LIVE PEACEABLY WITH ALL MEN

This further exhortation of the apostle as to how we should live before men now that we are saved and living unto God is eminently practical. This is not some unattainable, philosophical ideal, but a clear practical statement that acknowledges the real limitations on its achievement.

The first limitation is, ‘If it be possible’. Peace is a rare commodity in the world because the world of men took the Prince of Peace and crucified Him. Before the Lord Jesus came into the world the prophet Isaiah recorded, ‘There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked’, Isa. 48. 22, and this fact is readily observable all over the world. The lack of peace with God means that the unregenerate can know nothing of the peace of God in their lives, so domestic strife, neighbourhood strife, national strife and global strife are inevitable. Thank God afresh today for salvation, for ‘being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ’, Rom. 5. 1. It will never be possible for the believer to live peaceably in every situation of life because the ungodly are often determined to foment strife and trouble.

The second limitation is ‘as much as lieth in you’, thus putting the onus of peaceable living upon the believer. Paul is teaching that whenever strife does break out and peaceable living is impossible, the believer must never be the instigator of that trouble. It may well be, however, that the cause of the unrest or persecution is the godly living that is enjoined upon the believer in the previous verse. The easiest way to live at peace with an ungodly world is to bear no testimony for Christ and behave as the world does. Godly living will provoke persecution, proving the inevitability of trouble and discord. But, if trouble can be averted by the believer taking the humble place and seeking to apply the scripture ‘a soft answer turneth away wrath’, Prov. 15. 1, then it is his duty to do so.

We must do all in our power to live peaceably with all men, commensurate with living faithfully for God in a wicked and godless world. Our goal should be peace at all costs, but not peace at any price.