What does First B Jackson teach about peace on earth?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At First Baptist Jackson, the teaching on peace on earth starts with a genuine question inside the angels' song in Luke 2:14. The phrase 'peace on earth, goodwill toward men' rests on a single Greek letter, a sigma, whose presence or absence changes the grammatical form of the word 'eudokia' and has divided ancient manuscripts for centuries. Pastor Mark, Pastor Ray, Pastor Joel, and Pastor Blake and Pastor Jason have each worked through this honestly, reading the range of English translations side by side and being straightforward that scholars have not settled it. Rather than flattening the question, the teaching here holds both readings as true at once: God genuinely leans toward all people with favor, and peace also rests in a particular way on those who receive it.
The word 'eudokia' itself carries the weight of the message. It means goodwill, kindly intent, delight, pleasure, desire. Across nine appearances in the New Testament, it consistently describes a God who is not distant or punishing but genuinely, warmly disposed toward people. He is not willing that any should perish. He is patient and full of mercy. The teaching at First Baptist Jackson pushes back directly against any picture of God as indifferent, and it presses the question to a bigger one: does the peace announced that night belong to everyone, or only to some? The answer the preaching here gives is that God's sovereign action and human responsibility are both real and must be held together without collapsing into either extreme. As one seminary president Pastor Jason and others have quoted put it, it seems easier to go to a consistent extreme than to stay at the center of biblical tension.
That tension is not a problem to be solved but the actual shape of the Christmas message. God acted, definitively, sending His Son so that people might receive adoption, so that they might be enriched, so that the world might be saved through Him. The 'so that' in passage after passage shows that God's sovereign movement and the human reception of it belong together. Longfellow wrote in the middle of the Civil War that the bells kept ringing 'peace on earth' while the cannons kept answering, and he landed not on resolution but on trust: God is not dead nor doth He sleep. That same honest faith, refusing to pretend the tension away, is what the teaching here invites.
Taught from Luke 2:14 · John 3:16 · Galatians 4:4-5 · 2 Corinthians 8:9 · 2 Peter 3:9
The passage taught · 2 Corinthians 8:9
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- December 27, 2024 To Sigma or Not to Sigma A Wyoming pastor traces the Greek word for "goodwill" through the Christmas angel's song to show what God's favor means and what we do with it.
- December 22, 2024 Peace on Earth, Goodwill Toward Men Pastor Ray explores the angels' Christmas declaration in Luke 2:14, tracing God's goodwill toward humanity through Greek grammar, scripture, and the tension between God's sovereignty and human responsibility.
- December 22, 2024 Goodwill Toward Men Pastor Joel explores "goodwill toward men" from Luke 2:14, tracing God's purpose and desire for all people to receive peace through faith in Jesus Christ.
- December 25, 2022 Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men A Christmas Day sermon from Jackson, Wyoming exploring peace on earth, the angels' announcement in Luke 2:14, and what it means to live out Christ's message of love and peace.
- December 20, 2015 Listen to the Angels Sing A Wyoming pastor explores the angel's song from Luke 2, wrestling honestly with what "peace on earth, goodwill to men" really means and why it still matters.
- December 20, 2015 Listen to the Angels Sing A Christmas sermon on Luke 2:14 exploring what the angels really sang, whether God's peace extends to all people, and what we do once that message is delivered.
Mentioned along the way
- December 21, 2021 Good News of Great Joy for All People Luke 2 reminds us that God sent angels to ordinary shepherds first. Hear how that good news of great joy still reaches ordinary people today.