{"id":1344,"date":"2009-11-12T20:02:10","date_gmt":"2009-11-13T02:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/blog\/?p=1344"},"modified":"2009-11-12T20:02:10","modified_gmt":"2009-11-13T02:02:10","slug":"romans-317-the-peace-path","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/romans-317-the-peace-path\/","title":{"rendered":"Romans 3:17 – The Peace Path"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Romans 3:17<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

And the way of peace they have not known.”<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Truth to Learn<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Real peace is only experienced on God\u2019s path.<\/p>\n

Behind the Words<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The word translated \u201cpeace\u201d is eir\u0113n\u0113<\/span><\/em>, which refers to \u201cthe absence of warfare and dissention.\u201d It is also used metaphorically, as in this verse, to mean \u201cpeace of mind\u201d or \u201ctranquility.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have not known\u201d is translated from the two words ouk<\/span><\/em> egn\u014dsan<\/span><\/em>. Ouk<\/span><\/em> is the absolute negative in Greek and egn\u014dsan<\/span><\/em> is a form of gin\u014dsk\u014d<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cto know.\u201d There are several Greek words that refer to knowledge. This particular one refers to acquired or experiential knowledge as opposed to intuitive knowledge. In today\u2019s verse it implies that the people being talked about have never experienced peace.<\/p>\n

Meaning Explained<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Paul now states another result of having turned out of God\u2019s way and having gone down the path of one\u2019s own choosing. We explained in yesterday\u2019s verse that hodos<\/span><\/em> refers to \u201ca way<\/em>\u201d or \u201ca road<\/em>.\u201d Today we think of a road like a highway where cars and trucks travel at high speed. In the first century when this epistle (letter) was written, a road was often no more than a pathway just wide enough for an animal drawn cart to pass. So when we see the word \u201cway\u201d in these verses, it is usually referring to a road or pathway for foot traffic.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another thing to be aware of is the fact that the definite article is not present before hodos<\/span><\/em> in the Greek text, which would lead us to translate this as \u201ca<\/strong> way of peace\u201d not \u201cthe<\/strong> way of peace.\u201d In other words, there is not a single way of peace. Any path that God leads us down is potentially \u201ca way of peace,\u201d but the road we select for ourselves apart from God is never \u201ca way of peace.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Are you lacking peace in your life today? Jesus offers us a very special peace. In his gospel account, the Apostle John recorded these words of Jesus:<\/span><\/p>\n

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.<\/span> (John 14:27<\/span><\/strong>)<\/p>\n

And, in his letter to the Christians at Philippi, the Apostle Paul explained how a Christian can experience this peace:<\/p>\n

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.<\/span> (Philippians 4:6-7<\/span><\/strong>)<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s verse, however, we see that the natural man does not know the way of real peace because he doesn\u2019t know the Prince of Peace. As we learned in the previous verse, the unsaved person will ultimately only know the way of destruction and misery.<\/p>\n

Application<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Even in the midst of trials and tribulation on this earth, we can experience this peace \u201cthat passes all understanding\u201d because Jesus offered it to us. In order to have such peace, however, we need to be walking down God\u2019s road, not our own.<\/p>\n

Are you on a path of peace today?<\/p>\n

In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"signature\"<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2009 Will Krause. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

<\/span>If this message or this link was forwarded to you by a friend and you wish to receive future verses directly to your inbox, you can call the church phone \"\"(618) 614-3070<\/span><\/span><\/span> and leave a message telling us your name and e-mail address or you can send an e-mail to:\"e-mail<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Romans 3:17 And the way of peace they have not known.” Truth to Learn Real peace is only experienced on God\u2019s path. Behind the Words The word translated \u201cpeace\u201d is eir\u0113n\u0113, which refers to \u201cthe absence of warfare and dissention.\u201d It is also used metaphorically, as in this verse, to mean \u201cpeace of mind\u201d or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[589,61,588],"class_list":["post-1344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-know","tag-peace","tag-way"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-lG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1344\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}