Shalom / Peace

the word peace is common in most languages people can talk about peace treaties or times of peace it means the absence of war and in the Bible the word peace can refer to the absence of conflict but it also points to the presence of something better in its place in the Old Testament the Hebrew word for peace is Shalom and in the New Testament the Greek word is Arna the most basic meaning of Shalom is complete or whole the word can refer to a stone that has a perfect whole shape with no cracks you can also refer to a completed stone wall that has no gaps and no missing bricks Shalom refers to something that's complex with lots of pieces that in a state of completeness wholeness it's like Jobe who says his tensor in a state of Shalom because he counted his flat and no animals are missing this is why Shalom can refer to a person's well-being like when David visited his brothers on the battlefield he asked about their Shalom the core idea is that life is complex full of moving parts and relationships and situations and when any of these is out of alignment or missing your Shalom breaks down life is no longer hole it needs to be restored in fact that's the basic meaning of Shalom when you use it as a verb to bring Shalom literally means to make complete or restore so Solomon brings Shalom to the unfinished temple when he completes it or if your animal accidentally damages your neighbor's field you shall ohm them by giving them a complete repayment for their loss you take what's missing and you restore it to wholeness the same goes for human relationships in the book of Proverbs to reconcile and heal a broken relationship is to bring Shalom and when rival kingdoms make Shalom in the Bible it doesn't just mean they stop fighting it also means they start working together for each other's benefit this state of Shalom is what Israel's Kings were supposed to cultivate and it rarely happened so the prophet Isaiah he looked forward to a future king a prince of Shalom and his reign would bring Shalom with no end a time when God would make a covenant of Shalom with his people and make right all wrongs and heal all this been broken this is why Jesus's birth in the New Testament was announced as the arrival of a reign they remember that's the Greek word for peace Jesus came to offer his peace to others like when he said to his followers my peace I give to you all the Apostles claimed that Jesus made peace between messed up humans in God when he died and rose from the dead the idea is that he restored to wholeness the broken relationship between humans and their Creator this is why the Apostle Paul can say Jesus himself is our a Rhema he was the whole complete human that I made to be but have failed to be and now he gives me his life as a gift and this means that Jesus's followers are now called to create peace Paul instructed local churches to keep their unity through the bond of pains which requires humility and patience and bearing with others in love becoming people of peace means participating in the life of Jesus who reconciled all things in heaven on earth restoring peace through his death and resurrection so peace takes a lot of work because it's not just the absence of conflict true peace requires taking what's broken and restoring it to wholeness whether it's in our lives our relationships or in our world and that's the rich biblical concept of peace hey thanks for watching this weird steady video by the Bible project we make lots of other videos and they're all about showing how the Bible is a unified story that leads to Jesus you can go to our website the Bible project com see what we're working on and even jump in to pitch in a few bucks to the next one thanks for being part of this with us thanks you guys