Ephesians 2:14

“For he is our peace, who is made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility”

Christ is our peace. He is the source of all peace in the world, just as satan is the source of all enmity.

Peace is a major idea in Hebrew thinking, in fact it is a desire in many human hearts. The Hebrew people, and their language, elevated peace to a highly desirable quality- in the same way that Western democracies emphasise freedom as a basic human right.

The Romans had their Pax Romana, a peace obtained across the Empire by military might. It could be said that while Roman citizens enjoyed peace, their subjects often did not.

We may think of peace as an absence of conflict or hostility, but peace is more than that.

the Hebrew word for peace is shalom, which at its heart understands peace as about harmony or fitting together.

To fond true peace, we need to have:

1. Harmony with God. We live in a world scarred by sin and alienated from God. There can be no peace in our lives until we are reconciled to the Father .
2. Harmony with others. We need to be fitting in well with our family, neighbours, village, and nation. Unless a group of people knows peace with God, there can be no peace for individuals within the group. Lawlessness is perhaps the biggest sign of disharmony within a community.
3. Harmony with creation. We need to recognise that we are a part of the created world, and that our our activities either help to improve the creation or they help to destroy the natural harmony within creation which God declared to be good.
4. Harmony within. We are complex beings with body, mind and spirit. Our sins and hurts from the past may tend to pull us in directions that displease God or which setup warring factions within our own being. We cannot function as peaceful people while we are facing internal battles.

Christ is our peace. He restores the situation that hostility and conflict steal away from us. It does this by firstly restoring our harmony with the Father, and then, over time, showing us areas in our lives that need to be healed or repented of. He also gives us the grace to be peace makers where needed.

Others may rely on military might, diplomatic skills, force of personality, or other human qualities, but Christ is our peace.

To know peace, true peace, we must stay close to the source of peace, that is Christ. We need to listen to him, obey him and walk closely to him in order to live in his peace .

Christ has broken down the dividing wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles , making both one people. He did this on the cross, offering God’s forgiveness to all who receive it, and extending his kingdom to all nations.

The division between Jews and Gentiles is no longer relevant. The wall that had previously separated the two groups is now irrelevant in the light of the revelation of God’s grace.

Jews and Gentiles, at least those in each group who are being saved, are all children of the living God. It is therefore wrong for a Gentile believer to disrespect a Jewish believer. This would be dishonouring the Father of both, and saying that the sacrifice of Christ is not important.

We can apply this to every group that sets itself as superior to other groups. A white christian has a responsibility to love an aboriginal believer and vice versa. The sufferings of each group in conflict is nothing to the suffering of Christ. If he has forgiven, then so must we.

We are the people who walk-in shalom because Christ is our peace. Wherever there is a failure of shalom, it is a failure of us to see Christ in the other.

Key points in this verse

• Christ is our peace
• The peace that Christ brings is not just an absence of fighting. It is all encompassing.
• This peace can overcome deep hostility if only we will let Christ rule.
• We must not allow flights with Christian brothers and sisters to stand .
• As christians we are called to be peace carriers and peace makers .