“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”
My Notes
What Does Matthew 5:9 Mean?
"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." The seventh beatitude blesses those who actively make peace — not those who avoid conflict (peace-keepers) but those who create peace where it doesn't exist (peace-makers). The distinction matters: keeping peace is passive; making peace is active, costly, and creative.
The reward — "called the children of God" — is an identity designation. Peacemakers aren't just doing God's work; they're recognized as God's family. The activity reveals the identity: you make peace because you are God's child, and making peace is what God does. Like Father, like child.
The word "peacemakers" (eirenopoioi) appears only here in the entire New Testament. It's a compound word: peace + makers. The makers are constructors, builders, creators. They don't just wish for peace or pray for peace — they build it. They construct it from the raw materials of conflict.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Are you a peacemaker or a peace-keeper — do you build peace or avoid conflict?
- 2.What's the hardest peace you've ever had to make?
- 3.How does peacemaking as 'the family business' change your identity?
- 4.Where is there raw material for peace that you're not currently building with?
Devotional
Blessed are the peacemakers. Not the peace-wishers. Not the conflict-avoiders. Not the people who pretend everything's fine. The makers. The constructors. The ones who walk into conflict and build peace out of the wreckage.
Peacemaking is one of the most misunderstood beatitudes because people confuse it with peacekeeping. Peacekeeping avoids conflict. Peacemaking addresses it. Peacekeeping smooths things over. Peacemaking does the hard work of actually resolving what's broken. Peacekeeping is easy. Peacemaking costs everything.
The reward is family identity: called the children of God. Not just servants or followers or admirers — children. Because peacemaking is what God does. The entire gospel is a peace-making project: God reconciling the world to Himself through Christ. When you make peace, you do the family business. You act like your Father.
The word "makers" implies construction. Peace doesn't happen naturally in a fallen world. It has to be made — assembled, built, engineered from components that naturally resist each other. The peacemaker is a builder who works with hostile materials and creates something that shouldn't exist: reconciliation between enemies.
Are you a peacemaker or a peace-keeper? Do you build peace or just avoid conflict? The blessing is for the makers — the ones who do the hard, costly, creative work of turning enmity into reconciliation.
That's the family business. Are you in it?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Blessed are the peace makers,.... Not between God and man, for no man can make his own peace with God; nor can any mere…
Blessed are the peacemakers - Those who strive to prevent contention, strife, and war; who use their influence to…
Christ begins his sermon with blessings, for he came into the world to bless us (Act 3:26), as the great High Priest of…
peacemakers not only in the sense of those who heal dissension. Peace is used in a deeper sense, "the peace of God," Php…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture