“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT)

The world thinks peace is about an absence of noise or of war. The Biblical concept goes much much deeper.

In the New Testament the Greek word eirene means peace, concord, unity. In the Old Testament the word shalom carries both the sense of harmony and every kind of blessing from God. Rather than the meaning of “getting away from it all” that we might think of as peace, the Bible has the sense of “getting on together.” We might not always agree with our neighbour or approve of what they do, but we can be at peace with them.

We can think of four areas that relate to peace.

1. Peace with God. Our sin separates us from God, and in a sense makes us into His enemies. Jesus has paid the price for every sin and in doing so, He brings us peace with God. In Romans 5:1 we read, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jesus has justified us (i.e. made us righteous) and so there is no enmity between God and those who put their trust in Christ.

The great war is over and we are united in peace with our heavenly Father.

2. Peace with ourselves. We were created for friendship with God. People work best when we follow the laws to love God and love our neighbour. Sin puts a huge tear in our spiritual well-being because it separates us from God and makes it impossible to love our neighbours. We have one part of us wanting to walk in God’s paths, and another part that directs us to live for our own self-interest.

When we are united with God and consciously want to do things His way, then the great tear in the fabric of our nature starts to be healed. Of course, we are still subject to temptations to go our own way, but our will is brought into submission to God, and the fight is less intense (mostly).

3. Peace with others. Until we see other people as valuable and loved by God, pride makes it impossible to live in peace with others. If I come from a viewpoint that I am the most important person in the world, and you do likewise, then there is no place for harmony between us. It is like the guitarists in a band playing their own songs at the same time. Each is competing for attention, but neither is playing in harmony with the other.

My significance comes from being loved by God. I don’t have to prove anything to any person, and so I do not have to compete with anyone for significance or approval. It is possible in this stance to live in peace with other people.

4. Peace with creation. When Adam and Eve sinned, it did not just affect them. The whole of creation was thrown into chaos. Part of that chaos manifests as a kind of war with nature. People try to gain as much short term gain from nature as possible without thinking through long term consequences. We suffer from the effects of drought, flood, bush fires, earthquakes and pandemics.

Humans were designed to cultivate the earth and to continue in God’s creative actions on the earth. But how can we do that when we are afflicted with so many problems in just staying alive? Being united with God means that we have access to God’s wisdom to find solutions for many problems, and also to live in harmony with creation. In 2 Chronicles 7:14 God promises, “ if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

Peace, God’s peace, transforms every relationship, including our relationship with the earth.