When we speak of peace with God, it implies that there was a time when we were not at peace with Him. So, I want to begin by explaining why humanity needs peace with God in the first place.

When Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden, God gave them a specific instruction: they were not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But they disobeyed. They chose to listen to a suggestion that contradicted what God had told them, and that decision came with consequences. Through their disobedience, sin entered the world, and the fellowship humanity had enjoyed with God was disrupted. Sin introduced a divide between God and humanity, one that humanity could not bridge by its own efforts.

Some people like to think that God was simply punishing the entire human race for the wrongdoing of two people. But there is more to it than that. Adam and Eve represent humanity. The truth is, we would not necessarily have acted any differently if we had been in their place. We, too, have a tendency to choose our own way over God’s, but I digress.

The point is that sin brought about a separation between God and humanity. Therefore, the meaning of “not being at peace with God” is not that our hearts were necessarily troubled or that we all felt some immediate sense of unrest. It means that our relationship with God was broken by sin. It was not God who had wronged us; it was our rebellion against Him that brought us into this condition. As Scripture explains, we were enemies of God (Rom. 5:10).

And because we were created for fellowship with God, we were never meant to find our ultimate fulfilment apart from Him. Sin did not merely introduce wrongdoing into the world; it also brought humanity into a condition of separation from the very One in whom we were created to find life. This is where the trouble began.

But thank God, this is not where the story ends. What sin disrupted, Jesus Christ came to restore. Through His death, He made a way for us to be reconciled to the Father and to have peace with Him. This peace is no longer something we have to strive to establish by our own efforts; it is something Christ has accomplished for us.

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So, what exactly does it mean to have peace with God? What has Christ accomplished to make this peace possible, and what does it mean for us who have received it?

In Genesis 3:15, the Father promised that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. Even in the aftermath of the Fall, God was pointing towards the hope that would come through Jesus Christ.

Through His death, Jesus dealt with the problem of sin and made reconciliation with the Father possible. Isaiah 53:5 tells us that the chastisement for our peace was upon Him. The very thing that had disrupted our relationship with God was the thing Christ came to deal with, and by doing so, He opened up the path to restoring the relationship we once had with God. This is the first thing peace with God offers.

So, Jesus did more than make reconciliation possible. When He came, He revealed the Father to us in a way no one else could. He did not speak of God merely as a Master whom we are to serve; He also revealed Him as a Father with whom we can have a relationship. Through Christ, we have received the privilege of calling out, “Abba, Father” (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6). Peace with God means that we can now enjoy a restored relationship with the One who created us.

And because of this restored relationship, we now have greater freedom to approach God. We can approach the throne of grace with boldness, receiving mercy and finding grace to help in our time of need (Heb. 4:14–16). We are no longer alienated from God. Through Christ, we have been brought near to Him (Eph. 2:13).

It also gives us the assurance of His love. This does not mean that God hated us before Christ reconciled us to Him. Rather, it is quite the opposite. Scripture tells us that God demonstrated His love towards us in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8). Although our sin had created a separation between us and God, it was His love that brought us near to Him. The peace we have with Him is proof of His persistent, enduring love for us.

And now that we have been justified through Christ, we no longer have to live in the fear of condemnation. We do not have to dread death or the judgment of God, and our guilty consciences have been dealt with as well. This assurance brings us peace of mind because our confidence rests in what Jesus has accomplished for us. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:1), and there is now no condemnation for those who are in Him (Rom. 8:1).

However, this peace is not a licence to live carelessly. Having been reconciled to God, we are called to live in a manner that pleases Him. We keep His commandments, do His will, and turn away from sin, not to earn the peace He has already made available to us through Christ, but because we value the peace we have with Him (Tit. 2:11–12).

This also helps us understand why Jesus describes the peace He gives as different from the world’s. His peace is more than a temporary feeling of calm or an absence of troubling circumstances. It runs deeper. His peace restores us to our original factory setting: a life lived in harmony with God.

Now that we have established all that we gain by having peace with God, the next thing to re-establish—in case it was not stated clearly enough—is that peace with God comes only through Christ.

Scripture helps us understand that Jesus Himself is our peace (Eph. 2:14). The peace we have with God is not merely something given to us through Jesus; it is found in the person of Jesus Christ Himself. From His birth to His very last messages, Scripture tells us that He preached peace (Eph. 2:17).

Moreover, the journey to this reconciliation starts with responding to the sacrifice that made it possible. The reconciliation He offers must be received through faith in Him. Accepting Jesus as Lord and Saviour is the way to being at peace with God.

This is the good news of the gospel: through Jesus Christ, we have peace with God.