Defeat Evil with Good
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17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men.
18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.
19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.
20 Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
How do you conduct yourself in a hostile environment? How do you react when someone wrongs you?
Do Not Retaliate
Do Not Retaliate
The first imperative hear is negative
Romans 12:17 (NKJV)
17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men.
When some one wrongs you ,no matter how great or small the offence, you do not get them back.
To get even is our natural impulse. This is why this is such a hard teaching for us to put into practice. But this is the Christian way. The way that Christ himself taught us.
38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’
39 But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.
40 If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.
41 And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.
42 Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.
Do not take personal vengeance on someone who has wronged you.
In addition to the negative do not repay evil for evil Paul give a positive...
Romans 12:17 (NKJV)
17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men.
Or give thought to or be careful to do what is honourable in the sight of everyone.
It would not do much good to not do evil if we were seen to be dishonourable in our conduct in life. As a Christian we are called to live our lives above reproach. Our word must be our bond even in cases where in turns out to be inconvenient.
if we commit to being careful to do what is honourable before all men then this will aid us in the next imperative...
18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.
Paul understands that even if we do not repay evil for evil and if we take care to do what is honourable in the sight of everyone there will still be some with whom we will have no peace. However, our goal should be to live in peace with all that it is possible to do so. We should give every effort to have peace and to be peacemakers.
Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the children of God
These two commands
Take care to do what is honourable in the sight of all men and
as much as it depends on you live in peace with everyone may seen out of place when we consider that vs 17 is speaking of not paying back evil for evil and this is picked up again in vs 19 and is the focus for the rest of the chapter. But I believe within the context the idea is that by being honourable and working for peace with everyone we will be far less likely to provoke someone to do evil to us in the first place.
Returning to the issue then of retaliation. Paul make a strong argument for the passive nature that we are called to.
Leave It To God’s Wrath
Leave It To God’s Wrath
19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.
“Beloved” Whenever we Paul uses this word before an instruction he is appealing to us based on the fact that we are loved. Not only does Paul want is readers to know that he loves them but he also wants to remind them that they are loved of God. “We are the beloved of God”. In this case Paul wants us to be mindful the everlasting love of God for us as he teaches us that we should love our enemies. It always does us good to remember all that God in His loving kindness has done for us in our dealings with others.
Christ taught that we should be mindful of the forgiveness that we have received from God and for this reason we should forgive others. In so much that He said if we refuse to forgive other the our Father in heaven will not forgive us.
So you, beloved of God, Paul says never avenge yourselves but rather give way to wrath.
to give way to wrath means to leave it to the wrath of God.
Paul then quotes from...
34 ‘Is this not laid up in store with Me, Sealed up among My treasures?
35 Vengeance is Mine, and recompense; Their foot shall slip in due time; For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things to come hasten upon them.’
36 “For the Lord will judge His people And have compassion on His servants, When He sees that their power is gone, And there is no one remaining, bond or free.
37 He will say: ‘Where are their gods, The rock in which they sought refuge?
38 Who ate the fat of their sacrifices, And drank the wine of their drink offering? Let them rise and help you, And be your refuge.
39 ‘Now see that I, even I, am He, And there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand.
40 For I raise My hand to heaven, And say, “As I live forever,
41 If I whet My glittering sword, And My hand takes hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to My enemies, And repay those who hate Me.
42 I will make My arrows drunk with blood, And My sword shall devour flesh, With the blood of the slain and the captives, From the heads of the leaders of the enemy.” ’
43 “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people; For He will avenge the blood of His servants, And render vengeance to His adversaries; He will provide atonement for His land and His people.”
When Paul uses this quote he brings it as both a warning and a promise. A warning that vengeance belongs to God and God alone. And a promise that although we are not to repay evil for evil God will set all wrongs right. This frees us up so that we no longer carry the burden of justice.
The example of Christ
23 who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;
So in place of vengeance you instead..
Love Your Enemy
Love Your Enemy
20 Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”
This is another quote. this one is from
21 If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;
22 For so you will heap coals of fire on his head, And the Lord will reward you.
So what Paul teaches us then is that by leaving vengeance to the Lord we are free from the burden of justice and what we should do with that freedom is turn it to loving those who have wronged us.
So not only do we not repay evil for evil we repay good for evil.
If he is thirsty give him water to drink if he is hungry then feed him.
This is not limited to simply satisfying these base needs but is is to be taken in the larger sense of show them kindness and hospitality. Love them as Christ taught so that you may be children of your heavenly Father who also loves His enemies.
But look if you will at the reasoning for this kind of loving response.
Romans 12:20 (NKJV)
20 Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.
What does it mean that in so doing you will heap coals of fire on their head?
What it does not mean is that this is some sort of punishment. Otherwise Paul contradicts his main point which is to leave judgement and punishment to God. The coals are intended to heal not to hurt, The coals represent shame which leads to repentance. So the ultimate goal is to win them. So whether they are a Christian or not they may be won back to Christ.
Our purpose is to be about the ministry of reconciliation. This should always be our concern that people be reconciled to God. Even those who would do evil to us our hope and prayer should be for their redemption.
44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,
Romans 2:4 (NKJV)
4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
This is why God allows the sun to rise on the just and the unjust. He is longsuffering. So if the goodness of God lead us to repentance then let us reflect the goodness of God even to our persecutors and enemies, To those who wrong us so that they may repent and turn to God.
Finally Paul says
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
When we give in to our natural impulses and repay evil for evil then evil wins and we lose. In that moment we have been overcome with evil and we have lost one of the most powerful witnessing opportunities we will ever get.
However, If we leave vengeance to the wrath of God and instead show genuine love and kindness to the one who has wronged us then we defeat evil with good and we shine as lights in this world of darkness. And perhaps it will lead to that person repenting and coming to Christ.