#2. The enmity that necessitates peace.


Wherever there is found the necessity for peace, there must also be some phase of enmity. We have learned something of the basic meaning of “peace” by examining the Hebrew word shalom. Let us now add to our understanding and appreciation of this wonderful legacy, by considering some of the references to enmity that are to be found in Scripture.

The Hebrew word for “enemy” is oyeb, which becomes ebah, “enmity”, and gives the name Job, “hated”. The story of Job is the story of peace triumphing over enmity, a peace that “restores” and “makes amends” as the sequel so plainly shows. The Greek words for “enemy”, echthros, and “enmity”, echthra are of uncertain derivation. The root word is probably a compound of echo, “to have”, and thrano, “to shatter, bruise, enfeeble”. It will be seen how fully the word shalom answers all the awful implications of its opposite, whether expressed by the Hebrew ebah, by the story of Job, or by the thought of destruction that appears to be resident in the Greek word.

It will be necessary to have some check upon our search for references to “enmity”, “enemies”, “war”, “sword”, “strife” and the like, for these would be too numerous to deal with, without some selection. Let us look, therefore, at “enmity” as it comes into relation with “peace”, and especially as it comes into touch with the “God of peace”.

“The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly” (Rom. xvi. 20).

Without the illumination already received, the idea of associating the God of peace with “bruising” would sound incongruous. We have learned, however, that peace does not mean simply quietness; it means settlement, completeness, perfectness, and the God of peace will most surely wage war with all that is contrary to His glorious goal.

The enmity of Rom. xvi. 20 reminds us of the “enmity” that we find in Gen. iii. 15:

“I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

The essential meaning of “peace” prepares us for the revelation of Scripture, that in the procuring of peace there must be a “bruising”:

“He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him” (Isa. liii. 5).

The Lord could not, however, be holden of death, and so Isa. liii. continues:

“When Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand” (Isa. liii. 10).

This leads us to the second reference to the “God of peace”:

“Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect” (Heb. xiii. 20, 21).

Not only must the “God of peace” meet the enmity of the Serpent; He must also overcome death and the grave (for death is an “enemy”: I Cor. xv. 26). The “God of peace” must carry the work of its blessed conclusion and “make perfect in every good work to do His will” those who, by reason of the alienation and enmity of sin, knew not the way of peace nor the paths of righteousness. Nothing short of resurrection glory, with its complete satisfaction, can satisfy the God of peace, and so, to the testimony of Rom. xvi. and Heb. xiii. must be added that of I Thess. v.:

“The God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Thess. v. 23 R.V.).

We have quoted the R.V. here because of its translation “be preserved entire”. The A.V., however, by its double use of “wholly” and “whole” keeps closer to the actual wording. The first word “wholly” is a translation of holoteles, from holos, “all” and teleo, “to complete”. What a wonderful expansion of the word shalom, with its underlying thought of perfectness and completion. The second word, translated “whole” in the A.V. and “entire” in the R.V. is holokleros, from holos, “all”, and kleros, a “part” or “share”. This word is used by Josephus to describe the “perfectness” of the sacrificial victim and in Acts iii. 16 with reference to the lame man’s “perfect soundness”. It is also used in James i. 4 of that spiritual integrity that “wants nothing”.

In I Thess. v. 23, the order of the words is important—“spirit, and soul and body”. This order was inverted at the fall of man. The spirit lusted after wisdom, the soul lusted after that which was pleasant to the eyes, the body sought satisfaction. The yielding to the temptation placed the spirit in a position subordinate to the soul, and the soul to the body. The law of sin is “in the members”, and still wars against the law of the mind. Man is not viewed as complete and entire until spirit, soul and body shall have attended the full perfectness of resurrection standing in Christ. Such a doctrine is, of course, a complete denial of spiritism, which discounts the body and has no room for a physical resurrection, and is also a rebuke to those who set aside the soul as something undesirable and evil. The soul is as necessary as the body, though both may be instruments of evil if allowed to usurp the place of the spirit. The Lord Himself spoke of loving “the Lord thy God . . . . . with all thy soul”, and it would be a foolish criticism of the Creator’s wisdom to set aside one third of the perfect man. It is true that the exercises of the soul in such things as poetry and music are not “spiritual”, neither is the eating of one’s breakfast; yet both are normal and both can be done to the glory of the Lord. I Thess. v. 23 reveals the God of peace triumphantly undoing the evil and discord introduced into the constitution of man by the enmity of Eden. The title is a fitting one, when once the true meaning and goal of “peace” is perceived.

There is a further reference to this title of the Lord in Phil. iv.

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise; think on these thing. Those things which ye have both learned and received and heard and seen in me, do, and the God of peace shall be with you” (Phil. iv. 8, 9).

The clause “if there be any virtue” is misleading. The passage should be translated “whatever virtue there is” (See Rom. xiii. 9 and I Cor. iii. 14: “Whatsoever other commandment there be”, and “Whosoever’s work shall remain”). Also, the word “think” in this passage is logizomai, which is rendered “count” in Phil. iii. 13 and “reckon”, “count”, and “impute” in Rom. iv. 3-6. Do not let evil and unlovely things occupy your attention, the Apostle seems to say, but rather let that which is virtuous count with you—and if such a general injunction is difficult to grasp, remember my own conduct as an example. Wherever it was possible, the Apostle bestowed praise (See, for example, his introduction to I Corinthians). Wherever he could, he exercised that power of love “that believeth all things”. He was not quick to mark offence, he did not possess an eagle eye for faults, and he inculcated the grace that “esteemeth others better than self”. Fellowship with the God of peace will result from such an attitude of mind, and is precious beyond words.

It should be kept in mind that this passage in Phil. iv. is the working out of the exhortation and example of Phil. ii. 4-11, where the “mind that was in Christ Jesus” is the opposite of that mind which was in the Serpent in Gen. iii. The One Who thought it not a thing to be grasped at to be on equality with God, but humbled himself, is contrasted with the one who aspired to be like God, who tempted man with the same temptation, and now seeks to exalt himself to his final undoing.

Another phase of enmity that is countered by the presence of the God of peace is found in Rom. xv. 33: “Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.” To appreciate the teaching of this section we must read from verse 8, and to assist the reader in the understanding of its essential features we give below an abbreviated structure:



Through the grace of God, the Gentiles were now “acceptable to God, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost” (Rom. xv. 16), but the Apostle is in great doubt as to the attitude of the leaders of the church at Jerusalem. He asks for prayer, that “the service which he had for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints”. Only when their full acceptance in the Lord was mutually recognized would the “enmity” that so evidently existed as a middle-wall between Jewish and Gentile believers be removed. How fitting, then, that the God of peace should form the closing theme. The true sequence of Rom. xv. is given in Eph. ii. 11-19, where this enmity and division between Jew and Gentile is likened to the middle-wall of partition, which has been destroyed and taken away, “the both” being made one, so making peace. It hardly seems right to speak of so great a theme with such brevity, but it must be remembered that our space is limited and our object here is not so much to give detailed exposition as to show the various phases of “enmity” that have given place and shall give place to this many-faceted “peace”.

We must refer to one more passage before we conclude this article—in Col. i. The enmity and alienation here are obvious, and once again are clearly associated with “peace”.

“And having made peace by the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself . . . . . and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled” (Col. i. 20, 21).

We have made no mention of the relation between “peace” and “enemies” in Rom. v. 1-11, nor to the enmity of the carnal mind which is placed in contrast with “life and peace” in Rom. viii. If we have demonstrated something of the nature of the “enmity” and thereby indicated something of the character and fullness of “peace”, we have accomplished our immediate purpose.

Perhaps a summary will be useful, as there has been a considerable amount of detail to be kept in mind.

(1) The God of peace will deal with the enmity introduced in Gen. iii.
(2) The God of peace has dealt with the enmity of sin and death, both in the person of the Lord, and in all His redeemed children.
(3) The God of peace will accomplish perfect restoration, when man is raised “entire”, spirit and soul and body.
(4) The Lord, as the God of peace, in association with the God of hope, is concerned with the breaking down of all enmity among the redeemed themselves, likening such enmity to a middle-wall of partition, the canceling of which is linked with the “both” being made “one”, so making “peace”.
(5) Those who have fellowship with the God of peace, must have “the mind that was in Christ Jesus”, a direct repudiation of the mind of the usurper who aspired to be “as God”.

To all who have been reconciled by the death of Christ, and who “seek peace and ensue it”, comes the blessing of II Thess. iii. 16, and what more can we ask till traveling days are done?

“Now the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always by all means, The Lord be with you all.”

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(From The Berean Expositor, vol. 31, page 100).

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