Romans 12.20-Feed Your Enemy When He Is Hungry, Give Him A Drink When He Is Thirsty So As To Heap Burning Coals On His Head
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday November 24, 2009
Romans: Romans 12:20-Feed Your Enemy When He Is Hungry, Give Him A Drink When He Is Thirsty So As To Heap Burning Coals On His Head
Lesson # 428
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 12:19.
This evening we will note Romans 12:20 in which the apostle Paul quotes from the Septuagint translation of Proverbs 25:21-22, which contains the commands to feed one’s enemy when they are hungry, give them a drink when they are thirsty so as to heap burning coals on their head.
Heaping burning coals on the head of one’s enemy means that performing these acts on behalf of one’s enemy in response to the evil they’ve practiced to you will produce in your enemy intense guilt and shame, which could possibly lead to a change of mind about you and maybe even the Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 12:19, “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,’ says the Lord.”
Romans 12:20, “BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD.”
In Romans 12:20, Paul is quoting exactly from Proverbs 25:21-22.
Proverbs 25:21-22, “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; For you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.”
This quotation from Proverbs 25:21 stands in direct contrast with the idea presented in Romans 12:19 of Paul’s readers avenging themselves of their enemies.
This statement in Romans 12:20 presents a strong contrast between the Roman believers avenging themselves of their enemies with that of feeding them when they are hungry and giving them a drink when they are thirsty.
“IF” is the conditional particle ean (e)avn) (eh-an), which introduces the protasis of a fifth class conditional statement, which expresses the spiritual principle that if a believer’s enemy is hungry he is required by God to feed them just as God does for His enemies.
“YOUR ENEMY” speaks of the Roman believer being regarded by the unbeliever as an enemy.
“IS HUNGRY” is the third person singular present active subjunctive form of the verb peinao (peinavw) (pi-nah-o), which means “hunger” and refers to being in a state of hunger as a result of the lack of food.
The present tense is a “gnomic present,” which is used to describe something that is true “any” time and “does” take place indicating that if the Christian’s enemy “does” exist in the state of being hungry, then feed him or if their enemy “at any time” exists in the state of being hungry, then feed him.
“FEED HIM” is composed of the second person singular present active imperative form of the verb psomizo (ywmivzw) (pso-mid-zo), “FEED” and the accusative masculine singular form of the intensive personal pronoun autos (au)tov$) (ow-tos), “HIM.”
Feeding one’s enemy when they are hungry is an act of loving one’s neighbor as oneself.
The present imperative form of the verb psomizo indicates that Paul is addressing a hypothetical situation where the enemy of one of Paul’s Christian readers is hungry and Paul is commanding them to “continue to make it their habit” to feed their enemy.
Paul’s statements in Romans 1:8 and 15:14-15 suggest strongly that the Roman believers were in fact doing so.
Romans 12:20, “BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD.”
“IF” is the conditional particle ean (e)avn) (eh-an), which once again introduces the protasis of a fifth class conditional statement, which again expresses the spiritual principle that if a believer’s enemy is thirsty he is required by God to give him a drink just as God does for His enemies.
“HE IS THIRSTY” is the third person singular present active subjunctive form of the verb dipsao (diyavw) (dip-sah-o), which is used of thirst in the literal, physical sense that can cause physical suffering and even physical death.
The present tense is a “gnomic present,” which is used to describe something that is true “any” time and “does” take place indicating if the Christian’s enemy “does” exist in the state of being thirsty, then give him a drink or if their enemy “at any time” exists in the state of being thirsty, then give him a drink.
“GIVE HIM A DRINK” is composed of the second person singular present active imperative form of the verb potizo (potivzw) (pot-id-zo), “GIVE A DRINK” and the accusative masculine singular form of the intensive personal pronoun autos (au)tov$) (ow-tos), “HIM.”
Giving a drink to one’s enemy when they are thirsty is an act of loving one’s neighbor as oneself.
The present imperative form of the verb potizo indicates that Paul is addressing a hypothetical situation where the enemy of one of Paul’s Christian readers is thirsty and he is commanding them that they must “continue to make it their habit” to give their enemy a drink.
Paul’s statements in Romans 1:8 and 15:14-15 suggest strongly that the Roman believers were in fact doing so.
“FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD” presents the reason why the Roman believers are to obey the previous commands to feed their enemies when they are hungry and give them a drink when they are thirsty.
“IN DOING SO” is the accusative neuter singular form of the demonstrative pronoun houtos (ou!to$), “SO” and the nominative masculine second person singular present active participle form of the verb poieo (poievw) (poy-eh-o), “IN DOING.”
In Romans 12:20, the verb poieo means “to do” and refers to Paul’s readers obeying his commands to feed their enemy when they are hungry and give them a drink when they are thirsty.
The verb poieo also functions as a participle of result indicating the actual outcome or result of Paul’s readers obeying his commands to feed their enemy when they are hungry and giving them a drink when they are thirsty.
The immediate demonstrative pronoun houtos means “this very thing” and refers to obeying the previous Pauline commands to feed your enemy when he is hungry and give them a drink when they are thirsty.
“YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD” speaks of the shame produced in the conscience of the Christian’s enemy as a result of feeding their enemy when they are hungry and giving them a drink when they are thirsty.
“YOU WILL HEAP” is the second person singular future active indicative form of the verb soreuo (swreuvw) (sore-yoo-o), which means “to heap” and is used in a figurative sense for the consequences of Paul’s readers obeying his commands to feed them when they are hungry and giving them a drink when they are thirsty.
“BURNING COALS” is composed of the accusative masculine plural form of the noun anthrax (a&nqrac) (anth-rax), “COALS” and the genitive neuter singular form of the noun pur (pur) (poor), “BURNING.”
In Romans 12:20, the noun anthrax is used in a figurative sense with the noun pur to denote intense shame and guilt in the conscience of a person.
The noun pur denotes the intensity of this guilt and shame in the conscience of one’s enemy as a result of responding to the evil performed against you by feeding him when he is hungry and giving him a drink when he was thirsty.
“ON HIS HEAD” is composed of the preposition epi (e)piv) (ep-ee), “ON” and the articular accusative feminine singular form of the noun kephale (kefalhv) (kef-al-ay), “HEAD” and the and the genitive third person masculine singular form of the intensive personal pronoun autos (au)tov$) (ow-tos), “HIS.”
The noun kephale means “head” and is used in a figurative sense for the human soul and in particular the conscience.
The conscience of the Christian’s enemy will accuse them and point out to them that their evil actions against the Christian were wrong when the Christian feeds them when they are hungry and gives them a drink when they are thirsty.
So to summarize what we have learned in Romans 12:20, Paul uses a fifth class condition to teach his readers a spiritual principle.
There are two commands in the fifth class condition, namely, if their enemy is hungry, then feed him and if he is thirsty, give him a drink.
These commands stand in direct contrast with the idea presented in Romans 12:19 of Paul’s readers avenging themselves of their enemies.
They are followed by a causal clause that presents the reason for the two commands.
Paul wants them to obey the commands because by doing so it will produce guilt and shame in the conscience of their enemy, which could possibly lead to a change of mind about them and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.