Friends: Jesus came not to win a war against the Romans, but to bring victory to humanity.  Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #1035

September 15, 2026

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Peace with God

By Bob Walters

 “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him (Jesus), and through him to reconcile to himself (God) all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross.” – Colossians 1:19-20

The Jews of the first century made a huge mistake in their expectation and understanding of how to deal with the prophesied Messiah of ancient scripture.

This is a commentary, not a criticism, because I doubt I would have expected or thought any different. The Romans kept the peace and enforced civic order – often harshly – but were not the Jews’ idea of salvation. The Romans were a burden, and pagan: idolators with false gods and earthly deities. Fear and violence were their justice.

What the Jews – what Israel – had going for them was a defined relationship, albeit shaky, with the One True God. God wasn’t shaky, but the Jews were. They had laws and traditions to outline their divine relationship, but their practice of worshipping God had become infested with self-imposed legalities that masked God and elevated the human leaders of Israel.  The Jews and the Romans focused on conflict, not peace.

Jesus, the promised Messiah, came, I believe, not so much as a rebuke to Israel – although He was definitely that – but as the fulfillment and deliverer of God’s intent for all mankind. How, where, or when better to do that than in the center of God’s Israel where the world’s most powerful empire held earthly dominion?

Jesus came to address both problems: 1. the Jews’ mistaken idea of the Messiah, and 2. the Romans’ mistaken idea of manmade authority.

The Jews’ mistake was praying for a Messiah whose mission was to kill the Romans and exalt Israel to political and religious dominance over all the earth.

Whether or not the Romans thought much about the world beyond the Mediterranean, or say, from the British Isles to the west and Persia/India to the east, isn’t often discussed. But Rome’s wide dominance allowed only for Caesar, not Jesus.

Jesus came not to kill the Romans or elevate Israel. Jesus came to make peace between God and humanity. Peace was the goal; that was the victory on offer.

We think of “victory” as implying, of necessity, a “loser.” Victory as reward, victory as vanquishing an enemy, victory as gaining power. Leafing through the New Testament, whether the Gospels or epistles of Paul, Peter, James, John et al, we don’t see military or political dominance as God’s goal or Jesus’s mission.

What we see in Christ is endurance, patience, obedience, faithfulness, righteousness, truth, and love. When we in this life encounter “trials of many kinds” (James 1:2-4), our victory and goal in overcoming those trials is peace in knowing Jesus is Lord, Jesus is our Savior, and Jesus is with us always (Matthew 28:20). God cares.

Where the Jews saw war and persecution and the Romans saw empire and order, Jesus came to save mankind from our true enemy, sin, which brings death. Salvation is forgiveness, grace, and love. Jesus’s blood brings peace, not war.

We may be in a war with Satan and his earthly and spiritual “princes and principalities” (Ephesians 6:12), but our victory, and Satan’s defeat, is peace with Christ.

It is that peace, and our trusting faith in Jesus, that invites us lovingly into the Kingdom that overcomes the world, restores fellowship with God, and brings eternal life.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) paraphrases: Make peace, not war. God loves you.