7 Biblical Principles for Finding Peace
Written by the Scripture Guide Team
The Hebrew word shalom, translated "peace," describes primarily a state of right relationship — with God, with others, and with oneself. This guide examines the seven biblical principles that restore and sustain shalom as a relational reality rather than a private interior state.
The word peace functions in modern English almost exclusively as a description of an interior state — the feeling of calm, the absence of anxiety. This meaning is not wrong, but it represents a significant narrowing of what the biblical shalom actually describes. The Hebrew shalom encompasses the full range of right relationship: the peace of a person who is rightly related to God, rightly related to the people around them, and rightly related to the conditions of their own life. It is a word that describes the state of things when they are as they ought to be — when broken relationships are restored, when justice is present, when covenant obligations are being honored.
This distinction changes what finding peace looks like in practice. The person who understands peace as an interior state searches for it inwardly — through spiritual disciplines, through the management of anxiety. But the person who understands shalom as primarily relational understands that peace is often found by turning outward — by addressing the broken relationships that are preventing it, by becoming an agent of reconciliation in the communities and families where shalom has been disrupted, by receiving the foundational peace with God that the work of Christ has established.
The seven principles below trace the relational structure of biblical peace — from the foundational peace with God that everything else rests on, through the peace between people that shalom envisions, to the specific calling of the peacemaker.
Romans 5:1
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul's "peace with God" is the foundational relational peace from which all other biblical peace flows. The word "peace" here — the Greek eirene, translating the Hebrew shalom — is the specific relational state of no longer being at enmity with God. This is not the experiential feeling of peace; it is the objective relational reality — the enmity has been removed, the relationship has been restored. The person who has received this foundational peace with God has received the ground from which every other dimension of peace becomes accessible.
Ephesians 2:14-16
For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.
The scope of the peace Christ makes in Ephesians 2 is explicitly horizontal as well as vertical: "both one" refers to Jew and Gentile — the most profound ethnic and religious division of the first century. Christ is described as "our peace" — not the giver of peace as a separate commodity but the peace itself, the reconciling reality who embodies what He provides. The "middle wall of partition" — likely a reference to the barrier in the Jerusalem Temple that separated Gentiles from the inner courts — is the specific image of the structural barrier between peoples that the cross demolishes. Finding peace, in this passage, has an explicitly communal and reconciling dimension: it involves the breaking down of the divisions that prevent human beings from existing together in the shalom God intends.
Matthew 5:9
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
The beatitude places peacemaking — the active, relational work of bringing reconciliation between people who are in conflict — among the defining characteristics of God's children. The word "peacemakers" — the Greek eirenopoioi — is an active participle: these are people who make peace, who create it, who act as agents of its restoration in situations where it is absent. The blessing establishes that this active, outward-directed work is not peripheral to the Christian life but central to it. Finding peace, at this level, is not only the reception of interior calm; it is the active participation in the restoration of shalom in relationships and communities where it has been broken.
Colossians 3:15
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
The phrase "in one body" is not incidental; it establishes that the peace of God that rules in the heart is exercised in the context of the community rather than as a purely private interior achievement. The word "rule" — the Greek brabeuo, to act as umpire, to give the deciding verdict — identifies the peace of God as the governing authority over the interior in the specific context of communal life, where competing claims, offenses, and tensions arise. The peace that rules in the heart governs how the person navigates the relational complexity of the community. The peace is relational in its exercise even when it is interior in its location.
Isaiah 32:17
And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.
The sequence in this verse — righteousness produces peace — establishes the relational and ethical ground from which shalom grows. Righteousness in the Hebrew prophets is fundamentally a relational concept: the right ordering of relationships according to God's covenant standards, the honoring of obligations toward God and neighbor. When righteousness is present — when covenant relationships are being honored, when justice is being practiced — peace follows as the natural consequence. This verse is the warning that inner peace pursued apart from the righteousness that produces it is pursued apart from its actual source.
Romans 12:18
If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
The qualifications in this verse — "if it be possible" and "as much as lieth in you" — are the honest acknowledgment that the restoration of peace between people is not always achievable through the effort of one party alone. The verse places the responsibility squarely on the person reading it: pursue the peace to the full extent of what lies within your power, in every situation where peace is a possible outcome. The "all men" — the Greek meta panton anthropon, with all people — establishes the scope as comprehensive: not only with the people whose relationship is valued, but with every person with whom the shalom of right relationship is a possible outcome. The command is specific and demanding; the qualifications are honest about its limits.
Psalm 34:14
Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.
The verb translated "pursue" — the Hebrew radaph, to chase, to pursue with urgency — is the same word used elsewhere for hunting prey and pursuing enemies. The peace being called for is not the peace that arrives passively when circumstances are favorable; it is peace that requires active, urgent pursuit. The "seek peace, and pursue it" establishes that shalom between people does not maintain itself; it requires deliberate, sustained effort — the specific, active work of addressing what has broken it, of initiating reconciliation, of maintaining the relational commitments that shalom requires.
Deep Dive
Shalom as Relational Reality
The Hebrew shalom appears over 200 times in the Old Testament and is translated variously as peace, completeness, welfare, wholeness, and well-being. Its most fundamental meaning is the state of things when they are as they ought to be — when right relationships are established and honored. The shalom of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6-8) is the shalom of a community of people rightly related to God and to one another.
This relational character of shalom has a specific implication for how peace is found. The person whose shalom is broken because of a fractured relationship cannot find the peace they are seeking through interior spiritual practice alone; the fracture in the relationship is the fracture in the shalom, and it requires relational repair. The person who is at peace with God but is pursuing peace only inwardly, while unaddressed conflicts persist in their life, is pursuing a narrower peace than shalom envisions.
The Foundation: Peace with God
Romans 5:1's "peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" is the specific relational peace that establishes the foundation for everything else. Before there can be the peace of right relationship with others, there must be the foundational peace of right relationship with God — the removal of the enmity that sin has created, the restoration of the relationship that the fall disrupted. This peace is not achieved through spiritual effort; it is received through faith in the work of Christ, who has made peace through the blood of His cross (Colossians 1:20).
The significance of this foundational peace for the broader pursuit of shalom is that it establishes the person's identity and standing before God as settled and secure. The person who is at peace with God — whose relationship with God has been restored through the work of Christ — is not pursuing peace from a position of relational deficit with God. They are pursuing the broader shalom from a position of established relationship. This settled foundation is what makes the active, outward pursuit of peace with others possible: the person who knows they are at peace with God can risk the vulnerability and cost of pursuing peace with others, because their fundamental relational security is not at stake in those human relationships.
Christ as the Peace Between People
Ephesians 2:14's "he is our peace" identifies Christ not only as the one who provides peace but as the peace itself — the reconciling reality who has broken down the middle wall of partition between peoples. The principle extends to every human division: the peace Christ makes is the peace between people who were structurally, historically, and relationally separated.
This has a specific implication for finding peace in the context of relational and communal conflict. The person navigating a fracture between themselves and another person is not simply managing a difficult interpersonal situation; they are either participating in or resisting the specific peace that Christ has made. The work of reconciliation between people who are in conflict is one of the specific forms in which the gospel takes shape in the relationships of the community — which is why Matthew 5:9 places peacemaking among the defining characteristics of the children of God.
The Active Pursuit of Shalom
Psalm 34:14's "pursue it" — using the Hebrew radaph, the word for chasing prey or pursuing enemies — establishes that shalom between people does not maintain itself. It requires deliberate, sustained, active effort. The peace that has been broken in a relationship does not restore itself through the passage of time or the goodwill of both parties held privately; it requires the specific, active work of addressing what has broken it.
Romans 12:18's "if it be possible, as much as lieth in you" qualifies the command with the honest acknowledgment that peace between people is not always achievable through the effort of one party. The person who has done everything within their power to restore peace and has found the other party unwilling to receive it has fulfilled the command. The "as much as lieth in you" is both the full responsibility and the honest limit. But the verse's starting point is the active pursuit, not the passive waiting for the other person to initiate.
Righteousness as the Ground of Peace
Isaiah 32:17's "the work of righteousness shall be peace" establishes the ethical and relational ground from which shalom grows. Righteousness in the Old Testament is not primarily a private moral condition but a relational quality: the right ordering of relationships according to God's covenant standards. The righteous person is the person who honors covenant obligations, who practices justice, who treats the vulnerable with the care the covenant requires. When these practices are present in a community, peace is the natural consequence of the right ordering of its relationships.
The implication for finding peace is that the inner peace the person is seeking may depend on the outer righteousness they are practicing. The person engaged in behavior that is unjust toward another person will find the inner peace they are seeking elusive — not because God is withholding it as punishment, but because the shalom they are pursuing requires the righteousness that is currently absent. Peace grows from right relationship; the specific relational situations where righteousness is absent are often the specific locations where the peace is also absent.
Practical Application
- Begin with the foundation: examine whether you have received the Romans 5:1 peace with God — the foundational relational peace established through faith in Christ, the objective reality of restored relationship. If this foundation is uncertain, address it before turning to the other dimensions of peace; the active pursuit of shalom with others rests on the settled security of this foundational relationship.
- Identify the specific fractured or unresolved relationship in your current life that is the primary location of the broken shalom. Apply Psalm 34:14's "pursue it" — initiate the specific conversation, make the specific overture, take the specific action that the restoration of that relationship requires. Apply Romans 12:18's "as much as lieth in you" as the standard: pursue it to the full extent of what lies within your power.
- Extend the scope of your pursuit of peace to "all men" as Romans 12:18 instructs. Identify whether there are specific people from whom you are withholding the active pursuit of peace — people whose conflict with you you have accepted as permanent, whose relationship you have ceased to actively pursue. Apply the "as much as lieth in you" standard: is there anything that lies within your power to do toward the restoration of that relationship that you have not done?
- Practice the Matthew 5:9 calling actively: identify one specific situation in your current relational world where two people or parties are in conflict and you are positioned to play a mediating role. The work of peacemaking — the active, relational work of bringing reconciliation between people who are in conflict — is not a specialist calling for professionally trained mediators. It is the specific calling of the children of God. Take one concrete action this week toward the restoration of peace in a conflict where you have the opportunity to serve as a peacemaker.
Common Questions
What about the peace that "passeth all understanding" — isn't that interior and individual?
It is interior in its location but relational in its source. The peace that keeps heart and mind in Philippians 4:7 is the "peace of God" — the same God whose peace with us (Romans 5:1) and whose peace between us (Ephesians 2:14) are established through the work of Christ. The interior peace is not a separate kind of peace from the relational peace; it is the interior experience of the same shalom that is fundamentally relational. The practice that produces it in Philippians 4:6 — the prayer with thanksgiving — is itself a relational act: the bringing of specific concerns to a specific God in the specific relationship that Christ has established. The two dimensions of peace are not in competition; they are expressions of the same shalom from different angles.
Is it always my responsibility to initiate reconciliation?
Matthew 5:23-24 places the responsibility on the person whose brother has something against them — suggesting the initiative belongs to the person who caused the offense. But Matthew 18:15 places the initiative on the person who has been wronged. Together, the two passages establish that both parties carry responsibility for initiating the restoration of peace, regardless of who caused the fracture. The practical implication of Romans 12:18 is that the question of whose "fault" the fracture is does not determine whose responsibility it is to pursue restoration; the pursuit of peace, to the full extent of what lies within your power, is the responsibility of the person who is reading the verse.
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