Day 11 Not Taking Revenge Or Being Overcome By Evil
Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:19-21
Adding 12:14 which leads into what 12:17-21 has to say, Paul gives four imperatives:
‘Do not curse’ (12:4)
‘Do not repay anyone evil for evil’ (12:17)
‘Do not take revenge’ (12:19)
‘Do not be overcome by evil’ (12:21)
Paul’s third imperative is ‘Do not take revenge, my friends’ (12:19). Two positive counterparts are added. The first is: ‘leave room for God’s wrath’ (literally: give place to wrath). The quotation which follows ‘for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord’ is from Deuteronomy 32:35 and makes it clear that the subject is God’s wrath. Without some qualification, Paul could have been writing about the wrongdoer’s wrath (meaning ‘let his anger run its course’) or the injured party’s wrath (‘let your anger pass without turning into revenge’).
What is prohibited is retaliation and revenge. God alone has the right to exercise both. Judging and repaying evil are not wrong in themselves but they remain God’s prerogative and not ours. God’s wrath is at least in part expressed through the nation’s justice system (13:4) but will be ultimately and fully expressed on ‘the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgement will be revealed’ (2:5).
So the first counterpart was ‘leave room for God’s wrath.’ The second is the command to serve our enemy: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head” (17:20). There are three possible explanations for the heaping ‘burning coals on his head.’ From scriptures like Psalm 11:6 and 141:10 where it is written that God will ‘rain fiery coals’ on the wicked, the coals could be a symbol of judgement. The context though doesn’t make this a likely explanation. A second possibility is that the pain inflicted by the burning coals is a symbol of the shame and remorse experienced by an enemy who is met with kindness. A third option is that the coals are a symbol of repentance. There was an ancient Egyptian ritual in which a repentant man would carry burning coals on his head as evidence of the reality of his repentance. Whichever Paul had in mind, the coals are a symbol of the change of mind that takes place in an evil-doer whose evil is responded to in genuine love.
We are to leave any necessary punishment to God and serve those who have been our enemies. The coals of fire heaped on him are designed to heal and not to hurt. The duty of the private citizen is to love and serve the evil-doer while the duty of public servants, as official agents of God’s wrath, is to bring him to trial and if convicted, to punish him. Both principles operated when Jesus was crucified. ‘When they hurled their insults at him he did not retaliate’ (1 Peter 2:23). This was Jesus’ personal reaction; ‘Instead he entrusted himself to him who judges justly’ (1 Peter 2:23).
Paul’s fourth and final imperative, which is also a summary of his argument, is: ‘Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good’ (12:21). If we curse (12:14), repay evil for evil (12:17) or take revenge (12:19) we have given in to evil and have been ‘overcome’ by it. But if we bless our persecutors (12:14), continue to do good (12:17), are active in peacemaking and peacekeeping (12:18), leave the judgement to God (12:19) and if we love and serve our enemy (12:20) then in those ways we have ‘overcome evil with good’ (12:21).
To repay evil for evil is to be overcome by it but to repay good for evil is to overcome evil with good. This was the way of the cross.