The Big Picture

Rom 12:18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.(NAS)

It seems like I've been living this verse lately. Maybe I should explain better. It feels like lately, this verse has been telling me to live this verse. What is it that I can do to live at peace with those around me? As the verse says, it is not always possible, some people just don't want to live at peace with you, but if you can, you should. The next question could be: when is it impossible to get along with someone, and at what point do you stop trying? Obviously, we should do our best to live in a manner so as to avoid conflict, and in so doing, have a certain level of peace even with those "difficult people."

At the same time, the Bible says not to throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample you (Matt. 7:6). In other words, there comes a point where you can't continue to actively "force" someone to get along with you. You shouldn't become rude and treat that person with contempt, to the contrary, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Rom. 12:21). But sometimes the only way to live at peace with someone is to not be too close to them.

I think it's interesting to put this verse in its broader context and see what else it is saying. Romans 12 focuses on our response to God's faithfulness and salvation discussed in previous chapters. It talks about our "spiritual service of worship."

Rom 12:1 I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, {which is} your spiritual service of worship.(NAS)

It makes clear throughout the following chapter that "your bodies" goes far beyond the physical. In fact, it concentrates more on other ways of worshipping God: living at peace. Most of the statements in chapter 12 can be boiled down to living at peace with others and how we can achieve that.

One of the most important verses that I saw in this chapter, perhaps especially with connection to verse 18, is here:

Rom 12:3-5
3 For through the grace given to me I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function,5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.(NAS)

If we believe that we are better than everyone else, we are not going to live at peace with others. Verses four and five go even further with that, saying that as members of the body of Christ, we each have different gifts. God wired each of us differently for our own unique ministry in the body of Christ, and sometimes that can even cause conflict, but the point is that it shouldn't. This last portion obviously doesn't apply to unbelievers, but the command in verse 18 does. It says to "be at peace with all men." Not just believers, but all men.

What I'm trying to say, and having a hard time saying it, is that living peacefully is not just a command, it is a worshipful response to God's goodness. By living at peace with everyone, we're praising God and pointing others toward Him with our example.