One Small Voice

B. Two Kinds of Biblical Peace for Humans: these are covenantal peace (think peace treaty) and subjective peace (think peace of mind)

1. Covenantal Peace–(legal peace, our standing with God, our position with God).

a. In Christ the paradox between God’s eternal, untouchable, unchanging peace and his being able to have fellow-feelings (emotions) with humans is resolved (see above.)

b. In Christ we not only have peace; he is our peace.

i. Jesus is the logos of God, the full expression and outward manifestation of the Triune Deity.

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, (Colossians 2:9)

ii. As God incarnate, God in a human body, Christ is the intermediary between God eternal and man.

iii. Along with the attribute of peace, God also has attributes of perfect holiness and justice.

a) Humankind’s sinful nature and acts of sin (anything that contradicts the Ten Commandments) are incompatible with God’s nature.

b) Sin cannot live in God’s presence, and indeed, must be cast out. Such casting out is punishment, because God is light and in him is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)

Whoever is cast out from the presence of God abides in eternal darkness.

iv. Christ voluntarily died on the cross to save us from sin, from the inevitability of sin, and from the consequences of sin. (2 Corinthians 5:21) (Romans 5:8)

v. Apart from Christ, there is only enmity and wrath between us and God. (As concerns we humans, NOT everything we do is okay with the God who is peace–a paradox? If so, it lies with us, not within God.) (Isaiah 57:21) (Romans 5:9-10) (John 3:36)

vi. Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection into life fulfills the terms of the everlasting covenant between himself and God the Father.

a) Those who are in Christ (those who believe in him) are beneficiaries with Christ of his eternal reward, according to the terms of the everlasting covenant between Christ and God the Father.

b) This is LEGAL peace. (Hallelujia!!)

c) Scripture

1) Hebrews 13:20–the eternal covenant,

2) Titus 1:2 (verses 1-3 for context),

3) Mathew 26:28 (Christ’s blood of the covenant),

4) 1 Corinthians 11:25 (the blood of the covenant)

c. Why did God make an everlasting covenant with Christ that includes Christ’s people, “whomsoever wills” (everyone who wants to be included–see Harry Potter’s Sorting Hat)?

i. The only reason lies in God himself–it is his nature to be kind, loving, generous, spectacular, merciful, and good.

ii. God’s grace is displayed in his opening the means of peace–the doorway to peace–through Christ’s blood of the cross. This blood through the Holy Spirit regenerated our spirits, the part of us that died when our first parents rebelled against God.

iii. God’s grace is displayed by means of the Holy Spirit, who prepares our hearts to receive God’s gracious gift of reconciliation (making up after a H-U-G-E fight) in Christ.

iv. Without God’s grace, his own freewill gift to us, we would still be his enemies by our own choosing.

Before the sinner can be reconciled to God and enter into participation of the peace which Christ has made with Him, he must cease his rebellion, throw down the weapons of his warfare, and yield to God’s rightful authority. But, in order to do that, a miracle of grace must be wrought in the sinner by the Holy Spirit. As the Father ordained peace, as the incarnate Son made peace, so the Holy Spirit brings us into the same. He convicts us of our awful sins and makes us willing to forsake them. He communicates faith to the heart whereby we savingly believe in Christ. Then “being justified by faith, we have peace with God” (Romans 5:1) objectively. (Pink, 34)

2. Subjective peace

a. What is it? Subjective peace is how we feel inside when we are at rest with ourselves and with God–happy, secure, safe, joyful.

b. How do we get it? One result of covenantal peace, the legal peace described above, is the feeling of peace we receive.

c. Subjective peace is the feeling of contentment and well-being we have when we know that God is pleased with us and we know that we are in his company, his presence, in “fellowship” with him, in communication with him.

3. How do we maintain this feeling of subjective peace?

a. Obedience to God and his way (his precepts, principles, commandments)

i. Since humanity lost objective (external, formal, legal) peace with God as a result of their fall into rebellion (sin) when they chose to disobey God and believe Satan’s word above that of God, it makes sense that we would lose our subjective peace whenever we disobey God’s precepts, thinking and acting in ways not in agreement with his nature and sovereignty (sin).

ii. Therefore, obedience to God and his precepts is the best way to maintain subjective peace with God. Those who believe in Christ never lose their objective (covenantal) peace with God.

b. Forgiveness

i. When we sin, we need to confess our sin quickly and receive God’s forgiveness and restoration (see scripture below).

ii. When we fail to forgive another and harbor a grudge or bitterness, or when we nurse our wounds and live out from the broken places in our lives, we forfeit peace with God, ourselves, and others. Our physical health also suffers.

a) not forgiving others brings our spiritual growth to a standstill (Parable of the Unmerciful Servant)

b) forgiving others frees us up to move on in Christ and to experience joy and peace unspeakable

c. How do we restore subjective peace once lost?

i. Turning quickly to God in repentance to confess and receive forgiveness of our sins. “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1John 1:8-9)

ii. Keeping at prayer asking God by his grace to help us forgive so-and-so for such-and-such until that prayer is fully, 100% answered, which, if we fight on courageously, it will be!

iii. Spending time with God in Scripture, prayer, worship, and fellowship with other believers results in subjective peace with God.

“Now the God of peace be with you all” implies that the saints must conduct themselves in harmony, that amity and concord must prevail among them, so that there be no grievous failure on their part that would offend God and cause Him to withdraw His manifested presence from them. “Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you” (Philippians 4:9). Individuals as well as a corporate company of believers must be in subjection to the divine authority and maintain scriptural discipline if they would enjoy the peace of God (see 2 Corinthians 13:11). Charles Hodge well said, ‘It is vain for us to pray for the presence of the God of love and peace unless we strive to free our hearts from all evil passions.’” (Pink, Gleanings from Paul, 34) (Bibliography).

Colossians 1:2 To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our Father.

Outline

I. God’s Holy People: What does holiness mean in this verse? (See separate post on “Holiness”)

II. Grace

A. Popcorn: What is grace? What words or short phrases come to mind when you think about God’s grace?

1. God’s undeserved goodness

2.a wonderful, saving surprise against the flow

3. GRACE = God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense

4. Mercy when least expected

5. The giving of “slack”

6. Hospitable

7. Tender

8. Loving

9. Forgiven

10. Debts forgiven

III. Peace

A. What Is God’s Peace?

1. God is himself the “Fountain of peace.” (Pink, 30)

a. Peace is an attribute of God. Peace describes his nature.

b. God is impassible–he himself is never perturbed and he does not suffer.

c. God is immutable–he does not change.

d. Scripture

i. with God there are no surprises (Acts 15:18 (NKJ))

ii. with God there are no disappointments (Romans 11:36)

iii. with God there are no disturbances (James 1:17)

iv. with God there is no change (James 1:17)

2. How does this attribute of God and these verses reassure us?

a. Our salvation is not based on us nor upon our behavior but upon God’s own eternal decision within himself.

b. We can’t surprise God, nor disappoint him, nor cause him to change his mind about us. Once adopted into his family–always in his family, always loved.

c. Are we then robots, completely controlled by another? No. Modern example of “predestination” (think Calvinism) coexisting with “free choice” (think Arminianism): Harry Potter and the Sorting Hat. Although the hat made the ultimate decision, it never went entirely against the wishes of the student, but took his or her desires into strong consideration. (Decision of the Hat)

3. Is God then completely mechanical, cold, and unmoving towards us? No. Church Father Cyril of Alexandria always spoke of “qualified impassibility,” or, “God suffered without suffering.” The Council of Chalcedon (Council of Chalcedon 451) adopted his thought concerning the two natures of Christ in one person, one nature divine and one human, united yet distinguishable, which remained the norm in the Christian church for one thousand years. From Scripture, we see that both Yahweh of the Old Testament and Christ in the New suffered and experienced emotion. Yet, paradoxically, God in himself, God eternal and sovereign, remains always unperturbed, always at peace as the fountain of peace.

Think of planet Earth as viewed from space. How does it appear? Completely smooth, having a level and even surface. From earth, however, steeply elevated mountains and precipitous canyons abound. Earth is also home to severe earthquakes and tremendously destructive storms. Likewise, the eternal God, in and of himself, never changes and is always at peace, at rest, within himself. Yet in his interactions with us, when he relates to us at our own level, he often responds to our storms with storms of his own. (Psalm 18) (“Our Great God” by Fernando Ortega)

God in grace, mercy, and love accommodates our frailties and finiteness by using a translator to interpret and express himself to us. This translator is divine, God himself. He is Christ, the Word, the logos, the expression and outward manifestation of God. Christ became flesh and lived among us.

As noted above, God expresses and manifests himself as Yahweh, I Am That I Am, in the Old Testament, and as Christ in the New Testament. God-in-relation-to-human-beings suffers with us and responds to our repentance, prayers, and petitions. Nevertheless, in his eternality, He is always at peace. He is like a father who can fully comprehend, sympathize with, and have compassion for the suffering of his little child, without he himself in his being ever becoming “shaken to his core,” nor disturbed in any way.

The Good News of Jesus Christ, the Gospel message, is that God did indeed “come down” to us.

God in his infinite holiness, unchangeableness, and purity of peace did come down, all the way down, to Planet Earth in order to participate fully in the humanity of people, except for their sin.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. (Hebrews 4:15)

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. (Galatians 4:4-5)

Next Week: Two Kinds of biblical peace for humans–1) covenantal peace (think peace treaty) and subjective peace (think peace of mind)