T[ Peace is the special legacy bequeathed by Jesus to His disciples (John xiv. 27, xvi. 33) ; it is also the word used, with deep significance, after miracles of healing, attended with forgive-
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ness (Mark v. 34; Luke vii. 50). Boswell notes a remark of Johnson's upon this word. " He repeated to Mr. Langton with great energy, in the Greek, our Saviour's gracious expression concerning the forgiveness of Mary Magdalene : ' Thy faith hath saved thee ; go in peace ' (Luke vii. 50). He said, ' The manner of this dismission is exceedingly affecting'" (Life of Johnson, chap, iv., under the date 1780). For other illustrations of this supreme and unique phase of the Christian life, we may turn to the hymns of Cowper, especially those stanzas commencing " Some- times a light surprises," " So shall my walk be close with God," "Fierce passions discompose the mind," "There if Thy spirit touch the soul " ; or to some of the descriptions in the Pilgrim's Progress.1
5. What does peace with God cover and include ?
(1) It is peace with God's retributive righteousness. God governs the world, and the laws He has issued for obedience are holy, just, and good, and in keeping of them there is great reward. Seriously handicapped as man is by hereditary weakness and evil bias, he still can obey the law of faith, and through it the law of love. Disobedience ought, therefore, to be followed by punishment. Indeed, not to follow disobedience by punishment would be for God to confess His law defective or too severe, or else He Himself unable to punish. But God is able to punish. He can dash in pieces like a potter's vessel the kings of the earth ; none can stay His hand. The wrath of God, therefore, is revealed from heaven against ungodliness and unrighteousness. How, then, can trans- gressors be at peace with this retributive righteousness of God ? Only by being justified through our Lord Jesus Christ.
(2) And, secondly, we have peace with God's revealed truth ; that is, that God is the Heavenly Father, that Jesus is His Christ and Son, who died for sin, and rose again from the dead. We are not only not opposed to or in doubt in respect of it, we are strongly assured of its eternal truth. Believing in God's grace, we experience its power; we know the power of Christ's death and resurrection. In the peace and moral power within us we have the inward witness to the truth ; our faith has become the evidence of the thing not seen, the substance of the thing hoped for.
(3) But being justified by faith, let us also have peace with God's holy commandment. The whole question of keeping God's
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commandment is simply a question of disposition, as the whole question of justification is simply a question of position with God. Love is simply good disposition, and love is the fulfilling of the law. A disposition right and good towards God and man con- strains to the fulfilment of God's purpose and precept. Being justified by faith, we receive this disposition. In justification God takes up the position towards us, not of an exacting Lawgiver, but of a gracious Father, offering us salvation through Christ. Believing in this position of God towards us we see the pure, infinite love of God, and, in receiving peace, we feel the greatness of the love which gives us such rich peace, enabling us to fulfil and to enjoy life.
(4) And then, being justified by faith, let us have peace with God's disciplinary providence through our Lord Jesus Christ ; for our justification is overwhelming proof that God is not against us. If God had forgotten us He would never have sent His Christ on our behalf. If God were indifferent to our welfare He would not have given up that Christ to death. If God were not solemnly and profoundly in earnest to do us good He would not at so great a cost to Himself have come to us offering freely acquittal and acceptance. It cannot be that God, having done so much for us, is against us in these minor matters ! No ; His will is good to us, His heart is love to us, though our life bleeds and staggers beneath the burdens and the wounds.
Then, welcome each rebuff
That turns earth's smoothness rough, Each sting that bids nor sit nor stand but go!
Be our joys three-parts pain!
Strive, and hold cheap the strain; Learn, nor account the pang; dare, never grudge the throe.1
III.
Through Christ.
" Through our Lord Jesus Christ ; through whom also we have had our access by faith into this grace wherein we stand."
1. Our Lord Jesus Christ. Do we ask, What part does Christ play in all this ? According to St. Paul, it is all through Jesus
1 K. Browning.
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Christ our Lord. He is the one object of faith, and it is the acceptance of His work on our behalf which justifies us before God. And the Christian man so justified is spoken of as being in Christ, and as therefore being no longer under condemnation. The life in Christ is a life of faith and freedom, and is the direct and immediate consequence of our justification. Faith in Christ is more than mere belief about Him; it is a vital and spiritual union with Him by which we share His righteousness, and appropriate His work on our behalf. And herein we find the real, as in the process of justification we find the formal, content of our salvation. These two are not identical, but both different sides or aspects of the same process. We are justified, not through any works or merit of ours — past, present, or future — but through Christ, and in virtue of our relationship with Him by faith. Or, as the matter is sometimes stated, our faith causes God to see us, not as we are, but as we are in Christ.