Peace With God And With Others
For he himself [Jesus Christ] is our peace, who has made the two groups [Jews and Gentiles] one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility.
Ephesians 2:14
Class struggle, generation gap, racial tension—none of these problems is unique to our century.
Advertisement
Consider the Jews and Gentiles of Paul’s day. Their prejudice ran so deep that it was not uncommon for a Jew to pray, “I thank you, God, that you have not seen fit to make me a Gentile.”
Yet healed relationships can result when both sides see their need for the same Savior. Only Jesus Christ can bring peace that overcomes prejudice, as Albert Barnes relates.
WALK WITH ALBERT BARNES
“Formerly Jews and Gentiles were alienated and separate. The Jews regarded the Gentiles with hatred; the Gentiles regarded the Jews with scorn.
“Now, says the apostle, they are at peace. They worship the same God. They have the same Savior.
“They depend upon the same atonement. Reconciliation has not only taken place with God, but with each other.
“The best way to produce peace between alienated minds is to bring them to the same Savior. The love of Christ is so absorbing, and the dependence on his blood so entire, they will lay aside these alienations and cease their contentions.
“The work of the atonement is thus designed not only to produce peace with God, but peace between alienated and belligerent minds.”
WALK CLOSER TO GOD
In the last 3,500 years of recorded history, less than 300 have been warless. In that same period of time, more than 8,000 treaties have been made—and broken.
Why? Because parties alienated from God cannot help but be alienated from one another.
Christ came to provide peace with God (see Romans 5:1) and peace with others (see Ephesians 2:14)—permanently.
Where else but in Jesus Christ could that kind of peace be found?
