Peace be unto you
In his comments on John 20:19, D. Carson suggests that the risen Lord’s greeting to his disciples, “Peace be unto you” ειρηνη υμιν is more than just a traditional Hebrew greeting. Arguing from the Lord’s previous promise of peace in 14:27 and 16:33, and from the general observation that “shalom was also the embracing term used to denote the unqualified well-being that would characterize the people of God once the eschatological kingdom had dawned,” he concludes, “Jesus’ ‘Shalom!’ on Easter evening is the complement of ‘it is finished’ on the cross, for the peace of reconciliation and life from God is now imparted.”
BibleWorks makes it easy to test Carson’s intuition against biblical usage. The first step is to scan biblical Greek for other instances of the expression. We could simply search BGT for the exact phrase,
.ειρηνη υμιν
But perhaps we want to be open to variations on the phrase as well. This particular phrase doesn’t show up in either 14:27 or 16:33. Let’s search instead for the two words in a single verse, without regard for order, and let’s also permit other case endings on ειρηνη,
.ειρηνη* υμιν
The results yield several interesting observations.
First, even in the gospels, the expression does not appear before the resurrection. There are many instances where the Lord meets people before his passion. In John alone, one thinks of the woman at the well in ch. 4, or the first disciples in ch. 1 (a passage with numerous literary parallels with ch. 20-21). This distribution is consistent with Carson’s claim. Only after the redeemer has paid the penalty for his people’s sin does he greet them in this way. Once that requirement has been met, the Lord greets his people with peace, and Paul, in the openings of all his epistles, emphasizes over and over, “(Grace and) peace be unto you.”
Second, the expression as a traditional greeting appears in the LXX of Dan 4:1 and (in Theodotian’s text) in 6:26 (English v. 25), with the addition of πληθυνθειη, “peace be multiplied to you.” These instances come from gentile rulers (Nebuchadnezzar and Darius).
Third, the only other place in the canonical books that related Greek expressions appear is in Jeremiah, where we find a concentration of examples: 4:10; 14:13; 23:17; 29:7 = LXX 36:7, always with an additional verb (typically ειμι or διδωμι). In all of these cases, which are on the lips of Israelites, the expression reflects the tension between Jeremiah’s prophecies of doom and the promises of peace offered by the false prophets. Jeremiah consistently excoriates the people for their sin and warns of coming judgment, while the false prophets protest, “It’s OK, God isn’t going to punish you. You will have peace.”
We would like to include in our survey other OT passages that use the same Hebrew expression as these examples, but perhaps with a different Greek translation. The examples in Daniel render an Aramaic original, so they are not helpful, but Jeremiah’s examples show that the underlying Hebrew expression would be שׁלום לכם (not שׁלום עלכם as Carson suggests). Let’s examine the Hebrew text for other examples of this expression:
.שׁלום@ncms* ל@Pp+S2mp*
In addition to the instances in Jeremiah that we have already seen, this search yields Gen 43:22. Joseph’s brothers have returned to Egypt, having found their money in their sacks, and they begin their interview with Joseph apologizing for their failure to pay on their first visit. He assures them that he had their money, saying “Peace be to you, fear not.” The Greek translators in this case render the Hebrew expression ιλεως υμιν rather than ειρηνη υμιν.
Pagan kings use the phrase as a simple greeting. But when Israelites (Jeremiah, the false prophets, and Joseph) use the phrase or similar ones, it always conveys the sense of avoiding potential judgment. Joseph’s brothers expect to be punished for failure to pay, and Joseph encourages them, “peace be to you.” The people of Jerusalem expect from Jeremiah’s prophecies to suffer defeat, and the false prophets encourage them, “You will have peace.” This background makes Carson’s hypothesis much stronger. We can appeal, not only to generic eschatological associations for the word שׁלום, but to the distribution of similar phrases elsewhere in Scripture. It may also be significant that the only OT uses of these phrases are in connection with Jeremiah and Joseph, two Old Testament characters who prefigure the Messiah in many ways. In particular, the Lord’s opposition to the priestly hierarchy mirrors Jeremiah’s persistent struggle with the temple. Jeremiah’s message from God was one of judgment on a sinful people, and he had to challenge the false proclamations of peace from the other prophets. Not until the coming of the Messiah could the blessing of peace be truly realized. And even the Messiah does not offer his peace until he has completed the work of redemption and borne his people’s sin on the tree.
