“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”
Not peacekeepers — peacemakers. Keeping peace avoids conflict; making peace enters it and transforms it.
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Bible Verses About Conflict & Peacemaking
Peace isn't the absence of conflict — it's what you build on the other side of it. The Bible never tells you to pretend. It tells you to go, speak, and work toward something real.
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“If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.”
Paul builds three qualifications in: 'if possible,' 'as much as lieth in you,' 'all men' — he's being precise about what you control and what you don't.
“Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.”
Jesus assumes conflict will happen — he plans for it rather than expecting his followers to rise above it.
“A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.”
The wisdom here is almost physical — tone has the power to de-escalate or ignite, independent of content.
“Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath.”
Paul doesn't say don't be angry — anger is acknowledged as real. He says don't let it ferment into something that controls you.
Theological Context
Jesus doesn't call peacemakers happy people — he calls them blessed, and then says something remarkable: they will be called children of God. The connection is intentional. The God who reconciled a fractured cosmos to himself through his Son is in the business of reconciliation — and those who do that work look most like him.
Matthew 18 gives the church one of its most specific and practical passages: go to the person, then bring witnesses, then involve the community. It is a structured process, not a vague principle. What strikes most readers is that Jesus expects conflict to happen among his followers — he's not scandalized by it. He plans for it.
The Charismatic tradition has always emphasized that peace is not just a human effort but a work of the Spirit. "The fruit of the Spirit is... peace" (Galatians 5:22). You pursue peacemaking because the Spirit in you is moving toward it — not because you're naturally a peaceful person.
Commentary is from a charismatic Protestant perspective, drawing on KJV text and public-domain sources including Spurgeon, Andrew Murray, and Matthew Henry.
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What Most Readers Miss
Romans 12:18 is one of the most carefully worded sentences Paul ever wrote: "If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." He builds three qualifications into a single sentence. *If it be possible* — he acknowledges it may not be. *As much as lieth in you* — he's locating your responsibility precisely, not demanding you control what you cannot. *With all men* — the scope is total, including enemies.
What's surprising is that Paul inherited this phrasing from the Stoic tradition — this is actually a philosophical phrase that circulated in the ancient world, and Paul adopts it and puts it in a Christian context. He's saying: this is what even the best pagan moral philosophy can figure out. You should be doing this, and then going further, all the way to verses 20–21: "heap coals of fire on his head" by feeding your enemy. That idiom likely refers to an Egyptian ritual of public shame-and-reconciliation, not revenge.
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