"Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, From God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ In incorruption" (vv. 23, 24).
Grace and Peace were the first words of the epistle,--the apostle's salutation to all his Churches. In _Peace and Grace_ he breathes out his final blessing. The benediction is fuller than in most of the epistles, and exhibits several peculiar features.
To the Thessalonians (2 Ep. iii. 16) St Paul wished: "Peace continually, in all ways, from the Lord of peace Himself"; and he commends the Romans twice to "the God of peace" (ch. xv. 33, xvi. 20): the Corinthians he bids to "live in peace," so that "the God of love and peace" may be with them (2 Cor. xiii. 11). There is nothing in the least degree strange or un-Pauline in the wishes here expressed, except the fact that they are put in the third person--"_Peace to the brethren_," etc.--instead of being addressed directly to the readers in the second person, as in all other of the apostle's extant closing benedictions. This peculiarity, as we observed in the first Chapter, is in accordance with the encyclical and impersonal stamp of the epistle.[184] It is Paul's most catholic benediction, his blessing upon "all the Israel of God" (comp. Gal. vi. 16).
"With faith," that "love" is desired whereby, according to the Pauline ethics of salvation, faith works (Gal. v. 6), the love which as a vitalizing organic force creates the new man, formed in all his doings and dispositions after the image of Jesus Christ. From chapter iv. 1-3 we have learnt how "peace" and "love" attend each other. Love is the source of the forbearance, the mutual consideration and self-sacrifice, without which there is no peace within the Church. Peace springs from love: love waits on faith. Amongst brethren in Christ, members of the same household of faith, peace and love have their home. These are the sons of peace: with good will and good hope, entering or quitting their abode, we say, "Peace be to this house!"
The peace that the apostle looks for amongst Christian brethren is the fruit of peace with God through Christ. Such "peace guarding the thoughts and heart" of each Christian man, nothing contrary thereto will arise amongst them. Calm and quiet hearts make a peaceful Church. There are no clashing interests, no selfish competitions, no strife as to who shall be greatest. Differences of opinion and taste are kept within the bounds of mutual submission. The awe of God's presence with His people, the remembrance of the dear price at which His Church was purchased, the sense of Christ's Lordship in the Spirit and of the sacredness of our brotherhood in Him, check all turbulence and rivalry and teach us to seek the things that make for peace.
"Peace _and love_," the apostle desires. Love includes peace, and more; for it labours not to prevent contention only, but to help and enrich in all ways the body of Christ. By such "toil of love" faith is made complete. We are bidden indeed, in certain matters, to "have faith to ourselves before God" (Rom. xiv. 22). This maxim holds where one has a special faith in regard to such things as eating flesh or drinking wine, in which any one of us may without offence differ from his brethren. But it is a poor faith that dwells upon questions of this nature, and makes its religion of them. The essentials of faith, as we saw them delineated in chapter iv. 1-6, are things that unite and not distinguish us.
As faith grows and deepens, it makes new channels in which love may flow. "We are bound to thank God always for you," writes St Paul to the Thessalonians (2 Ep. i. 3), "for that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the love of each one of you all toward one another multiplieth." This is the sound and true growth of faith. Where an intenser faith makes men disputatious and exclusive; where it fails to breed meekness and courtesy, we cannot but suspect its quality. Such faith may be sincere; but it is mixed with a lamentable ignorance, and a resistance to the Holy Spirit that is likely to end in grave offence. "Contending earnestly for the faith" does not mean contending angrily, with the weapons of satire and censoriousness. It is well to remember that we are not the judges of our brethren. There are many questions raised and discussed amongst us, which we may safely leave to the judgement of the last day. It is too easy to fill the air with matters of contention, and to excite a sore and suspicious temper destructive of peace, and in which nothing but fault-finding will flourish. If we must contend, we may surely debate quietly on secondary matters, while we are one in Christ. If we have not _love with faith_, our faith is worthless (1 Cor. xiii. 2).