Luke 2:14

εὐδοκίας. This is the reading of אABD. The Gothic, Vulgate, Itala, and most Fathers. Beza, Mill, Bengel La[48] Ti[49] W. H[50] &c. The εὐδοκία may have come from the other nominatives δόξα, εἰρήνη.

[48] La. Lachmann.
[49] Ti. Tischendorf.
[50] W. H. Westcott and Hort.

14. ἐν ὑψίστοις. i.e., in highest heaven, Job 16:19; Psalms 148:1; comp. “the heavenlies” in Ephesians 1:3, &c.; Sir 43:9.

ἐπὶ γῆς εἰρήνη.

“No war or battle’s sound
Was heard the world around;

The idle spear and shield were high uphung:

The hookèd chariot stood
Unstained with hostile blood,

The trumpet spake not to the armèd throng;

And kings sat still with awful eye
As if they surely knew their sovran Lord was by.”

MILTON, Ode on the Nativity.

This however is only an ideal aspect of affairs, and the closing at this time of the Temple of Janus had little or no meaning. It was not in this sense that the birth of Christ brought Peace. If we understood the expression thus we might well say with Coleridge:

“Strange Prophecy! if all the screams

Of all the men that since have died

To realize war’s kingly dreams

Had risen at once in one vast tide,

The choral song of that vast multitude
Had been o’erpowered and lost amid the uproar rude.”

The Angels sang indeed of such an ultimate Peace; but also of “the peace which passeth understanding;” of that peace whereof Christ said, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth give I unto you.” See Proverbs 3:17; on which the Book of Zohar remarks that it means peace in heaven and on earth, and in this world and the next. As regards earthly peace He himself said, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword,” Matthew 10:34; Luke 12:51. See this contrast magnificently shadowed forth in Isaiah 9:5-6.

ἐν�. The reading εὐδοκία ‘goodwill,’ is found in B3; but אABD read εὐδοκίας, and if this be the right reading the meaning is “on earth peace among men of good will” (hominibus bonae voluntatis, Vulg[62]), i.e. those with whom God is well pleased. “The Lord taketh pleasure in them that hope in His mercy,” Psalms 147:11; comp. Luke 12:32, “it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” The construction “men of good will” would be rare in this sense, but the triple parallelism of the verse,

[62] Vulg. Vulgate.

Glory

to God

in the highest

Peace

to men whom God loves

on earth

seems to favour it. In either case the verse implies that “being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” Romans 5:1. The adoption of the reading εὐδοκίας by the R.V[63] (“peace among men in whom He is well pleased”) has been fiercely attacked, but has always been the accepted reading of the Western Church, and is found in a passage of Origen. It may be doubted whether the Angels meant to contrast the future privileges of Man with their own (Hebrews 2:15). The meaning is “God’s peace among all to whom these tidings shall come, and who in accepting them become His dear children, the objects of His good pleasure,” (Humphry). The “towards” of the A. V[64] is wrong, and must be altered into “among” (ἐν).

[63] R.V. Revised Version.
[64] A. V. Authorised Version.

“Glory to God on high, on earth be peace,
And love towards men of love—salvation and release.”—KEBLE.