Peace

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

The peace Jesus gives is His own peace: the peace He carried through betrayal, arrest, and crucifixion. It is not contingent on circumstances being favorable. Let not your heart be troubled is not a demand to feel peaceful. It is permission to rest in a peace that was given to you as a legacy before the cross.

and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

The peace of God does not make logical sense. It surpasses understanding. It is not the peace of having figured everything out. It comes after bringing everything to God in prayer (v. 6). Once you give it to God, He gives the peace back as a guard on your heart and mind. The guarding is His job. Your job is the giving.

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.

Perfect peace, shalom shalom in Hebrew, is complete and undivided peace. It is kept by God, not generated by you. The condition is a mind stayed on God. Not a mind that never wanders, but a mind that keeps returning to who God is. Trust is what makes the staying possible. The more real God becomes to you, the more natural the return.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Peace with God is a settled legal reality, not a feeling you have on good days. It was established at the cross through justification. You are not trying to make peace with God through better performance. The peace has already been made. You stand in it. This is the foundation everything else rests on.

These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

Jesus is honest: in the world you will have tribulation. The peace He gives is not the peace of a trouble-free world. It is the peace of a world that has already been overcome. He overcame it. The victory is finished. The peace is in the victory, not in the absence of trouble.

Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!

Be still, raphah in Hebrew, means to let go, to cease striving. The restlessness that robs peace is often the striving to fix, control, or figure out what only God can handle. The stillness God calls you to is not passivity. It is the release of control to the one who is already exalted above every situation you are trying to manage.

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Rest is what Jesus gives to those who bring their burdens to Him. The heavy-laden person is not told to try harder or bear it with more faith. They are told to come. The giving of rest is His initiative. You bring the burden. He provides the rest. The peace comes in the exchange.

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

God is the God of hope. He fills you with joy and peace in believing. The peace is not produced by your effort. It is poured in by God in response to believing. The Holy Spirit is the power behind the filling. You believe, He fills. That is the structure of receiving peace in the New Covenant.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, think on these things.

Peace and the direction of your thought are connected. Paul does not say deny what is wrong with the world. He says direct your mind to what is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, and of good report. What you consistently think about determines the internal environment you live in. Thinking on these things is a practice that shapes your experience of peace.

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.

Let the peace of God rule. The Greek word for rule is brabeuo: to act as an umpire, to decide, to arbitrate. When a decision feels wrong and your peace disappears, that is the peace of God calling it out. When a decision feels right and your peace remains, that is the peace of God confirming it. God gave you His peace in part as an internal guide for the decisions of your life.