He is Our Peace

Eph 2:14 For he is our peace…

Paul begins with the word “For.” In a grammatical and exegetical sense, when a verse begins with “For,” this signals that Paul is about to give us a reason or an explanation for the preceding statement, which in this case is how we are made nigh by the blood of Christ. God has brought us near to Him. He brought us near to His heart through the substitutionary atonement of His Son. And now the “for” explains how God was able to make the Gentiles nigh unto Him.

This reconciliation happened, because Christ Himself is our peace. He is the means by which God was able to offer a gospel of grace and to bring together Jew and Gentile into the one Body of Christ in this period of grace before He pours out His wrath.

In vs. 14-16, Paul is going to further reveal just how much peace Christ’s death was able to accomplish. He didn’t just bring peace between us and God. In this age of grace, Jew and Gentile who gets saved by grace are brought together as one, as members of the Body of Christ. How? Because Christ has broken down the middle wall of partition between us… having abolished in his flesh the enmity…

The essential point to the expression, For He is our peace, is that Christ is not merely a peacemaker but He’s the embodiment of “our peace.”

Notice all three times Paul speaks of peace in this chapter. In Eph 2:14 Paul writes, “For he is our peace…” In Eph 2:15, Paul says, “…so making peace.” Then, in Eph 2:17, we read, “And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.”

First – vs. 14. Paul says, “For He is our peace.” This is a statement of identity and personification. He is our peace is much bigger than the idea that Christ brings peace or makes peace, although He does that. He IS our peace.

He is our peace means that Christ is peace itself.

He isn’t simply the one who brought us peace with God. He is also the living embodiment of peace, how to make peace, how to live in peace, how to bring about reconciliation and unity. This is about the nature of Christ. Because of His nature, He took away that which caused hostilities between Jew and Gentile. Because of His nature, He also dealt with the issue that caused hostilities between us and God – sin. Christ is the model and the source of all peace. He is not just an agent of peace. He is peace incarnate. He brought about the means of peace and reconciliation between us and God AND between each of us – not simply because of what He did but also because of who He, which is why He did what He did. He IS our peace. He IS peace itself. He IS the living embodiment of peace.

Then Paul says in vs. 15, “…so making peace.” This is a statement of action and accomplishment. Vs. 14 is about who He is. Vs. 15 is about what He did at Calvary.

Paul is describing the process by which Christ, who is peace, actively brought about peace. He did this by “abolishing in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances.” Christ’s death on the cross was the active event that fulfilled the law. Fulfilling the law was the golden bridge that allowed God to bring the two hostile camps of Jew and Gentiles together in this age of grace into one new man, called the Body of Christ, the church today, which is modeled after Christ’s body, a body that was sacrificed to have this peace. Vs. 15 is about the work of Christ that produces peace. It’s the how of the reconciliation between us and God AND between Jews and Gentiles.

Then Paul says in vs. 17, “And came and preached peace to you…” This is a statement of proclamation and communication. He’s talking about the message of peace found in the gospel, a message of peace with God and between Jews and Gentiles. Vs. 14 is about who He is. Vs. 15 is about what He did at Calvary. Vs. 17 is about the peace we proclaim through the gospel because of what He did at Calvary, which was because of who He is.

These three references to peace in Eph. 2 show a logical progression: He is peace. He made peace, and we preach peace. These are not three different kinds of peace. These are three different facets of the one all-sufficient work of peace by Christ on the cross.

So back to the idea that Christ is our peace. Three points to be made:

1. Christ is the Personal Embodiment of Peace: Christ is peace itself. This isn’t just about feeling calm but about a state of rightness with God.
2. Christ is the Reconciling Force: The immediate context of Ephesians 2:14 is the unity between Jews and Gentiles. Before the cross and the age of grace, there was a deep-seated enmity between these two groups, symbolized by the dividing wall of hostility (vs. 14) – the Mosaic law. Christ’s work on the cross abolished that wall. He took two distinct and hostile groups and created one new humanity out of the two, the Body of Christ (vs.15). So, “He is our peace” means He is the one who reconciles not only individuals to God but also reconciles people to each other.
3. Christ is also the Model for Peace-Making: He is the living embodiment of how to make peace. His entire life and ministry were demonstrations of this. He didn’t seek revenge or retaliation. Instead, He offered forgiveness and reconciliation. His act of self-sacrifice on the cross is the ultimate example of a peaceful, reconciling act. We are called to follow His example, as “peacemakers” (Rom. 14:19; 2 Cor. 13:11) by embodying His grace and forgiveness in our relationships with others.

“He is our peace” is a profound declaration that Christ is the source, the substance, and the example of all true peace—with God, with others, and within ourselves.