Five-minute study · Day 362 · John 14
John 14:27
A word worth stopping on: peace εἰρήνη eirene
'Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.' The Greek word for peace is eirene. It is the Greek translation of the Hebrew shalom, which means wholeness, completeness, the state where nothing essential is missing and nothing essential is broken. Jesus speaks this sentence in the upper room, hours before the arrest in Gethsemane. He is about to be handed over to the authorities, beaten, mocked, and crucified. He will be dead by Friday afternoon. And here, on Thursday night, he bequeaths his peace to eleven frightened men sitting around a table littered with bread crumbs and wine stains. He says 'my peace.' He possesses it. He carries it into the garden, into the trial, onto the cross. He gives it away from inside the crisis.
Word study: peace
- Greek
- εἰρήνη
- Pronounced
- eirene
- Strong's
- G1515
- Definition
- Peace, harmony, tranquility, the absence of hostility. In the New Testament, eirene carries the full weight of the Hebrew shalom: completeness, wholeness, well-being, the state in which all things are as they should be.
Eirene appears 92 times in the New Testament. BDAG defines it as (1) a state of concord, peace, harmony; (2) a state of well-being; (3) the messianic peace. The word entered the New Testament carrying centuries of Hebrew theology. Shalom in the Hebrew Bible means the presence of completeness, wholeness with nothing missing and nothing broken. When a priest blessed the people, 'The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace' (Numbers 6:26), the word behind that peace was shalom: may nothing be missing, may nothing be fractured, may you be whole.
Carson's commentary on John notes that Jesus' use of 'my peace' (ten eirenen ten emen) is possessive and specific. He does not say 'peace' in the abstract. He says 'my peace,' the peace that belongs to him, that he carries, that characterizes his inner life even as external circumstances collapse. Carson observes that this distinction structures the entire verse. The world gives a kind of peace: temporary, circumstantial, dependent on things going well. Jesus gives his own peace: a peace that exists inside suffering, that travels through death, that survives the cross.
Carson places the verse within the Farewell Discourse (John 13-17), Jesus' final extended teaching before the crucifixion. The disciples are afraid. Jesus has just told them he is leaving (14:2-3), that one of them will betray him (13:21), and that Peter will deny him three times (13:38). The room is thick with anxiety. Into that anxiety Jesus speaks eirene. The timing is precise. He does not wait for a calm moment. He speaks peace into the middle of dread.
The phrase 'let not your heart be troubled' (me tarassestho) uses the present imperative with the negative particle, meaning 'stop being troubled' or 'do not continue in the state of being troubled.' Carson notes that the command acknowledges the trouble already present. Jesus does not pretend the disciples are calm. He tells them to stop feeding the fear. The peace he offers is the resource for obeying that command. Eirene is not a feeling that arrives after the danger passes. It is a gift handed over in the middle of the danger, to be carried through it.
Historical context · 1st century CE
The Shalom Greeting and the Upper Room
In first-century Jewish culture, shalom was the standard greeting and farewell. When you entered a house, you said 'shalom aleichem' (peace to you). When you departed, you left your peace with the household. Jesus' words in John 14:27 follow this convention: 'Peace I leave with you.' He is saying goodbye. He is leaving the room, leaving his disciples, leaving this life. The farewell blessing of shalom was expected. What was unexpected was the qualifier: 'my peace.' A departing guest wished peace upon the household. Jesus claimed to possess a specific peace and to transfer it as personal property.
Carson identifies the upper room as likely located in the wealthier upper city of Jerusalem, possibly in the home of Mary, mother of John Mark (Acts 12:12). The room was large enough for thirteen men to recline at a meal. The Passover context adds weight. The disciples were eating the meal that commemorated Israel's deliverance from Egypt, a meal eaten in haste by slaves on the night of their liberation (Exodus 12:11). The original Passover was consumed in fear: the death angel was passing through the streets. The upper room meal carries the same atmosphere. Jesus has announced betrayal and denial. The disciples are shaken.
The Roman world also valued peace, pax, but as a political achievement. The Pax Romana, the Roman Peace, was maintained by military force. Augustus Caesar claimed to have brought peace to the empire by conquering all opposition. Coins from the period depict Pax as a goddess holding an olive branch and a cornucopia. Peace was the absence of war, achieved by making war against everyone who resisted. Carson contrasts this with Jesus' eirene. Roman peace came through domination. Jesus' peace came through sacrifice. Roman peace depended on the absence of enemies. Jesus' peace existed in the presence of enemies, on the night of betrayal, in the shadow of the cross.
The early church inherited this distinction. Paul opens nearly every letter with 'grace and peace' (charis kai eirene), fusing the Greek and Hebrew concepts. The peace he offered to congregations in Corinth, Galatia, and Rome was not the peace of comfortable circumstances. Many of his readers were under social pressure, economic hardship, and physical threat. The eirene Paul offered was the same one Jesus bequeathed in the upper room: a wholeness that does not depend on the world cooperating.
For reflection
Jesus gave his peace away on the worst night of his life. He was hours from arrest, and his hands were still open. Think about what peace means to you right now. Is it the absence of problems, or is it something you carry into the problems? Where is the most troubled place in your life this week? Bring the verse there. Read it aloud in that specific context.
The command is 'stop being troubled.' The resource for obeying the command is the peace he just gave you. The peace comes first. The courage follows.
Sources: BDAG; Carson, "John"