What does it mean to preach the gospel of peace in Romans 10:15?

The Gospel is also called "the Gospel of peace" (Rom. 10:15). The first grand result of believing the testimony of God concerning His Son is "peace with God" (Rom. 5:1). This means, not merely a happy frame of mind, but the blessed knowledge that every question between God and the soul has been settled by the death of Christ, and that every cloud has been thereby dispelled from the horizon for ever. Our joy may fluctuate continually, for this depends very much upon ourselves — our conduct, and the measure of our daily trust in God; but peace knows no fluctuation, for it depends, not upon anything within us, but upon divine facts outside of us, the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. There have been two proclamations of peace on the part of Christ; first, during His life here (Acts 10:36); and second, after His resurrection (Eph. 2:17). The first was the announcement of God's attitude towards men, even though rebellious; the second is the declaration of the assured result of Christ's atoning sacrifice for all who believe God.

If now we take the next scripture, this will be abundantly clear. In Ephesians 2:17 we read: "And came and preached peace to you which were afar off [the Gentiles], and to them that were nigh [Jews]." That is, peace having been made by the blood of Christ, He can now, through His servants, proclaim peace to all who will receive the glad tidings of His finished work of atonement. And let the reader mark the words, "preaching peace," that is, peace is offered, without money, and without price, to those who hear the message; it is offered as God's own gift of grace to guilty sinners. This is illustrated by an action of the Lord Himself. On the first day of the week, His resurrection day, when His disciples were gathered together, He appeared in their midst, and His first words were, "Peace be unto you." (John 20.) Having made peace by the blood of His cross, He can now come and bestow peace — peace with God — upon His disciples, as the fruit of His atoning work.

“The word which God sent unto the children of Israel preaching peace by Jesus Christ (He is Lord of all).” And being Lord of all, the Gentiles must come in, and Cornelius must hear of peace. God was preaching peace. He was setting weary, anxious, troubled hearts at rest. He was full of grace and truth, and when the people heard Him they wondered at the words of grace which proceeded out of His mouth. He was not covering up the wickedness and sin of man. He was not there to wink at the iniquity of the human heart. Evil never had been exposed before as it was in His presence. I do not doubt more than one could have said, “He told me all that ever I did.” But there was no imputation. If the light was there to detect the sin, the grace was there to say that all was forgiven. Men had nothing to pay and the Creditor was there preaching forgiveness.

The cheering announcement of Isaiah 52:7 is the authority here cited; but here again we may observe the wisdom of the citation. The apostle does not quote the latter clause of the verse "that publishes salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigns!" For in truth, according to the just sense of prophecy, the very reverse appears from that day to this. The days of vengeance were at hand for that Christ-rejecting generation, not of salvation for the holy city. And Jerusalem is still trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. But assuredly the joyful tidings must come, for the mouth of Jehovah has spoken it; and then how beautiful, yea, on the mountains (which the apostle did not cite) the feet of him that publishes glad tidings of peace, that tells glad tidings of good things, that publishes salvation, saying to Zion, Thy God reigns! No dust will make their very feet otherwise than beautiful because of the good news they bear. It is not as in Nahum the fall of Nineveh, nor yet of Babylon, for Babylon, as punisher or punished, is heard of no more after Isaiah 48. We have from Isaiah 49-57 entered the still more solemn charge which the prophet lays in Jehovah's name against His people, not for idol worship but for the rejection of the Messiah. Yet here we have the glad tidings of His pardoning and delivering mercy after reaching the lowest depths of rebellion. The apostle shows that in this as in so many other respects the gospel anticipates what repentant and restored Israel will receive from God in the latter day, (and may we not add?) in if possible a deeper form of the truth. For grace, as we know it in Christ (even beyond earthly glory itself, let it be ever so pure as in that day), gives the deepest motives to the earnest spread of the good news: and who so fit to apply the prophecy thus as that indefatigable minister of the gospel, through whom mainly the gospel was even then present in all the world, and bearing fruit and making growth, as we learn in Colossians 1?

But all begins with God. Every true preacher is sent forth by Him, and beautiful are their feet as they go. Paul quotes from Isaiah 52, where the prophet speaks of the coming days, when at last the tidings of deliverance comes to Zion by the advent of the Lord in His glory. Equally beautiful however are the feet of those who carry the tidings of His advent in grace and humiliation, and of all that was accomplished by it for our salvation.

What precious content there is in this last reference — in Romans 3, the feet of those who knew not the way of peace were marked by violence; now through the precious "gospel of peace" they are of such moral worth and dignity that God can use them for the "complete crushing" (the true meaning of the word) of he who introduced violence and murder into this world. The perfection of beauty is seen in Christ as publishing peace (Isaiah 52:7; Nahum 1:15); that same beauty is seen in measure in the movements of believers who delight, as sent of the Lord, to preach the gospel of peace in a sin disturbed world (Romans 10).

Believe on Him now, for you will not call unless you believe in Him, and you will not believe in Him unless you have heard of Him, and this you have. "How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" (vers. 14, 15.) This is a beautiful circle. First of all God sends out the preacher; as the evangelist preaches, the sinner hears — as he hears he believes; the gospel of peace first goes into his heart, and then comes out of his mouth, and he says, "Lord, I believe." It is like touching the button of an electric bell, the circle is completed. I want the circle completed tonight. How is it to be completed? By simple faith, for "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." You just receive simply what the Lord has told you, and then the bell of your heart and lips will ring. The circle is completed. The Lord sends out the Word — the gospel of peace; you believe it; as you believe it, it works into your heart. You say, Lord, I believe; and then you confess Him to men, with your mouth, to salvation.

(Vv. 14, 15). But before people can call upon the Lord they must of necessity hear about the Lord, and this calls for a preacher sent from God to tell them the glad tidings. Thus the Apostle justifies himself in going to the Gentiles with the good news. Their own Scriptures prove the necessity of the very thing to which the Jew objected (1 Thess. 2:16). The Jews persistently opposed and persecuted Paul for preaching to the Gentiles, yet their great prophet, Isaiah, had said that the thing they condemned, was beautiful. "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace".

Rom. 10:14-21. Here the apostle, pursuing the thread of the same passage of Joel (Joel 2:32), justifies his own ministry, and what God was doing thereby among the Gentiles. The word of faith was preached to them. God, by means of preaching, is making them acquainted with the name of the Lord, who must be called on in order that they should be saved. "How then shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that announce glad tidings of peace, of them that announce glad tidings of good things!"

On this declaration, the apostle founds another argument; and by it he justifies the ways of God that were accomplished in his ministry. The Jewish scriptures declared that every one who called upon the name of the Lord should be saved. Now, the Jews acknowledged that the Gentiles did not know the name of the true and living God. It was needful therefore to proclaim Him, in order that they might call upon Him, and the whole ministry of the apostle was justified. Accordingly it was written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace." For, in dealing with these questions among the Jews, he naturally rests on the authority of their own scriptures.