The
need to Live in Peace with All Men.
“Make
Every Effort to live in peace with all Men and to be Holy; without Holiness
no one will see the Lord”
[NIV.
Hebrews 12: 14]
This article focuses on the first part of the scripture:
The bible teaches us to live in peace with other people:
Rom 12:18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in
you, live peaceably with all men.
2Cor 13:11 Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect,
be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.
2Thess 3:16 Now the Lord
of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord [be] with you all.
1Cor 14:33 For God is not [the
author]
of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
Mark 9:50 Salt [is] good: but if the salt have lost his
saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.
Matt 5:9 Blessed [are] the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children
of God.
Ps 34:14 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.
2Tim 2:22 Flee also youthful lusts: but follow
righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a
pure heart.
In 2 Cor 13:11.
Paul describes God as the God of Love and Peace
Living in peace with others entails sacrifices even forfeiting
what is rightfully yours, foregoing your privileges just so that peace can
prevail between you and others. Jesus instructed Peter to pay the temple tax
for Himself and Jesus so as not to offend the two-drachma-tax collectors:
Matt 17:24[KJV] And when they were come to Capernaum,
they that received tribute [money] came to Peter, and said, Doth not your
master pay tribute?25 He saith, Yes. And when he was come into
the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do
the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of
strangers?26 Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus
saith unto him, Then are the children free. 27 Notwithstanding, lest we should offend
them,
go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh
up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that
take, and give unto them for me and thee.
NIV refers to the tax
in verse 24 as temple tax
Living in peace with others may often entail forfeiting what
is rightfully yours to avoid an argument, complains, slander that might follow
an argument, and to protect a weak Brother/Sister’s Faith as well as defend the
way of the faith that it may not be evil spoken of.
Paul went extra lengths to live in peace with others and
forfeited his rights and privileges so as to win the lost, set them a good
example to follow, and protect the way of faith:
1Cor 9:19 For though I be free from all [men], yet have I made myself servant unto
all, that I might gain the more.20 And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that
I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I
might gain them that are under the law; 21 To them that are without law, as without
law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might
gain them that are without law. 22 To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the
weak: I am made all things to all [men], that I might by all means save some.23 And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be
partaker thereof with [you].
Acts 16:3 [ESV]
Paul
wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of
the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a
Greek.
Rom 15:1 We then that are strong ought to bear the
infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
1Cor 10:33 Even as I please all [men] in all [things], not seeking mine own profit, but the [profit] of many, that they may be saved.
1Cor 6:7 Now therefore there is utterly a fault
among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take
wrong? why do ye not rather [suffer
yourselves to]
be defrauded?
Gal 2:14 But when I saw that they walked not
uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before [them] all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after
the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the
Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
1Cor 8:9 But take care that this right of yours
does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.
1Cor 8:13[ESV] Therefore, if food makes my brother
stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.
Rom 14:20 Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the
work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make
another stumble by what he eats. 21 [It is] good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink
wine, nor [any thing] whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is
offended, or is made weak.
1Cor 10:27 If one of the unbelievers invites you to
dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without
raising any question on the ground of conscience.28 But if someone says to you, “This has
been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who
informed you, and for the sake of conscience-29 I do not mean your conscience, but his.
For why should my liberty be determined by someone else's conscience?
1Cor 10:33 just as I try to please everyone in
everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may
be saved.
Phil 1:29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of
Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;
