Editorial: The Peacemakers
In
the year 63BC the Roman armies under Pompey captured Jerusalem
making it part of the Roman Empire.
In those turbulent times many Jews were taken to Rome
as slaves and thus it was that when Paul was writing his epistle to the Romans
about eighty years later, there was a large Jewish community living in Rome
and the ecclesia, too, seems to have had many Jewish brethren as well as
gentile Roman brethren. Human nature being what it is there was trouble between
the two groups. It is not difficult to imagine the situation; the Jewish
brethren were descendants of Abraham, the scriptures had been revealed to them,
Jesus himself was of the tribe of Judah
and Jews traditionally looked down on gentiles as “dogs”. The Roman brethren
would deeply resent this attitude, they would remember that they were the
master race of the day and that the Jews in their midst were descendants of
slaves. So there was strife in the ecclesia.
One of Paul’s objectives in writing to
the Romans, therefore, was to try to bring peace, love and harmony to a divided
ecclesia. He was to be Paul the Peacemaker.
Paul set about his task very cleverly;
he identified himself with both factions of the ecclesia. To the Jewish
brethren he wrote, “... I speak to them
that know the law…” (7:1); and he writes of “... my kinsmen according to the flesh…” (9:3) though he goes on to
remind them that many descendants of Abraham will not inherit the promises
because of lack of faith. His prayer for Israel
was that they might be saved (10:1). So, Paul clearly identified himself with
the Jewish members of the church in Rome.
But he also identified himself with the gentile members, “I speak to you gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle to the
gentiles…” (11:13), but just as he
had warned the Jews that being descendants of Abraham did not guarantee
redemption, so also he warned the gentiles not to boast of their position, that
justification was by faith and that just as God had broken off some Jewish
“branches” of the tree, so equally He might break off “branches” that had been
grafted in, if faith was lacking. Paul’s argument reaches its climax in chapter
10 where in verse 11 he quotes the Jews’ own scriptures, “Whosoever believeth on him ...”. The word
“whosoever” is all-embracing; there is no restriction. So, the Jewish prophet,
Isaiah, had anticipated the gospel being available to all, irrespective of
race. Paul then quotes from another Jewish prophet, Joel, “... whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord ...” (verse 13),
reinforcing exactly the same point. Sandwiched between those two quotes is
Paul’s main thrust, “For there is no
difference between the Jew and the Greek for the same Lord over all is rich
unto all that call upon him” One can almost hear Paul muttering under his
breath, “So let that be the end of all this nonsense.”
There are many other passages of
scripture which emphazise the point that, like Paul, we should all try to be
peacemakers. Here are a few:
• “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the
children of God” (Matt.5:9). Notice the word
peacemakers. Peace has to be made;
it has to be worked for. Peace is not achieved by merely “keeping one’s head
down”; by doing nothing. We must try to make peace; to create peace.
• “Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it” (Psalm
34:14). Again the same point is here, that peace must be sought; peace will not
just “happen” in a vacuum and that “doing good” is a
practical way to help make peace among brethren.
• “Let us follow after the things which make for peace and things wherewith one may edify another” (Romans
14:19).
Those who try to edify their brothers and sisters will be helping to make peace
within the ecclesia, for we cannot be expounding scripture faithfully, bringing
out heart-warming lessons, and at the same time be fostering strife; no
fountain yields fresh water and brackish water at the same time. Here is the
positive aspect of the matter – we can help generate peace by making sure that
our speech is always wholesome, uplifting and heart-warming; no time will
remain for evil speaking which generates and perpetuates strife.
• “The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make
peace” (James 3:18). The picture here is of
a farmer sowing seeds. Each seed contains the germ of a new plant – but what
type of plants will come from the seeds we sow? Our lives should be full of
good works, not just for those we like, but for all, and our speech should be
wholesome with poisonous words eschewed. We seek a good harvest to fill the granaries
– not tares.
• “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance...” (Galatians
5:22). Once again the picture is of a harvest. Good wholesome seeds have been
sown and now the harvest is being gathered in.
But there is also the other side of
the coin:
• “These six things doth the Lord hate ... he that soweth discord among brethren” (Proverbs
6:16-19).
The seeds being sown here are of a different variety; they are poisonous seeds
yielding a harvest of strife, pain, bitterness, anger, resentment and division
– the fruit of unbridled human nature.That bit of malicious gossip which a
child of God would hide is instead whispered of to another; the helpful deed is
deliberately withheld; discussion of Bible themes is supplanted by angry words
or a discussion of the weaknesses and sins of another – one for whom Christ
died.
There
was strife among the disciples of Jesus on more than one occasion – even in the
Upper Room when our Lord was so near to terrible suffering (Luke 22:24 30). The
contention was about status – which of us is the most important. The disciples
were expecting Jesus to proclaim himself King and the only question which
remained was their relative positions! Of course we can smile at the naivety of
the disciples and imagine that we would never quarrel over such a matter. But
wouldn’t we? Do not people become upset if another is asked to do a particular
task or if a suggestion made by another is accepted while our own suggestion is
rejected? The spirit that lies behind these situations is this, “Which of us is
the greatest?” Jesus rebuked his disciples in the Upper Room pointing out that
he, their Lord and Master, had washed their feet, doing the task of a menial
slave and that they, too, should be willing to serve rather than insist on
rank. He added this, “I appoint unto you
a kingdom...”. In the kingdom over which Jesus
will rule, the most important people will be those most willing to serve. If we
aspire to be citizens of the Kingdom
of God
we should be showing that spirit now.
In 1
Samuel 25 there is the account of how Abigail turned David away from violence
and revenge. Her skill is noteworthy; she made no attempt to justify her
husband’s conduct, merely saying, “Upon me let this iniquity be.” She then went
on seeking to pacify David while his anger abated and when the time was ripe
she made her two main points (1) You would later regret shedding blood, and (2)
Vengeance should be left in the hands of God. But now note the humble spirit
that David revealed; before his four hundred followers he acknowledged the
wisdom of Abigail’s words and turned away from his avowed course. Truly David
is revealed here as a big man, as a man big enough to be humble.
We
remember too the spirit of Abraham when it became necessary for him to separate
himself from his nephew Lot
(Genesis 13:8). Abraham was the older man and therefore should have had first
choice; but Abraham waived that right and allowed Lot
to take his choice. Note, however, the words of Abraham to his nephew, “Let there be no strife, I pray thee,
between me and thee ... for we be brethren” (Genesis 13:8). Whenever difficulties
arise between brothers and sisters in the ecclesia, those words of Abraham
should be the end of all strife.
But the greatest peacemaker of all time was Jesus himself; he has
brought reconciliation between ourselves and our
Maker. Paul spells it out for us:
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ.”
Bro David Budden.
