And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.
The work of righteousness is peace, and its effect and fruit is quietness and assurance forever. That peace is inward rest and calm, a settled and lasting confidence, while sin destroys peace and leaves the self unsubdued and restless with uncontrollable passion and strife. The quietness and assurance endure forever as settled confidence and rest in Christ and His love, replacing uncertainty with eternal victory. Christ's grace reconciles the soul to God and quiets sinful passion to give rest, so that being made righteous by faith and justified by faith brings peace with God. This righteousness is received through the fullness of His grace by those who hunger and thirst for it, and it grows as they know God by doing what His law requires, keeping His commandments and becoming Christlike in will, temper, spirit and thought.
Peace Righteousness Brings
The work of righteousness is peace, and its effect, result and fruit is quietness and assurance forever. Righteousness taking hold in the heart produces that peace, and knowledge of God gained by putting the truths of His Word into practice gives power to do good, so that a daily life showing Christ's grace proves His words have become part of the person.
That peace is inward rest, calm, and settled, lasting confidence. Sin has destroyed peace and left self unsubdued and restless with uncontrollable passion and the strife of human passion. When Christ's grace reconciles the soul to God it quiets sinful passions and the strife of human passion and brings rest in His love.
The quietness and assurance endure forever as a settled confidence and rest in Christ and in His love, replacing the disquietude of uncertainty with eternal victory and the rest found in Christ. Faithfully doing the preparatory work of Christian character, including faithfulness in small duties, leads to that eternal victory. This work advances through implicit faith and dependence on God rather than reliance on human ideas and wisdom, and its fruit is a settled confidence that lasts forever.
Receiving Righteousness Through Christ
Grace reconciles the soul to God, and when righteousness takes hold in the heart it quiets sinful passions and the strife of human passion and gives inward rest, calm and settled, lasting confidence. That rest is given as surely as peace was spoken to the waves of Galilee, for those who turn crying for deliverance receive it in His love, and being made righteous by faith and justified by faith brings peace with God. Christ brings righteousness, judgment and peace to the human family by teaching obedience to God and calling people to rely on the merits of His death and resurrection. The righteousness to be desired is received through the fullness of His grace.
Longing for that righteousness, hungering and thirsting for it, brings the promise of being filled with the fullness of grace. This work of righteousness advances through implicit faith and dependence on God's power rather than reliance on human ideas and wisdom, and its fruit is a settled confidence that lasts forever. From the beginning to the end of the church's history Christ gives His people the life, strength, wisdom, holiness, peace, quietness and lasting assurance promised here when they accept His invitation, learn from Him and take His yoke. Living as He lived, putting the truths of His Word into practice, gives power to do good, so that a daily life showing His grace demonstrates that His words have become part of the person.
Knowing God grows through doing what His law requires, practicing the principles of truth, keeping His commandments in deed and truth, and becoming Christlike. That path brings sanctification and conformity to God in will, temper, spirit and thought, with purity, victory over conflict, and peace grounded in pardoning love. Truth in the heart fills the soul with peace and guides to Christ, who alone can cleanse the soul from defilement. God's work is to gather a righteous people from fallen humanity and call them to ever-greater holiness, His law being the transcript of His character, and as the church's members live righteously the church is established.
Life, Church, and Nation
The work of righteousness brings peace, and its lasting outcome is quietness and assurance forever. Faithfully doing the preparatory work of Christian character leads on to eternal victory. Faithfulness in small duties belongs to that preparatory work.
A Christlike life of unselfish service causes prejudice to vanish and difficulties to settle. Peace is the fruit of a life shaped by righteousness. Christ's peace is grounded in truth and sustained by righteousness, and it is to be cultivated in the church through unity and love rather than conflict among believers. Christ gives his people the life, strength, wisdom and holiness the verse holds out when they accept his invitation and live as he lived.
Applied to a nation, obedience to God's law and the Bible's principles of justice, temperance, truth, equity and benevolence establish social order, prosperity and stability. Those same principles bring prosperity and stability to national life. Suppressing them instead contributed to France's decline and revolution.
The work of righteousness is peace, and its effect and fruit is quietness and assurance forever. That peace is inward rest and calm, a settled and lasting confidence, while sin destroys peace and leaves the self unsubdued and restless with uncontrollable passion and strife. The quietness and assurance endure forever as settled confidence and rest in Christ and His love, replacing uncertainty with eternal victory. Christ's grace reconciles the soul to God and quiets sinful passion to give rest, so that being made righteous by faith and justified by faith brings peace with God. This righteousness is received through the fullness of His grace by those who hunger and thirst for it, and it grows as they know God by doing what His law requires, keeping His commandments and becoming Christlike in will, temper, spirit and thought.
Peace Righteousness Brings
The work of righteousness is peace, and its effect, result and fruit is quietness and assurance forever. Righteousness taking hold in the heart produces that peace, and knowledge of God gained by putting the truths of His Word into practice gives power to do good, so that a daily life showing Christ's grace proves His words have become part of the person.
That peace is inward rest, calm, and settled, lasting confidence. Sin has destroyed peace and left self unsubdued and restless with uncontrollable passion and the strife of human passion. When Christ's grace reconciles the soul to God it quiets sinful passions and the strife of human passion and brings rest in His love.
The quietness and assurance endure forever as a settled confidence and rest in Christ and in His love, replacing the disquietude of uncertainty with eternal victory and the rest found in Christ. Faithfully doing the preparatory work of Christian character, including faithfulness in small duties, leads to that eternal victory. This work advances through implicit faith and dependence on God rather than reliance on human ideas and wisdom, and its fruit is a settled confidence that lasts forever.
Receiving Righteousness Through Christ
Grace reconciles the soul to God, and when righteousness takes hold in the heart it quiets sinful passions and the strife of human passion and gives inward rest, calm and settled, lasting confidence. That rest is given as surely as peace was spoken to the waves of Galilee, for those who turn crying for deliverance receive it in His love, and being made righteous by faith and justified by faith brings peace with God. Christ brings righteousness, judgment and peace to the human family by teaching obedience to God and calling people to rely on the merits of His death and resurrection. The righteousness to be desired is received through the fullness of His grace.
Longing for that righteousness, hungering and thirsting for it, brings the promise of being filled with the fullness of grace. This work of righteousness advances through implicit faith and dependence on God's power rather than reliance on human ideas and wisdom, and its fruit is a settled confidence that lasts forever. From the beginning to the end of the church's history Christ gives His people the life, strength, wisdom, holiness, peace, quietness and lasting assurance promised here when they accept His invitation, learn from Him and take His yoke. Living as He lived, putting the truths of His Word into practice, gives power to do good, so that a daily life showing His grace demonstrates that His words have become part of the person.
Knowing God grows through doing what His law requires, practicing the principles of truth, keeping His commandments in deed and truth, and becoming Christlike. That path brings sanctification and conformity to God in will, temper, spirit and thought, with purity, victory over conflict, and peace grounded in pardoning love. Truth in the heart fills the soul with peace and guides to Christ, who alone can cleanse the soul from defilement. God's work is to gather a righteous people from fallen humanity and call them to ever-greater holiness, His law being the transcript of His character, and as the church's members live righteously the church is established.
Life, Church, and Nation
The work of righteousness brings peace, and its lasting outcome is quietness and assurance forever. Faithfully doing the preparatory work of Christian character leads on to eternal victory. Faithfulness in small duties belongs to that preparatory work.
A Christlike life of unselfish service causes prejudice to vanish and difficulties to settle. Peace is the fruit of a life shaped by righteousness. Christ's peace is grounded in truth and sustained by righteousness, and it is to be cultivated in the church through unity and love rather than conflict among believers. Christ gives his people the life, strength, wisdom and holiness the verse holds out when they accept his invitation and live as he lived.
Applied to a nation, obedience to God's law and the Bible's principles of justice, temperance, truth, equity and benevolence establish social order, prosperity and stability. Those same principles bring prosperity and stability to national life. Suppressing them instead contributed to France's decline and revolution.