The Bible In Your Hand

Journey Through the Book of Matthew

Matthew 5:9

⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called the sons of God.

⁷ Because the carnal mind is enmity (hatred) against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. ⁸ So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Romans 8:7, 8

Blessed are the peacemakers! The word peacemakers comes from two separate Greek words, Eirenopoioi from the word Eirene which means peace and pojeo to make. To make peace is what this text is referring to. Christ is referring to bringing fellow mankind into harmony with God. As we just saw on Romans 8:7, 8 the carnal mind (the mind under the control of Satan) cannot be at peace with mankind or God.

In order to appreciate what Christ meant when He spoke of peacemakers it is helpful to note the meaning of peace in Semitic thinking and speech. The Hebrew equivalent of the Greek  is Shalom, meaning completeness, soundness prosperity, condition of well-being please. In view of the fact that Christ and the common people used Aramaic a language closely akin to Hebrew, Jesus doubtless used the word with its sematic connotations.

Christ is “the Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6), and it is His mission to restore to earth and heaven the peace that sin has broken.

“Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:1. Whoever consents to renounce sin and open his heart to the love of Christ, becomes a partaker of this heavenly peace and cannot be at enmity with his or her fellow man. There is no other ground for peace than this. The grace of Christ received into the heart, subdues hatred, dispels strife and fills the soul with love. He who is at peace with God and his fellow men cannot be made miserable.

Christ’s followers are sent into the world with the message of peace. Whoever, by the quiet, unconscious influence of a holy life, shall reveal the love of Christ by word or deed, shall lead another to renounce sin and yield his heart to God, is a peacemaker.

“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” The spirit of peace is evidence of their connection with heaven. The sweet aroma of Christ surrounds them and because of this the fragrance of their life, the loveliness of their character, reveals to the world the fact that they are indeed children of God. Men take knowledge of the peacemaker and that they have been with Jesus. “Everyone that loves is born of God.” “If any man or woman does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Christ;” but “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” 1 John 4:7; Romans 8:9, 14.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. I Thessalonians 4:9; I John 3:14 and therefore will become a peacemaker and become sons of God.