; Dan_11:21; Dan_11:24 (where RV corrects to ‘security’), the OT ‘peace’
represents uniformly the Heb. shâlôm (Eastern salaam), the fundamental sense of which—always
more or less distinctly implied—is welfare (as in Gen_43:27, Psa_73:3 etc.); of well-being, in the
old turbulent times, peace was the prime condition. The word has the following specific religious
uses:
(1) it is the common formula of courteous well-wishing, employed both at meeting and at parting
(see Gen_43:23, 1Sa_1:17, Psa_122:7 f.; cf. Mat_10:12 f.); (2) ‘peace’ constituted the most
conspicuous blessing of the Messianic Kingdom of God (wh. see; cf. Psa_72:3; Psa_72:7, Isa_2:4;
Isa_9:5-7; Isa_11:5-9, Hag_2:9, Zec_9:10); and (3) it signified a sound and settled understanding
between J″ and His people (Num_6:26, Psa_29:11; Psa_85:8 ff; Psa_122:6, Jer_16:5 etc.)—hence J
″’s ‘covenant of peace’ is lodged with His priests (Num_25:12, Mal_2:4 f.). In this last and richest
use the word approximates to its subjective NT signification, implying tranquillity of heart, as in
Psa_4:8; Psa_119:155, Isa_48:18; Isa_48:22.
2. The transition, from OT to NT usage strikingly illustrates the inwardness of Christianity. Out of
some 90 NT instances of ‘peace’ there are not more than 8 or 9 which do not refer to heart-peace.
The Greek eirçnç in its proper sense signified peace strictly, as the opposite of conflict; but it took
over, first in the LXX and then in the NT, the broader import of shâlôm, which is conspicuous in the
(Hebraistic) Benedictions (see Mar_5:34, Luk_7:30; Luk_24:36, Joh_14:27, Jas_2:16 etc.) and in
the epistolary Salutations. In the latter formulæ, ‘peace’ comprehends the sum of blessing
experienced, as ‘grace’ the sum of blessing bestowed, from God in Christ. The Messianic peace (1
(2), above) reappears in Luk_1:79; Luk_2:14, Mat_10:34; and the peace of harmony with God (1
(3)) in Joh_16:33, Act_10:36, Rom_8:6; Rom_15:33, Php_4:7 etc. The uses just named are
gathered up, with a deepened sense, into the specific NT doctrine of peace, of which Paul is the
exponent, and Rom_5:1 the classical text (cf. v. 10, also 2Co_5:18-21, Eph_2:13-18, Col_1:20; see
article on Justification): ‘peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ’ is the state and the
experience of those who have been ‘reconciled’ to the Father through the sacrifice offered by the
Son of His love, whose ‘trespasses’ are ‘forgiven’ and in whose heart ‘the spirit of adoption’ dwells.
Reconciled to God, men are reconciled to life and the world; by His cross Christ ‘has slain’ at a
blow ‘the enmity’ between God and man and between race and race (Eph_2:18). ‘Peace on earth’ is
to flow from ‘the peace of Christ’ that ‘rules in’ Christian ‘hearts’ (Col_3:15).
G. G. Findlay.
 Peace
pēs (‫ׁשלום‬, shālōm; εἰρήνη, eirē ́ne):
1. In the Old Testament:
Is a condition of freedom from disturbance, whether outwardly, as of a nation from war or enemies,
or inwardly, within the soul. The Hebrew word is shālōm (both adjective and substantive),
meaning, primarily, “soundness,” “health,” but coming also to signify “prosperity,” well-being in
general, all good in relation to both man and God. In early times, to a people harassed by foes,
peace was the primary blessing. In Psa_122:7, we have “peace” and “prosperity,” and in Psa_35:27;
Psa_73:3, shālōm is translated “prosperity.” In 2Sa_11:7 the King James Version, David asked of
Uriah “how Joab did” (margin “of the peace of Joab”), “and how the people did (the Revised
Version (British and American) “fared,” literally, “of the peace of the people”), and how the war
prospered” (literally, “and of the peace (welfare) of the war”).
(1) Shālōm was the common friendly greeting, used in asking after the health of anyone; also in
farewells (Gen_29:6, “Is it well with him?” (“Is there peace to him?”); Gen_43:23, “Peace be to
you”; Gen_43:27, “He asked them of their welfare (of their peace)”; Jdg_6:23, “Yahweh said unto
him, Peace be unto thee”; Jdg_18:15 (the King James Version “saluted him,” margin “Hebrew
asked him of peace,” the Revised Version (British and American) “of his welfare”); Jdg_19:20,
etc.). See also GREETING. (2) Peace from enemies (implying prosperity) was the great desire of
the nation and was the gift of God to the people if they walked in His ways (Lev_26:6; Num_6:26,
“Yahweh lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace”; Psa_29:11; Isa_26:12, etc.). To
“die in peace” was greatly to be desired (Gen_15:15; 1Ki_2:6; 2Ch_34:28, etc.). (3) Inward peace
was the portion of the righteous who trusted in God (Job_22:21, “Acquaint now thyself with him,
and be at peace (shālōm)”; Psa_4:8; Psa_85:8, “He will speak peace unto his people, and to his
saints”; Psa_119:165; Pro_3:2, Pro_3:17; Isa_26:3, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace (Hebrew
“peace, peace”), whose mind is stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee”; Mal_2:5); also outward
peace (Job_5:23, Job_5:24; Pro_16:7, etc.). (4) Peace was to be sought and followed by the
righteous (Psa_34:14, “Seek peace, and pursue it”; Zec_8:16, Zec_8:19, “Love truth and peace”).
(5) Peace should be a prominent feature of the Messianic times (Isa_2:4; Isa_9:6, “Prince of Peace”;
Isa_11:6; Eze_34:25; Mic_4:2-4; Zec_9:10).
In the New Testament, where eirēnē has much the same meaning and usage as shālōm (for which
it is employed in the Septuagint; compare Luk_19:42, the Revised Version (British and American)
“If thou hadst known ... the things which belong unto peace”), we have still the expectation of
“peace” through the coming of the Christ (Luk_1:74, Luk_1:79; Luk_12:51) and also its fulfillment
in the higher spiritual sense.

2. In the New Testament:

(1) The gospel in Christ is a message of peace from God to men (Luk_2:14; Act_10:36,
“preaching ... peace by Jesus Christ”). It is “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” in
Rom_5:1; the King James Version Rom_10:15; peace between Jew and Gentile (Eph_2:14,
Eph_2:15); an essential element in the spiritual kingdom of God (Rom_14:17). (2) It is to be
cherished and followed by Christians. Jesus exhorted His disciples, “Have salt in yourselves, and be
at peace one with another” (Mar_9:50); Paul exhorts, “Live in peace: and the God of love and peace
shall be with you” (2Co_13:11; compare Rom_12:18; 1Co_7:15). (3) God is therefore “the God of
peace,” the Author and Giver of all good (“peace” including every blessing) very frequently (e.g.
Rom_15:33; Rom_16:20; 2Th_3:16, etc., “the Lord of peace”). “Peace from God our Father and the
Lord Jesus Christ” is a common apostolic wish or salutation (compare 1Co_1:3; 2Co_1:2, etc.).
(4) We have also “peace” as a greeting (Mat_10:13; Luk_10:5); “a son of peace” (Luk_10:6) is one
worthy of it, in sympathy with it; the Lord's own greeting to His disciples was “Peace be unto you”
(Luk_24:36; Joh_20:19, Joh_20:21, Joh_20:26), and ere He left them He gave them specially His
blessing of “Peace” (Joh_14:27); we have also frequently “Go in peace” (Mar_5:34; Luk_7:50). In
Luk_19:38, we have “peace in heaven” (in the acclamation of Jesus on His Messianic entry of
Jerusalem). (5) The peace that Christ brought is primarily spiritual peace from and with God, peace
in the heart, peace as the disposition or spirit. He said that He did not come “to send peace on the
earth, but a sword,” referring to the searching nature of His call and the divisions and clearances it
would create. But, of course, the spirit of the gospel and of the Christian is one of peace, and it is a
Christian duty to seek to bring war and strife everywhere to an end. This is represented as the
ultimate result of the gospel and Spirit of Christ; universal and permanent peace can come only as
that Spirit rules in men's hearts.
“Peace” in the sense of silence, to hold one's peace, etc., is in the Old Testament generally the
translation of ḥārash, “to be still, or silent” (Gen_24:21; Gen_34:5; Job_11:3); also of ḥāshāh,
“to hush,” “to be silent” (2Ki_2:3, 2Ki_2:5; Psa_39:2), and of other words. In Job_29:10 (“The
nobles held their peace,” the King James Version), it is ḳōl, “voice.”
In the New Testament we have siōpáō, “to be silent,” “to cease speaking” (Mat_20:31;
Mat_26:63; Act_18:9, etc.); sigáō, “to be silent,” “not to speak” (Luk_20:26; Act_12:17);
hēsucházo, “to be quiet” (Luk_14:4; Act_11:18); phimóō, “to muzzle or gag” (Mar_1:25;
Luk_4:35).
In Apocrypha eirēnē is frequent, mostly in the sense of peace from war or strife (Tobit 13:14;
Judith 3:1; Ecclesiasticus 13:18; 1 Macc 5:54; 6:49; 2 Macc 14:6, eustátheia = “tranquillity”).
The Revised Version (British and American) has “peace” for “tongue” (Est_7:4; Job_6:24;
Amo_6:10; Hab_1:13); “at peace with me” for “perfect” (Isa_42:19, margin “made perfect” or
“recompensed”); “security” instead of “peaceably” and “peace” (Dan_8:25; Dan_11:21,
Dan_11:24); “came in peace to the city,” for “came to Shalem, a city” (Gen_33:18); “it was for my
peace” instead of “for peace” (Isa_38:17); “when they are in peace,” for “and that which should
have been for their welfare” (Psa_69:22).