James 3:17-18 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits… Whatever difficulty there may be in this verse in its detail, its broad intention is quite clear — that "peace" is the seedtime of "righteousness," and not "righteousness" of "peace": that we rather become good because we are at "peace," than that we have "peace" because we are good. "Peace" is the seed. Every truth has in it its higher and its lower range: its higher, which is spiritual; and its lower, which is natural. There is a higher "righteousness," which is between God and the sinner; and there is a lower "righteousness," which is between man and man. There is a higher "peace," which lies in reconciliation with God; and there is a lower "peace," which is the man being in harmony with his fellow-creatures, and at rest with his own conscience. Only in both cases the higher carries the lower. To be "righteous," in God's righteousness, is the surest way to be upright in common life. "Peace" with heaven makes "peace" on earth. The two are wrapped together when we say, "The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace." Let me trace the history or pedigree of "righteousness." God is the One only "Righteous"; and "there is no unrighteousness with God." The "righteous" God made an upright creature in His own image: but He made him free to stand or fall; and, in his freedom, he fell from his uprightness. The "righteous" God willed to restore him. And here is the problem: to restore the rebel and maintain the "righteousness." And He solved it. He, who was Himself "the Just One," His own beloved Son, more than consented to His Father's counsel. And He did it. He went Himself through the whole punishment that was due to all the world. So the law was satisfied; the equivalent was complete and abundant; and it was just with God to forgive the sinner. But here lay another mystery. Christ was not a Man only; He was a Representative Man. He was a Head, and all we His body. What a head does, it is the same as if the body did it. We suffered and died in our Head. "Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other." And man's pardon has become "the righteousness of God." By God's grace a man sees this, feels this, believes this. Then he is in the body. Then that man is for-given — because that man's sins have been already punished. And much more than this. That man being in Christ, the "righteousness" of Christ — which is "the righteousness of God" — passes on to him. He is covered with it. God sees him in it. He is a justified man. So that, even in the sight of a pure and holy God, that man is "righteous." But what as respects his relative duty to his fellow-men? How does he go down to the lower range? He must be an upright man. Else he is no Christian at all! But let us take the other away; let us see the genealogy of "peace." "Peace" was in heaven, and God placed "peace" in paradise. But sin came, and "peace" flew away. Then God willed to restore "peace." "And the counsel of peace was between them both." He who is "our peace" said, "Lo, I come." And He came. And "made peace by the blood of His Cross." And man became "reconciled to God." Immediately that he was reconciled the Holy Ghost came. And now, man knowing and feeling that he is forgiven, is at "peace" in his own mind. The sacred Dove comes back again, and nestles sweetly in his bosom. Now, see the moral consequence. Man, being at "peace" with man, is gentle, peace-loving, peace-making. For love is the child of "peace." The Church knits herself into unity; and Christians go forth in forgiveness to enemies — in charity to every man — in mission to the world. And thus — according to the pedigree of "righteousness," and according to the genealogy of "peace" — in both ways, "the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace." And who are they that "make peace"? The Holy Trinity — embodied to us in the Person of the blessed Jesus. It is He who "makes peace." He "sowed" it in those tears, and those drops of blood, which fell so thick in the garden and on Calvary. Seeds, often long dawning, never dead; seeds which, when the Spirit waters them in a man's soul, draw up, and make sweet spring-time, till, in due time, they cluster in the harvest of righteousness: "and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace." It may be strange, but all experience establishes the fact, that the ministry which speaks most of "peace," that is, of Christ, which imparts "peace," is always the ministry which most checks sin, and raises the moral tone, and promotes, in any people, "righteousness" in all the common relationships of life. I feel that I have very little else to do but to sow "peace." And if you were all at "peace" with God, in your consciences, and with men, my work would be well-nigh done! But not ministers only. You also, by virtue of your common Christianity — you are all to be making "peace." First, you must be yourself at "peace"; at "peace" with God, at "peace" in your own heart, at "peace" with everybody. You must go about with that "peaceful" feeling, that gentle quietness, that subdued tone, which only an interest in Christ can give, and which it never fails to give. Speak to every one about the happy parts of religion. Tell of its "peace." Be everywhere a comforter. Show Jesus in His attractiveness, especially to the world, and to the bad. Deal tenderly. Aim at a holy, loving influence with those that you have to do with. Be always dropping a seed of heaven. And if thereby you be not a reformer of your age (though you may be); or, if you do not die as one who has done great things for God in your day and generation (yet you may have done) — at least you will have been a faithful follower of your meek and blessed Master, and you will have shown His Spirit, and you will have recognised and acted out His fundamental law, that "the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace." (James Vaughan, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. |
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