160
PEACE
PENTECOST
orjranic co-operation (Ro 14", 1 Co 7" 14'', Gal 5", Epli 4' [' the jinitj- of the Spirit in the bond of peace'], He 12'S Ja 3'», 1 P 3", 2 P 3'*). In regard to Eph 2'*"''' there is a difference of opinion among excgetes as to whether the reference of the
Eeace embodied in Christ is to Jewish and Gentile elievers mutuiilly considered, or fundamentally to God, so as to include only as a comllary peace between the two component parts of the body of the Church. E. Haupt (Die Gefangenschnflsbriefe', in Meyer's Kommcntar iil/er das NT, 1897, pp. 78-99) has advocated tlie former view, but the other interpretation seems more in keeping with the trend of tlie passage and the expressions used. By being reconciled to God, each for their own part. Gentiles and Jews have now become recon- ciled together. In vv."" peace denotes the fellowship between Jews and Gentiles, but in v." (Is 57'*) the peace proclaimed by the gospel is the peace with God, and the same idea is implied in v.K
The other branch of the NT idea of religious peace ramifies from the main OT stem. It denotes the spiritualized, Christian form of ' prosperity,' 'security,' 'soundness,' 'salvation,' associated with the word from its very earliest use. No doubt this was coloured, to the mind of St. Paul at least, by the consciousness of the peace of reconciliation existing with God, but its content is too rich and too positive to be exliausted by it. In this sense we find the word in the salutations at the beginning or close of the Epistles, usually associated with xiip" (Ro 1'. 1 Co V, 2 Co V 13", Gal P 6'«, Eph 1- 6-^ [' peace and love with faith '], Ph V, Col 1-, 1 Th 1', 2 Th 1- 3'«, 1 Ti P, 2 Ti V, Tit 1*, Pbilem', 1 P 1= 5", 2 P 1', 2 Jn^, 3 Jn ", Rev l'). This goes back in the last analysis to the use of the word in ordinary social salutation, which in the OT already refers not exclusively to friendly intercourse, but also to positive well-being, including health and general security. In a pro- found spiritualization of this conception the formula had already been addressed by Christ to the dis- ciples after tlie Resurrection (Lk 24*^, Jn 20'»- "• '^ ; cf. also Mt 10", Lk 2'^^ 7™ 8*« 10=- «, Ac 15^ 16^, 1 Co 16"). The rich, positive content becomes apparent in such passages as the following : Lk 1'^ (opposite ' darkness ' and ' shadow of death ') a" ( = thecomplete Messianic salvation, because 'peace on earth ' is parallel to ' glory in the highest,' which has Messianic significance, and because the men who receive the peace are characterized as objects of the Divine eiSoKta ; cf. also 19^), Jn 14-' IQ^', Ac 9" lO*" ( = the object of the gospel-pro- clamation), Ro 2" (associated with 5(5|a and ri/ii) as the escliatological reward for working good) 14" IS"-** 162" (the result of the conquest of Satan), Gal 6'° ('mercy and peace'), Eph 2" (content of the gospel-message) 6" ('the gospel of peace'), Ph 4', Col 3'°, 1 Th 5' (the opposite of escliatologi- cal peril = dcri/iaXela), He 7^ (Christ, like Melchizedek, King of Peace) 12" (the fruit of righteousness consisting in peace ; cf. Is 32" and Ja 3'*). The general soteriological reference is also favoured by the fact that God is called 'the God of peace' (Ro IS'' 16=°, 1 Co 143=, 2 Co 13", Ph 4^, He 13=»), as conversely the peace is also called ' the peace of God ' (Ph 4'). In the light of this wider, positive conception it becomes probable that the elpTjvoTroiol of Mt 5° are not merely promoters of peace in the sense of reconcilers between man and man, but those who actively procure and produce peace ( = salvation) for others.
It will be noticed that the prophetic picture of political peace among the nations is not repro- duced in the NT. No doubt this is largely due to the elevation of its eschatology to a higher, tran- scendental plane. Pre-Christian Judaism, while
making considerable use of the idea of peace, remains at bottom particularistic, whilst Christi- anity i.s thoroughly universalistic, although the programme of political peace is not explicitly enunciated in its writings.
The NT conception of peace ofTers no real point of contact with the Stoic dirideia and the Epicurean arapa^la (cf. 1 Co 7'°, Ph 4', Col 3'- ">). It is not psychologically conceived as in these systems, but soteriologically. The peace of the NT is not in- dependence of outside conditions in the citadel of man's subjectivity, but the fruit of an objective real salvation with God.
LiTERATDRE. — Cremer-Kogel, Bibl.-theol. WOrteTbueh der neutest. GrdzitaOO, 191-2 £f., pp. 414-41S; W. Caspari, ' Vorstel- liing und Wort "Friede" im AT' in licitntge zur Forderung christlicher Theotogie, xiv. 4 [1910] ; A. Titiiis, Die neutest. Lehre von der Seligkeit, pt. ii. : 'Der Paulinismus," IttOn, pp. 90, 91 ; J. H. Thom, Laws of Life after the itind of Christy 2nd ser., 1901, pp. 9, 1B9, 1T2 ; R. C. Moberly, Christ our Life, 1002, p. 1 ; R. W. Church, The Message of Peace, ISIW, p. 7 ; C. G. Montefiore, Truth in Religion, 1900, p. 147 ; W. M. Mac- gfregor, Jesus Christ the Hon of God, 1907, pp. 77, lfl5 ; H. W. Clark, Meanings and Methods o/ the Spiritual Lifc'^, 1908,