Navigation: Index >> Previous >> Next

 Scripture Reading : Romans 14:19

             Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another.

In this verse there are two things we are told to follow after: peace and edification. Both are worth pursuing and will go a long way toward producing happy Christian relationship.

No permanent peace in the world

In Romans 3:17 we read, "And the way of peace they have not known." This, of course, refers to those who know not our Lord Jesus Christ. It is useless to expect permanent peace in the world. Such will never happen until our Lord comes back again. Then no man will fight. In a barber shop shortly after World War II ended, a veteran expressed the hope that the war that had just ended would be the last one. But today one wonders if any of us have the right to hope for this as long as men and women strap bombs to themselves and blow up men, women and children in the name of religion. The trouble is that man's heart is wrong and until it is changed there is sure to be strife and war in the world.

Troubles, troubles, troubles

Too many homes today are filled with strife. The police report revealed that the policeman heard a lady scream. He hurried to check out the trouble. He found one man with a baseball bat and another with a car wrench, each threatening to kill the other. Trouble goes on between countries, as well as business concerns. One is filled with apprehension from thinking of race animosities. The time between wars seems to be growing less and less with each passing year. Truly the only hope for any kind of peace in this world is a return to Christ and God’s Holy Scriptures.

Peace with God

The greatest hindrance to peace on earth is lack of peace with God. How can man be expected to be at peace with his fellow man until first he is at peace with his own Creator? Christ "made peace through the blood of His cross," but man in his folly rejects that peace. "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" ( Rom. 5:1; see Rom. 3:21-26¹). The peace of God naturally fills the hearts of those who have peace with God through trusting and obeying² Christ.

Only peace in Christ illustration

William Harrison wrote about something that happened years ago:

One time in a Gospel tent-meeting, I spoke with a man who professed to be a follower of Father Divine. All my speaking about Christ did not seem to shake his belief in this man from Harlem . Suddenly he said, "Do you see those women coming down the street? They are followers of Father Divine, too." I replied, "That's too bad." As they approached, the first woman said to the man, "Peace," and he replied, "Peace." Then the second woman said, "Peace," and he replied, "Peace," and so with the third. So I said, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." They replied, "No, no, no; through Father Divine." So I quoted the verse again, "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," strongly emphasizing the last phrase. Again they remonstrated, but hastily retreated, evidently frustrated by the power of the Word of God. Anyone who seeks peace in anyone or anything besides our Lord Jesus Christ will certainly be disappointed.

Follow after peace

Being at peace with God and having the peace of God in our hearts should naturally produce peace with others in the world. However, sometimes those who know not our Lord will not allow us to live at peace with them. A young Christian once approached a preacher, lamenting the fact that he could not get along with his mother-in-law. He loved to talk about the Lord, but his mother-in-law did not like such talk, and the conversation seemed to always end in a quarrel. He asked, "Doesn't the Bible say we should live peaceably with all men?" The preacher showed him that Romans 12:18 said, "If it is possible," and also "as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men."

Peace among Christians

In the light of this, how sad to see Christians quarrel among themselves. We have already seen that two things especially disturbed the early church: eating of meats and observing days. No matter how right we may think we are, if our actions disturb others, then we should forgo them. Then, too, criticism of the actions of others concerning things of minor importance can cause disturbance. Liberty in things of minor importance, condescension to those who are weak, and zeal in the things of importance make for peace. How sad to see Christians quarrel about little points of difference in understanding Scripture. The story is told of two leaders in the church who quarreled so often and so bitterly about whether King Saul was saved or not, that they almost wrecked a work for God. It does not say "Blessed are the trouble makers," but "Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God" (Matt. 5:9). If brethren do quarrel, let us seek to be peacemakers. Of course this does not mean that we should condone serious sin in order to maintain peace. "Wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable" (James 3:17).

Edify one another

Secondly, Romans 14:19 tells us to follow after "things by which one may edify another." The word edify means to build up. We know how the word edifice speaks of a building. Let us run away from things that tear down and follow after things that build up.

A wrecker or a builder

It is easy to be a wrecker. One man said, "Give me a crowbar, a sledge hammer, and a strong back, and I can wreck anything." It is harder to be a builder. For that, one needs skill, experience, patience, and good tools. It is easy to wreck a work of God, but not easy to build one up. Now, none of us want to be wreckers of God's work, and yet some are, perhaps because of ignorance, pride, carelessness, or mistaken zeal. Paul was a wrecker before he was saved, but a builder afterward. In 2 Corinthians 12:19 he says, "But we do all things, beloved, for your edification." What a testimony. From a bitter persecutor he was changed into an ardent builder. His whole purpose and aim was to see souls saved, and then edified or built up in the ways of God. He exhorts us to be like him.

Get off the wrecking crew

Are you on the wrecking crew? Throw away your old tools. "Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice" (Eph. 4:31). Some of these things are worse than sledge hammers. Seek rather to acquire these tools: "And be kind to one another, tenderhearted forgiving one another, even as God in Christ's forgave you" (Eph. 4:32). "And walk in love" (Eph. 5:2).

Please our neighbors

Do we ever go out of our way to comfort the sorrowing, or encourage the downhearted one, or strengthen the weak? "We then who are strong ought to bear the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification" ( Rom. 15:1, 2). This is a selfish world. Even Christians say, "I don't like to do this or that"; never asking whether the Lord would like to have them do it, or whether it would help build up the Lord's people. We should not seek to please ourselves, but try to be helpful to others. They will love us for it. Be thankful the Lord Jesus thought of others rather than of pleasing Himself ( Rom. 15:3). If He had been unwilling to go to the cross, not one of us could be saved.

Talents given for edification

The Lord gives all His children special gifts or talents. To one He gives one gift and to another He gives another ( Rom. 12:6-8; 1 Cor. 12:4-11). Now, He does not give these gifts in order to make one prominent, or rich, but only to build up others in the things of the Lord. In Ephesians 4 we also read of these gifts to the church. In verses 11 and 12, we read, "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." Let us make sure that the gifts or talents the Lord has given us are not used for our own pleasure or profit, but for the good of others. If we do, then we will get along.

Love builds up

In 1 Corinthians 8:1 we read, "Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies." An old preacher put it this way, "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." But some among us are so wise in their own estimation that they are of no earthly good. Unless we are always on guard, knowledge, even of the Bible, can fill us with pride, greatly hindering our usefulness for God. Let us not seek to display knowledge, but rather let us find ways and means whereby we may be helpful to the Lord's people. Love and kindness never do any harm, but always tend to build up. True love raises a real family; true love will raise any work for God, too. "Love never fails . . . knowledge, it will vanish away" (1 Cor. 13:8).

Prophecy edifies

1 Corinthians 14 speaks almost entirely of edifying the church. Six times we find the word in one form or another. There was one thing that did not edify the church at Corinth . This was their speaking with tongues. He said if there was no interpreter, it brought no edification to the church, and so it was worse than useless. He does say though, that prophecy edifies (1 Cor. 14:3, 4). We have no need now for direct prophetic statements from God, seeing we have a complete Bible, but certainly we can infer that a message from God through His Word really does edify. Let those who preach the Word of God, be sure that their messages are not just to show personal knowledge, or to tickle the ears of an audience, but that every one is offered with the thought of building up the people of God.

All things are not helpful—not all things edify

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:23, “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify.” Sometimes Christians ask, "Is it wrong to do this or that?" The answer is found in this question. Does it edify you, or does it edify anyone else? “Well,” one says, “There is nothing in the Bible that says anything against it.” It may be lawful, but that’s not the question—the question is, does it edify? Does it build up anyone physically, mentally, morally, or spiritually? Does it make anyone a better Christian? If the thing you question does not edify, why waste valuable time on it; why waste money or health? Remember, a great part of getting along with other Christians is thinking "you" rather than "me."

Footnotes:

¹  By understanding Paul’s long sentence in Romans 3:21-26, we understand the Gospel, all of Romans and the Bible. The 1885 English Revised Version changed “the faith of Christ” to “faith in Christ” in Romans 3:22; Galatians 2:16, 2:20, 3:22; Ephesians 3:12; and Philippians 3:9. In his book, “Commentaries on the Old and New Testament,” James Burton Coffman concludes that the KJV is a correct translation of all these verses, a fact confirmed by the total agreement of the Emphatic Diaglott in each case. James Macknight, Adam Clarke, as well as other older commentators, also agree with the KJV translation of these verses—“the faith of Christ,” like the “faith of Abraham” in Romans 4:16. We asked a full-time minister serving a large church, about whether he believed that to be saved one had to believe in the “faith of Jesus Christ” to which he wrote: “God provides righteousness to those who believe.  If through the faith of Jesus—everybody would be saved.” We asked the same question to a university Bible professor, who expressed a view of modern translations held by many today. He wrote: “Both ideas . . . are biblical . . .” However, we also presented the question to an elder of the church, who wrote: “The believer’s faith causes him to respond to that perfect justification which is and was brought by Christ in His obedience to God’s will of offering His son as the perfect atonement for all mankind (sins).” We concur with the elder and older commentators, as well as Coffman, whose commentary on this verse is a scathing rebuke of many modern-day professors and preachers. Coffman points out that we should stay with the KJV in this verse, because changing it represents the same tampering with the Word of God which resulted in the monstrosity of changing “the righteousness of God” to “a righteousness” (Rom. 3:21 & Rom. 1:17). He writes: “the true Scriptural justification by faith has absolutely no reference to the faith of stinking sinners, but to the faith of the Son of God. The only end served by this change was to bolster the faith only theory of justification.” He further writes: “the true grounds of justification cannot ever be in a million years the faith of fallible, sinful people, would appear to be axiomatic. How could it be? The very notion that God could impute justification to an evil man, merely upon the basis of anything that such a foul soul might either believe or do, is a delusion. Justification in any true sense requires that the justified be accounted as righteous and undeserving of any penalty whatever; and no man’s faith is sufficient grounds for such an imputation. On the other hand, the faith of Jesus Christ is a legitimate ground of justification, because Christ's faith was perfect.” In the absolute sense, only Christ is faithful—“Faithful is he that calleth you” (1 Thess. 5:24). Only He is called “the faithful and true witness” (Rev. 3:14). The faith of Christ was also obedient; a perfect and complete obedience, lacking nothing. Therefore, we conclude that the sinless, holy, obedient faith of the Son of God is the only ground of justification of a human being—Christ only is righteously justified in God’s sight. How then are we saved? We are saved “in Christ,” having been incorporated into Him—justified as a part of Him. Our study prompts agreement with Coffman’s conclusion that faith is not the ground of our justification; it is not the righteousness which makes us righteous before God. The “faith of the Son of God” is the only basis for our justification, and that faith is definitely included in the “righteousness of God” mentioned in this verse. Even the righteousness of God through faith of Jesus Christ shows the principal constituent of God’s righteousness. In conclusion, God’s righteousness is the righteousness of Jesus Christ—His absolute, intrinsic, unalloyed righteousness—implicit in His perfect faith (mentioned here) and His perfect obedience (implied). The contrary notion that God’s righteousness is some imputation accomplished by the sinner's faith is unfounded. Any righteousness that could commend itself to the Father and become the ground of anything truly worthwhile would, by definition, have to be a true and genuine righteousness. That righteousness was provided by the sinless life of the Christ, summarized in this verse as “through faith of Jesus Christ,” the idea being much clearer in the KJV, “The righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ.” We concur with Coffman on this subject, including his final conclusion, “. . . the word believe in this verse refers to sinners’ faith (believer’s faith) which is no part of God’s righteousness at all, but, like baptism, is but a mere condition of salvation—being neither more nor less important than baptism.”

² For more information on salvation, see God's Salvation in A Religion Library section of StudyJesus.com.