“If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.”
If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, be at peace with everyone. — Eir nē (peace, wholeness) is pursued kata to dynaton (insofar as possible) and ek humin (out of you, from your side). This acknowledges reality: not all conflicts resolve, and some antagonism is imposed from outside. Yet the Christian bears responsibility for their own peacemaking efforts.
Church Fathers on Romans 12:18
“If it be possible, as much as lies in you, live peaceably with all men.” This is that: “let your light shine before men” Matthew 5:16, not that we are to live for vanity, but that we are not to give those who have a mind for it a handle against us. Whence he says also in another place, “Give none offense, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the Church of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:32 And in what follows he limits his meaning well, by saying, “If it be possible.”…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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