peace that passeth understanding

English

Alternative forms

• peace that passes all understanding
• peace that passes understanding
• peace that passeth all understanding
• peace which passes all understanding
• peace which passes understanding
• peace which passeth all understanding
• peace which passeth understanding

Etymology

From the King James version of the Bible: "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:7).

Noun

peace that passeth understanding (uncountable)

1. (set phrase) Spiritual enlightenment; religious salvation.
   • 1854, John Cumming, Voices of the Night, page 67:

     There are but two sorts of peace: there is the world's peace, which is an opiate that stills the conscience for a season — peace, peace, but no peace; and there is the Christian's peace — the peace that passeth understanding.

   • 1929 January 14, “Religion: Salvation Rift”, in Time, retrieved 26 August 2017:

     In all its gutters from Frisco to Bombay, Melbourne to Cape Town, the Salvation Army was on the job, inviting harassed and stricken souls to the peace which passeth understanding.

   • 1950 March 6, “Reflections: Mr. Eliot”, in Time, retrieved 26 August 2017:

     The poem ends with the Hindu incantation, like the first shower of long-looked-for rain, shantih, shantih, shantih, meaning: "The Peace which passeth understanding."

   • 1973 August 15, Anatole Broyard, “Books of the Times: Buried Alive: The Biography of Janis Joplin by Myra Friedman”, in New York Times, retrieved 26 August 2017:

     The Woodstock apocalypse, as she sees it, was not the peace that passeth understanding that the media made it out to be. Of the 400,000 kids there, most of the potentially disorderly ones were stupefied by drugs.

   • 2016 November 3, “Living in Saranagati - the sage of Annakara”, in The Hindu, India, retrieved 26 August 2017:

     Sri Peetam has an aura of a peace that passeth understanding.