“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1).

The Apostle Paul introduces us to our second phrase when he declares that believers have “peace with God.” While we may live in light of the fact that world peace continues to elude us, we can have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. If we have this peace, everything can collapse around us, but we have the assurance that nothing will ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

I am sure most of us have heard it said at one time or another: “It’s high time they made their peace with God.” Those who try to make their peace with God are to be pitied. There are literally millions at this very hour who are striving for this peace, but they will not find it because they are searching in all the wrong places.

They are seeking it in their own strength and wisdom, and the end result will be disillusionment. How is this peace obtained? Allow me to begin by showing how it is not obtained.

“Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Rom. 4:4,5).

First we learn that you cannot receive peace with God on your own merit. It is not possible to obtain this peace through good works, repetitious prayers, fasting, or confirmation. As a matter of fact, you can go to church services every day of your life and not experience this peace.

Secondly, you cannot acquire this peace by keeping ordinances such as circumcision or water baptism. You can have all the oceans of the water poured over you, but it will never grant you the forgiveness of your sins or peace with God. Lastly, you can try your very best to keep all 613 commandments and ordinances contained in the Law of Moses, and for all your efforts you will still not enjoy this peace.

How do we receive peace with God? By faith—if we simply believe that Christ died for our sins and rose again, not only are we justified freely by His grace, we also receive assurance that we are right with God. This means that God has nothing against us, having judged our sins at Calvary. The believer can never again be brought into danger of the hellfire judgment to come. God is at rest with us forever!

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

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