Understanding the Fruit of the Spirit: Peace Explained
By Elizabeth Prata
SYNOPSIS
In this series, I discuss the importance of understanding theological terms for maintaining doctrinal clarity. I explore the biblical concept of peace as a fruit of the Spirit. True peace signifies reconciliation with God foremost, and reflects love in interpersonal relationships as an outworking of our lack of enmity with God. Peace is essential for a spiritual community’s harmony and for a witness in effective evangelism.
Is my effort to maintain a theological literacy, something I believe is critical, I use in my essays and I post explanations about theological words. We have to know what we believe, why, and know the words to express it. Words like Justification, Immanence, and Perspicuity are all important words to know and understand. Last week I wrote an essay about about perspicuity, which means clarity of scripture.
Similarly, when we discuss seemingly simpler words representing the fruit of the Spirit, such as love, peace, and joy, we think we know what they mean, because everybody knows what peace means, right? Yes and no. Often times these cultural words have a totally different flavor when used from a biblical context. It is true of the words pertaining to the Fruit of the Spirit. Even these ‘simpler’ biblical words like ‘peace’ can be misunderstood.
Let’s start with looking at Peace, since the world and its inhabitants seem to be anything but peaceful today.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)
What does ‘peace’ mean? I hear people saying in their decision-making, “I have a peace about it.” Is Galatians talking about that kind of peace? Or, is it the peace that comes after a war when a truce was struck? Or an interpersonal struggle with someone?
The Greek word as it’s used in the verse is (probably, they say) is from eiro. It means in this verse, a harmony and an accord.
When we are unsaved, we are at war with God. Once we are saved and the Spirit is sent to indwell us, we are no longer at enmity against the Lord. (Ephesians 2:16). We have peace with Him since we are no longer rebelling against Him. We have relational peace between our soul and God. Strong’s defines this partly as:
According to a conception distinctly peculiar to Christianity, “the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoerer sort that is”: Romans 8:6; namely, is used of those who, assured of salvation, tranquilly await the return of Christ and the transformation of all things which will accompany that event,
John Gill Comments on the Gal 5:22 verse explaining the two kinds of peace; peace with God and peace with each other,
the consequence of peace being made by the blood of Christ; and that through the application of the blood of Christ for pardon, and of his righteousness for justification to the soul of a sensible sinner by the blessed Spirit, the effect of which is peace, quietness, and tranquillity of mind;
also peace with men, with the saints, and with all others; for such who are under a work of the Spirit of God, and are influenced and led by him, seek after the things which make for peace and edification among the brethren, and are desirous if possible to live peaceably with all men: hence appears another grace in them,
We cannot have peace with one another if we are feeling less than loving. When William Ward was about to join Joshua Marshman and William Carey in Serampore, India in the early days of the mission, Ward knew of the stresses and difficulties of communal living. Lacking peace in the relationships would present a poor example and a stumbling block to the people they wanted to evangelize. Lacking interrelational peace could even doom the mission. Ward wrote-
I tremble, almost before we begin to live together. So much depends on a man’s disinterestedness, forbearance, meekness and self-denial. One man of the wrong temper could make our house a hell. Much wisdom will be necessary. It is but here and there that one makes conscience of strangling thoughts, and of esteeming others better than himself. Only few are fit to live in such a settlement as ours is to be, where selfish passions must be crushed, and the love of Christ swallow up all else.
Carey himself knew that peace in relationships was of utmost importance. He resolved never to be the cause of any disharmony. He vowed to himself to adopt a meekness of spirit toward his housemates and to all men so as to have peaceful living.
The fruit of the Spirit is all one fruit. It isn’t that we work on peace one week and then patience the next… The first fruit mentioned is love. ALL other fruit stem from this one fruit. If we are loving we will be patient, we will be joyful, we will be gentle, we will employ self-control, and so on. Jesus was at peace relationally with Judas the Betrayer and demonstrated that peace through His loving act of giving the morsel.
Peace with one another is to be sought because we love.
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Here is a wonderful 45 minute sermon by Harry Walls at Grace Community Church about the kind of love Jesus expects from us.
Connecting with Quality Love by Harry Walls
Here is an article about Peace from Compelling Truth:
In What Way is Peace a Fruit of the Spirit?
Ligonier explains the fruit of the Spirit in this essay by Jonathan Cruse-
What is the Fruit of the Spirit?
