While peace is often associated with the cessation or absence of conflict, there is a positive connotation to peace; a wholeness.
The Hebrew word shalom and the Greek word eirênê both carry the idea of wholeness and harmony that characterizes a way of life.
Kenneson discusses several obstacles that stand in the way of this kind of biblical peace.
Individualism, and the promotion of such individualism, strikes at the heart of achieving biblical peace.
The privatization of faith takes individualism even further; as many often speak of a “personal relationship with Jesus,” meaning one’s own private relationship. Perhaps this explains why so many “self-professed Christians believe they can be perfectly good Christians apart from the church” (92).
Compartmentalizing life, defending our rights, and sanctioning violence are only a few of the ways peace is destroyed.
Incorporating baptism, edifying one another, admonishing one another, and forgiving one another are a few ways to support biblical peace.
When peace becomes a way of life there will be a harmony and wholeness that can only be the result of a relationship with God and one another.