Or, Deferred Retaliation for the Win
Scripture: Romans 12:17-21
Date: August 20, 2023
Speaker: Sean Higgins
There’s no coincidence that these applications for living sacrifices in Romans 12:9-21 are the Ancient Jealousable Ways. I keep puling jealousable forward from Romans 11 where Paul talked about God’s blessings to believers that provoke the right kind of jealousy in order to provoke repentance and faith in Jesus as Christ — risen from the dead, Lord of heaven and earth. God gives His people the blessings of salvation, and as living sacrifices, God gives His people the blessings of suffering, even unjustly. These are ancient jealousable ways, these are the ways of Jesus.
In the most well-known sermon in history Jesus said that the persecuted are blessed. He said that when others revile and persecute and lie about us for the good we do, we are blessed and we ought to rejoice and be glad for our greater reward is coming (Matthew 5:10-12). Living sacrifices are transformed into perfection like their heavenly Father as they love their enemies and pray for their persecutors (Matthew 5:38-48). These Jesus-taught, blessed-as-jealousable, ways make us the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
These are the marks of those not conformed to the world, the customs of altar living. If we’ve seen altar commitments and altar perspectives, we could call these final exhortations altar perfection.
As with the whole chapter of application for altar living, verses 17-21 continue tempting translators to make things less confusing by turning modifying ideas into main ideas, translating participles as commands (16 total verbs, 9 commands in the ESV, but only 5 imperatives in the original language). Again, do all the things. But here’s a way to read it while recognizing primary commands and secondary clarifications.
Repaying no one evil for evil
giving thought to what is honorable in the sight of all
if possible, so far as depends on you,
living peaceably with all men,
never avenging yourselves, beloved,
give place to the wrath of God,
for it is written:
“Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” On the contrary,
if your enemy is hungry,
feed him;
if he is thirsty,
give drink to him,
for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil,
but overcome evil with good.
Three more additions to the previous six: Defer Peaceably (17-19), Supply Knowingly (20), and Conquer Honorably (21).
The one imperative is to make room for God’s wrath. All the other parts help us see how to think and act toward those that are making life miserable.
Repaying no one evil for evil,
giving thought to what is honorable
in the sight of all;
if possible, so far as depends on you,
living peaceably with all men;
never avenging yourselves, beloved,
give place to the wrath of God,
for it is written:
“Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
This is not a denial or redefinition of evil. Evil has been done, wrong has been committed, an injustice has taken place. The legal principle of lex talionis is the “eye-for-an-eye” proscription, comes from God’s law (Exodus 21:24; Leviticus 24:20, Deuteronomy 19:21)). Jesus said He came not to abolish the law, but He said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also” (Matthew 5:38-39). This is personal humiliation and harassment, any challenge to our self-absorbed attitudes.
Paul says that we should retaliate not by repaying evil for evil but by giving thought about what we could do that considered beautiful, honorable in the eyes of others (actually the same word as “good” in verse 21). To give thought has the idea of thinking beforehand, of planning, ways to make an good show while we’ve been treated wrongly.
We understand that there are conditions/persons for which no amount of planning on our part will accomplish immediate—and possibly even for delayed—benefit, but our goal is to be living peaceably. So far as depends on you; it is not always possible, sometimes they just aren’t listening. You eliminate the offenses you can. You put your Blood Avenger cape back in the box. You be the wet lump of bread dough to their lit match.
Again a tension, per Jesus’ purpose (Matthew 10:34). We want peace, but not by giving away the house so to speak, by agreeing with heresy, by accepting lies, by redefining evil. We ought not “to flatter the vices of men for the sake of preserving peace” (John Calvin). But even that will be a sacrifice to sacrifice peace.
This requires faith; there’s no need for frustration that real wrongs will go unpunished. Every sin will be accounted for; either Christ died to take the punishment for it or God will bring punishment onto the person himself for it. But no evils, no sins are missed. But we are not Judge and jury.
Paul throws in a beloved here, a term of sympathy, and theology; these sufferers are God’s sons (think Romans 8:15-17).
The explicit imperative is leave it to or “give place” to God’s wrath. Then Paul quotes the law from Deuteronomy 32:35. The Lord makes the vow that vengeance is His and that He will take care of it. Defer is not only a time issue, but an agent issue. We defer to God. Besides, for whatever scheming we think we could inflict for pain, we ourselves have an eye-dropper of vengeance compared to the flood of God’s wrath.
Again, this is personal. There is tension, and ours is an age of tension-hating if there ever was one. Imprecatory Psalms (such as Psalm 94) did not even contradict the Mosaic Law in the same Old Covenant, nor did Jesus abolish our hope and prayers for justice. But we are never more worldly than when our feelings demand that someone else feel bad for causing our bad feelings. We are never more without faith than when we want pain for another person immediately and brought about by our own moves.
Authorities in their spheres (e.g., Romans 13:3-4) must not ignore injustice, while individuals also look to the ultimate Authority.
There are two conditions followed by two commands, following the imperative we just read to give place to the wrath of God. Here is hospitable wisdom from Proverbs 25:21-22.
On the contrary,
if your enemy is hungry,
feed him;
if he is thirsty,
give drink to him,
for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.
This is “practical generosity” (Murray), in a way unreasonable hospitality, as in exceptional, but also reasonable, as in there is a reason built in.
Note the enemy (ἐχθρός), which means Christians have enemies, not that we hate them but we can tell that they are hostile toward us. And, really, if we cannot notice an enemy then we cannot obey God’s command how to treat them.
This is also personal. This is not instruction for generals in a war, this is not instructions for fathers with an intruder into their house. But it is personal, and none closer than someone face-to-face to whom you could actually give bread and water/wine.
The built-in reason has been variously understood. Most of the commentators I read seem pressured to avoid it being a negative. They want it to be related to an old Egyptian practice where hot coals were a sign of contrition and repentance, so that our feeding causes a good guilt in the enemy so that the enemy becomes a friend.
But heaping burning coals on the head is constantly used in the Old Testament as a sign of judgment. More than that, we have a great help already in Romans 2:4-5. God’s own kindness is meant to lead others to repentance, for sure, but as He pours out kindness, if they do not repent, they are heaping up wrath for themselves on the day of wrath. For the Christian, this kind of kindness is win-win. If the kindness causes softening, win. If the kindness causes hardening, we cannot be an excuse in the enemy’s mouth when answering to God.
We supply knowingly: knowing the enemy, knowing his need, and knowing the outcome.
This is a potent and poignant rally point.
Do not be overcome by evil,
but overcome evil with good.
Twice we see overcome, two uses of the verb nikao meaning victorying or triumphing or conquering. The first use is an imperative in the passive voice, meaning don’t let this happen to you by something else. The second use is an imperative in the active voice, that includes an instrument, or better, a weapon. Go, (fight), win. Our weapon is good.
The human way is to get even. The perfect way is to get good.
Don’t hold back obedience to the Lord, and also, wait for the Lord to not hold back. These are imperatives for the altar life, for the way we look at the world, for the way we look at winning. Win-Win-Win: blessed and jealousable ways.
“The essence of ungodliness is that we presume to take the place of God, to take everything into our own hands.” —John Murray
Alter perfection is deferred retaliation for the win. You’ve got to do gooder than the ungodly: “be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.”
Beloved, leave what is God’s to God. Live on the altar as a sacrifice for God. Defer retaliation to God for the win. Win over evil with good. May God bless your zeal for good.
Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:4, ESV)