"The kind of peace that men seek will always be under God’s curse if he
is not acknowledged or praised as he deserves, or if his Word is not
kept in all its purity, for that ought to be the knot of our bond." -- John Calvin
Peace and friendship amongst men is a wonderful thing. This is the truth, and we ought to pursue these things with all our strength. At the same time, however, God’s truth ought to be so precious to us that even if we had to set the whole world on fire in order to promote it, we would be only too willing to do so! Yes, as far as we can, we are to seek peace. If only we ourselves and our possessions are at stake, let us endeavor to be at peace with our enemies and to tolerate them, seeking to win them by our patience. This is what pursuing peace entails. However, if God’s truth is being ignored or misused, this no longer applies. The kind of peace that men seek will always be under God’s curse if he is not acknowledged or praised as he deserves, or if his Word is not kept in all its purity, for that ought to be the knot of our bond. If we wish to please God, and if we want all things to work together for our good, surely it is God who must bind us together, Indeed, he has given us his Son, whom he calls “our peace” so that we all surrender ourselves to him (Ephesians 2:14). Therefore, if we desire to have a true and holy peace, we must return to this point: we must yield ourselves in obedience to the Son of God as our Head, we being one body, for there is only one church. But if others are enticing us away from the Lord Jesus Christ, rather than accepting peace on such terms we should prefer to suffer all the rage, fury and hatred of this world against us. Let us not fear the reproaches of men.
- See more at: Trinity Review: The Infiltration Which Corrupts the Truth of the Gospel
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