The peace of Galatians 5:22 is about the life of the members of the new society that is the church. Peace is defined by the wholistic and integrated character of the body of Christ, “when each part is working properly” (Ephesians 4:16).

The earliest image of the Holy Spirit in the Bible is His “hovering over the face of the waters” (Gen. 1:2). The creation account includes the Holy Spirit’s role in bringing order and flourishing through His presence. The Spirit is found in the beginning “brooding…with bright wings.”¹ Where tumultuous depths once dominated the landscape, now, on account of the Spirit’s working and God’s almighty word, there flows tranquil, life-giving water (see Ps. 104:10–13).

It is fitting that in the prophecies of the new creation and of the coming day of salvation, we learn that the Spirit will have a transformative role in this wondrous work. Whereas the people of God were once addressed as an “afflicted one, storm-tossed” (Isa. 54:11), when “the Spirit is poured upon us from on high,” the “effect of righteousness will be peace” (Isa. 32:15, 17). This is summed up in the promise, “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river” (Isa. 66:12, emphasis added). Just as in the record of the first creation, the Spirit in the renovated creation calms raging seas—that is, the Spirit descends upon the nations formerly at war with God, and from them makes a sea of shalom (“peace”).

Upon the firm grounding of the Scriptures, the Apostle Paul builds his case that the fruit of the Spirit includes peace. In striking contrast to the “works of the flesh” (Gal. 5:19–21), many of which include attributes of hostility and antagonism, the believer produces fruit that contributes to the binding together of the members of the body. Peace is both an internal characteristic of those who are in Christ and one that pertains to the external good of those who are “one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28).

In our cultural environment of turbo-charged individualism, it is worth highlighting that the bulk of the characteristics the Apostle outlines in Galatians 5:22–23 are communally focused and exhibited. In the subsequent verses, Paul consistently uses plural modifiers to refer to believers: “Those who belong to Christ Jesus,” “If we live by the Spirit,” “Let us not become conceited,” (Gal. 5:24–26, emphasis added). Thus, I maintain it is impossible to exercise the gifts of “love, joy, peace…” if we isolate ourselves from the communion of saints.

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