Reading: “Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.” —Romans 15:33

The majority of revelation concerning who God is and what He does is contained in the various names by which He has revealed Himself. Paul calls God “the God of peace” five times in his writings.

It is significant that as he finishes up the portion of the epistle that urges unity and harmony he would commend these saints to God by invoking the God of peace. What is he saying? It seems he says, “If you will have any unity in your church it will be only on account of the mercy of the God of all peace.” The peace a congregation may enjoy is nothing more than the sanctifying influence of the Spirit upon the body.

Let that church think for a moment that such harmony is because of the people, preacher, or program, and all will soon degenerate into chaos—“For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints” (1 Corinthians 14:33). Whenever the Spirit of God dominates every church member then peace will prevail.

Notice Paul prays this prayer without discrimination: “Now the God of peace be with you all.” It is as if he is saying that peace will prevail in all quarters only when the Spirit prevails in every heart. One disgruntled church member filled with unrest can infect an otherwise peaceful congregation. We need the God of peace to be with us all. Here is a prayer worth praying. We have come from many different backgrounds and some from diverse theologies and differing standards. What we need more than anything is the God of peace to be with us all. Without the God of peace we are a danger to ourselves and a danger to our church.

“What! At peace with the Father, and at war with His children? It cannot be.” —John Flavel