“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Matthew 5:9
In Matthew Chapter 5, during the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus delivered eight teachings called The Beatitudes. Beatitudes comes from the Greek word beatus, meaning happy or blessed. Each Beatitude names a virtue and lists an eternal reward for that virtue.
This verse is from the ESV translation of the Bible. The NIV and King James translations use the word “children” instead of sons. Who would not want to be called a child of God?
Peace is a major theme in the Bible. The word “peace” appears over 400 times in many translations.
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” John 14:27
Jesus said these words to the disciples when he was about to leave them for the last time. The peace he speaks of, the peace of God, is a peace that transcends all earthly troubles. This peace is available to those who know God, who are the children of God.
In Ephesians 2:14–17 Paul wrote:
“For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.”
I understood from this verse that Paul was saying that Jesus is our peace. I needed help with the rest of the verse, so I looked it up at bibleref.com. Here is what this commentary had to say:
“Paul continues to describe how a saving faith in Christ changes our spiritual status. Jesus does not simply give peace; He is peace. It is because of who He is and what He has done on the cross, through the outpouring of His blood (Ephesians 2:13) that we can be at peace with God (Romans 5:1). Through Jesus, both Paul and his readers, Jews and Gentiles, were unified. All people can now become family: equals through the salvation provided in Jesus Christ.”
Through Jesus there is peace between Jew and Gentile, and between believers and God. As followers of Jesus, we are called upon to be peacemakers as well.
Matthew Henry had this to say about peacemakers:
“The peace-makers are happy. They love, and desire, and delight in peace; and study to be quiet. They keep the peace that it be not broken, and recover it when it is broken. If the peace-makers are blessed, woe to the peace-breakers!”
We have peace if Jesus is our Lord and Savior. If we have His peace, then we should be making peace in this life. Only those who know Jesus, are able to be peacemakers through the Holy Spirit. Only those who know Jesus can be called children of God.