As I was reading Romans 16 the other night as part of my Bible-reading plan this year, I stopped at a verse that I think I’ve never really thought about before:

The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 

I’d never noticed the seemingly contradictory ideas in that first sentence — the God of PEACE who will CRUSH Satan.

A few observations:

~ It seems that peace doesn’t always mean the absence of violence. Crushing isn’t sweet and gentle; it’s violent and destructive. And it’s done here by the God of PEACE. And this is clearly meant to be good news to the Christians in Rome.

~ Satan is real. And He is the enemy of God and His people.

~ God fights for His people. And He wins.

~ I wonder what pacifists make of this verse?

Just thinking out loud,