2 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 1:2
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

In his commentary on 2 Corinthians Garland says, “The greetings are not ordinary good wishes but blessings that have become a spiritual reality through the death and resurrection of Christ.”

Later on he says, “‘Grace’ is the foundation of their Christian existence and most clearly expresses Paul’s understanding of Christ’s work of salvation which presents us with the undeserved forgiveness of our sins and our unearned acceptance by God (Rom 3:23-24). ‘Peace’ is the effect of God’s action in Christ. It is not simply the absence of hostility under the Pax Romana* but peace that God won through Christ’s death, defeating the supernatural enemies and bringing about reconciliation (Rom 5:1; Eph 2:17; Col 1:20). It covers a person’s physical and spiritual well-being and wholeness, which can only be given by God (see Isa 48:18; Psalm 85:10).”

In the same way when Jesus said, “Peace be with you,” it wasn’t just a way of saying hello or a traditional Jewish greeting.

John 20:19
On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

He is truly the bringer of peace.

John 14:27
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

John 16:33
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

*Pax Romana, Latin for “the Roman peace” (sometimes Pax Augusta), was the long period of relative peace and minimal expansion by military force experienced by the Roman Empire between 27 BC and 180 AD.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pax_Romana