Grace and Peace -- An anti-empire message?

Hi everyone-

So, my paper on grace and peace is done, 12 paged later ... yay! One way of understanding Paul's use of the terms is a relatively new, historic interpretation of it. Basically, the apostle is saying its God, through Christ, who brings the world to right, NOT the emperor of Rome. Not an obvious conclusion though, so where does it come from?

The first emperor was Augustus. He famously beat Mark Antony at the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE, following which Antony and Cleopatra fled and committed suicide. This battle was important for two reasons, it made Augustus the sole ruler of Rome, turning it into the empire, and it ended nearly a 100 years of Roman citizens being wracked by one civil war after another. So, Augustus, a brilliant publicist if there ever was one, begin proclaiming that he had brought peace to the world (i.e. Rome). Later emperors adopted this campaign, proclaiming (and even making people give pledges to the effect) that the emperor brings peace. Statues, buildings, coins, and more were used to make this statement. It was such a widespread and popular theme that they coined a phrase for it you may have heard, Pax Romana (or the peace of Rome). Important in this was the means by which peace came. Slogan after Roman slogan said, "peace through victory." In other words, the emperor used force to bring peace.

A smaller, but very applicable, propoganda theme spread by the emperors was that of grace. People who obeyed the emperor got new statues and buildings, which often bore inscriptions saying they had the grace of the emperor.

Key in this whole Imperial take on grace and peace is that they came only to "good", emperor-following Roman citizens. Slaves and immigrants, who formed the bulk of early Christian churches (and perhaps 50% of the empire's populace), we're NOT included in the Emperor's grace and peace. They didn't benefit from it.

For Paul, however, grace was the absolutely free expression of the love of God for everyone! Slave and free, Jewish and Gentile, Roman and foreigner, all are included. What's more, Paul's peace comes from love, not force. It is God, through Christ who shows true grace and peace, thus truly making the world as it should be, not the emperor, or the president, or our boss, or our spouse, or ...

As God's images on earth, I believe we are called to display His beautiful, free, and undeserved grace and peace for everyone. Whose shown this to you're? How do you show it to others?

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Grace and peace,
Lang