SPECIAL TOPIC: PEACE (SHALOM)

SPECIAL TOPIC: PEACE

Old Testament ‒ Shalom
1. The Hebrew root shalom (BDB 1022-23, KB 1532-1539; NIDOTTE, vol. 4, pp. 130-134) is common in Semitic cognates, meaning "to be complete," "to be sound"
  1. Akkadian
    1. to be unharmed
    2. to stay well
    3. to be in good condition
  2. Ugaritic (Canaanite)
    1. to be unharmed
    2. to be healthy
  3. Arabic
    1. to be healthy
    2. to be in a happy situation
  4. Aramaic
    1. to be complete
    2. to come to an end/completion
    3. conclude a peace
    4. stay unharmed
  5. Hebrew connotations
    1. completeness
    2. soundness
    3. welfare
    4. peace
2. Today the term shalom is a Hebrew greeting and farewell statement.
  1. It denotes the absence of evil and the presence of good (i.e., contentment with life).
  2. It denotes a mental state of security and satisfaction.
  3. Notice how the OT speaks of
    1. a "covenant of peace" (cf. Num. 25:12; Ezek. 34:25; 37:26; also note Gen. 26:29,31; Josh. 9:15). It must be pursued (cf. Ps. 34:14; Rom. 14:19).
    2. AB, vol. 5, p. 206, says, "Peace," "truth," and "justice" are parallel Hebrew concepts (cf. Zech. 8:16-19).
    3. YHWH is called "Lord of Peace" (cf. Jdgs. 6:24; Rom. 16:20; 2 Cor. 13:11; Phil. 4:9; 1 Thess. 5:23).
      (1)
      "Lord of Peace" ‒ Jdg. 6:24; 2 Thess. 3:16
      (2)
      "God of Peace" ‒ Rom. 15:33; 16:20; Phil. 4:9; 1 Thess. 5:23; Heb. 13:20
      (3)
      "God of love land peace" ‒ 2 Cor. 13:11
    4. The Messiah will be called "the Prince of Peace" (cf. Isa. 9:6).
    5. A new day when peace, truth, and justice will be reality in human experience (cf. Isa. 60:17; 66:12,22). The "very good" of Gen. 1:31 is again a possibility, yea, a promise (i.e., "a new heaven and a new earth," see Revelation 21-22).
New Testament ‒ Eirēnē
1. This Greek term referred to the absence of conflict, but in the LXX, it came to denote an inner peace with God and with one's fellow man (i.e., Luke 2:14; 10:6).
  The NT, like the OT, uses it as a greeting, "Peace to you" (i.e., Luke 10:5; John 20:19,21,26; Rom. 1:7; Gal. 1:3) or "farewell, go in peace" (cf. Mark 5:34; Luke 2:29; 7:50; 8:48; James 2:16).
2. This Greek root is used for "binding together relationships that were broken" (i.e., Rom. 5:10-11). There are three theological ways the NT speaks of peace:
  1. an objective aspect, our peace with God through Christ (cf. Rom. 5:1-5; Col. 1:20)
  2. a subjective aspect, our being right with God (cf. John 14:27; 16:33; Rom. 5:6-11; Phil. 4:7)
  3. that God has united into one new body, through Christ, both believing Jew and Gentile (cf. Eph. 2:14-17; Col. 3:15). Once we have peace with God, it must issue in peace with others! The vertical must become the horizontal.
3. Newman and Nida, A Translator's Handbook on Paul's Letter to the Romans, p. 92, has a good comment about "peace."
  
  "Both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament the term peace has a wide range of meaning. Basically it describes the total well-being of a person's life; it was even adopted among the Jews as a formula of greeting (shalom). This term had such a profound meaning that it could also be used by the Jews as a description of the Messianic salvation. Because of this fact, there are times when it is used almost synonymously with the term rendered 'to be in a right relation with God.' Here the term appears to be used as a description of the harmonious relation established between man and God on the basis of God's having put man right with himself" (p. 92).