Why is peace not listed among the activities of the unbeliever?
Peace is absent from the unbeliever's activities because he has never experienced it and cannot have it. Scripture pictures unbelievers as roaring waves, lives filled with turmoil. Peace with God comes only through justification by faith in Christ, which the unbeliever cannot experience.
Les explains that peace is not listed among the activities of the unbeliever because he has never experienced it, and therefore he can have no peace. Scripture speaks of them as like the waves roaring, their lives filled with turmoil. By contrast, Romans 5 verse 1 says that being justified by faith gives peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Justification puts the believer back like Adam before the fall: God has reckoned the old sin nature dead and gone, and we are declared just as if we had never sinned, the slate wiped clean. Since we are declared just, we have peace with God. The unbeliever can never experience that, but the believer does not have to be in constant turmoil, wondering if God will zap, disown, or cast him out. Justification brings peace with God, so we are no longer an enemy, are now His, and can enjoy His fellowship moment by moment regardless of how well we have behaved. Philippians chapter 4 also speaks of the peace of God.