Theology Thursday: What does it mean to "make peace" with God?

Welcome to Theology Thursday! Theology is the study of God, his relation to the world, and our relation to him. I hope these newsletters help enhance your faith and deepen your love for God and his people, the church.

Today's question:
What does it mean to "make peace" with God?

Pastor Brady's thoughts:
Maybe you’ve heard someone in a movie say something like, “I’ve made my peace with God,” or - more as a warning - “You better make your peace with God.” That’s actually something of a biblical idea. 

Here’s the wonderful promise God makes us in Romans 5:1: Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.

We have “peace with God,” and we have it “through our Lord Jesus Christ.” That seems to imply that before Jesus, or without Jesus, we were not at peace with God. What’s the opposite of peace? War. Without Jesus, we are at war with God. This idea is supported just a few verses later in Romans 5:10: For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

So we are in one state or the other: we are either enemies at war with God, or we have peace with God.

That is a sobering reality. Most people do not think of themselves as being “at war” with God. We may imagine that we are neutral toward him - maybe busy or distracted, surely imperfect, but not hostile. But scripture leaves no room for neutrality (see what Jesus had to say about those who are “lukewarm”). If we are not reconciled to God through Christ, we remain estranged from him. It’s not that God has declared war on us, but that in our sin we have rebelled against his rule, resisted his authority, and preferred our own way over his. We are the aggressors in this war.

And that is where the word “justified” in Romans 5:1 becomes so precious. “Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God.” To be justified is to be declared righteous—to have our guilt removed and Christ’s righteousness credited to us. The war ends not because we negotiated a treaty or because we improved our behavior, but because Jesus bore our sin and satisfied God’s justice on the cross.

Peace with God is not a fragile ceasefire. It is not probation. It is not God reluctantly tolerating us. It is reconciliation. The hostility is gone. The debt is paid. The verdict has been rendered. We are gifted the righteousness of Christ, by Christ, through Christ, for Christ.

Notice also the certainty of Paul’s words: “We have peace.” Not “we hope to have,” not “we might have if we perform well enough.” For those who are justified by faith, peace with God is a present possession. It is an objective reality grounded in what Jesus has done, not in how we happen to feel today.

That matters, because our feelings fluctuate. Some days we feel close to God. Other days we feel ashamed, distant, or spiritually cold. But peace with God does not rise and fall with our emotions; it rests on the finished work of Christ. If you have responded to his grace with your faith, you are not God’s enemy. You are his redeemed and reconciled child.

And from that peace flows everything else. Paul says we have “gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.” We are no longer standing in the courtroom awaiting condemnation. We are standing in grace. We have access—welcome, open access—into the presence of God. The one who was once our judge is now our Father.

This also means that “making peace with God” is not something we accomplish at the end of our lives by trying harder or cleaning ourselves up. Peace has already been made through Jesus Christ. The call of the gospel is not to manufacture peace, but to receive it by faith.

So the question is simple and deeply personal: Are you still trying to stand on your own record before God? Or are you standing in grace, justified through faith in Christ?

If you belong to Jesus, take comfort today. The war is over. The verdict is settled. You have peace with God.

And if you have not yet trusted in Christ, the invitation remains open. Turn to Him. Trust in his finished work. Receive the justification he freely gives.

Because through our Lord Jesus Christ, we truly—and eternally—have peace with God.

TO KNOW GOD AND TO MAKE HIM KNOWN!
- Pastor Brady

Have a question for Theology Thursday? Send an email to office@minierchristian.org and we'll respond, or we'll include in a future Theology Thursday Buffet.