SPECIAL TOPIC: PEACE (NT)
This Greek term originally meant “binding together that which was broken”
(cf. John 14:27; 16:33; Phil. 4:7). There are three ways the NT speaks of peace:
1. as objective aspect of our peace with God through Christ (cf. Col.
1:20)
2. as subjective aspect of our being right with God (cf. John 14:27;
16:33; Phil. 4:7)
3. that God has united into one new body through Christ, both
believing Jew and Gentile (cf. Eph. 2:14-17; Col. 3:15).
Newman and Nida, A Translator’s Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans,
p. 92, has a good comment about “peace.”
“Both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament the term peace has a wide
range of meaning. Basically it describes the total well-being of a person’s
life; it was even adopted among the Jews as a formula of greeting. This term had
such a profound meaning that it could also be used by the Jews as a description
of the Messianic salvation. Because of this fact, there are times when it is
used almost synonymously with the term rendered ‘to be in a right relation with
God.’ Here the term appears to be used as a description of the harmonious
relation established between man and God on the basis of God’s having put man
right with himself” (p. 92).
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