New Book: One New Humanity

This is an excerpt from a new book by Kristin Caynor and Werner Mischke, One New Humanity: Glory, Violence, and the Gospel of Peace, which is available at Amazon and William Carey Publishing.

Consider Peter’s visit in Joppa to the Roman centurion Cornelius, a visit orchestrated by visions given by God to both men (Acts 10:1–16). As Peter begins preaching, he immediately references Isaiah 52:7.“As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all)” (Acts 10:36). Here also the verb form of gospel is used. The phrase in Greek is euangelizomenos eirēnēn it means “gospeling peace,” or “preaching the gospel of peace.” In the home of Cornelius, Peter embodies and preaches the good news of peace—bringing together with God those near and far. This peace is so much more than an individual private reality. Peter is gospeling a peace that is personal with God and simultaneously social with “others.”

Peter embodies shalom. Shalom (ׁשלום) is the Hebrew word for peace in Isaiah. This word shalom is used in Isaiah 9:6, 52:7, and 57:19. In writing Ephesians 2:13–17, Paul quotes and interprets Isaiah.

• The Prince of Peace (Isa 9:6) is Jesus the Christ who proclaimed good news (εὐαγγελίζω, euangelizō) of peace (Eph 2:17; Isa 52:7).
• Christ has “broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility” (Eph 2:14); this breaking hostility is pictured in Isaiah 9:5—“every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.” Through the cross, Christ is “killing the hostility” (Eph 2:16).
• Christ has proclaimed good who news of peace to those far away, the gentiles—and peace to those who are near, the Jews (Eph 2:17; Isa 57:19).

These links in Acts 10 and Ephesians 2 to Isaiah’s shalom have big implications. In American Christian tradition, biblical peace normally refers to an individual’s private spiritual peace with God. Consider Billy Graham’s famous book Peace With God, first published in 1953. It rightly emphasizes the necessity of individual reconciliation with God. The book “points the way, the only way, to authentic personal peace in a world in crisis.” The phrase “authentic personal peace” is noteworthy. Graham makes no mention of the robust theology of Ephesians 2 presenting a peace with God that also includes peace with distant or hostile “others” through Christ.