not avenging yourselves, beloved, but give place to wrath; for it is written, Vengeance [belongs] to me, *I* will recompense, saith the Lord.
Paul has just told believers to live at peace with everyone as far as it depends on them. Now he turns to the harder case. Someone has really wronged you, and you want to settle the score. Who has the right to repay? And what should the injured person do instead?
Notice where the word "Beloved" falls. It comes just when a believer is most stirred up:
No matter what the provocation, a Christian must never take revenge. We must leave that to God. In His own good time He will avenge those He calls His "beloved." Nothing could be more moving than words of such affection. Just when cruel and unreasonable people have provoked us and stirred us up to hit back, the voice of tenderest love rises above the noise of human anger... Step away from the scene. Make room for My rule, because of the wrong done to you. Punishing is My right alone. See Deuteronomy 32:35.
The reason is not that wrongs do not matter. It is that we cannot measure them fairly. One writer explains what goes wrong when we take the job on:
God is the only One who has any right to exercise vengeance. If man tries to avenge himself, he will always go beyond what is perfectly just and right. We can never be trusted to make perfectly fair judgments in our own case. We may also think judgment should come sooner than it does. But God knows better than we do when judgment should fall and what form it should take.
Leaving room for God's wrath means stepping back so that His anger, not yours, deals with the wrong. Refusing to step back is not neutral — the space you keep for yourself gets filled by someone else:
It is very hard for the heart to bow and say, "I will be nothing but a lamb." But that is our place, because the Lord says, "Vengeance is mine." We are told to "leave it to the wrath of God" (Rom. 12), and to "give no opportunity to the devil" (Eph. 4). If you do not leave room for God's wrath, you will leave room for the devil. Do we lose anything by staying quiet and taking things patiently?
You can withhold retaliation and still nurse the wrong inwardly. One writer warns about what we go on nursing inside:
Knowing God as the One who avenges the wrongs done to His people is not meant to stir up in us the least desire that His vengeance should fall on our enemies... It is a very unhappy thing to keep dwelling on the injuries we have received — real or only imagined — either in our own minds or in talk with others. How much happier to forget them, and commit ourselves and all our affairs into the hands of the Lord! To take up arms against our enemies, to watch for them to stumble, to wait for our chance to pour out what we have been nursing inside... is to give way to a spirit completely opposed to the mind of the Lord.
Giving up private revenge is not the same as letting crime go unpunished. One writer draws the line:
The law of Moses laid down "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth."... For the Christian it is quite different. God has dealt with him in grace, so he must act in grace towards others... Now it is the day of grace. But a day of vengeance is coming for those "who do not know God and ... do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus." A Christian's duty not to avenge himself does not clash with God's government through rulers. Their authority comes from Him, and they use it to hold back and punish evil.
What replaces revenge is not silence but active good. It copies what God has already done for us:
Instead of avenging ourselves, we should bow before the storm and keep looking to God. More than that, we should help an enemy who is in need and trouble... For the Christian's rule is Christ: do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. That is what God did for us, and for all who love Him. He overcame our evil with His good in Christ our Lord. Now He lets us copy Him in grace. Grace wins the victory in His sight, and we know it ourselves, even when the world sees us as beaten down.
- Beloved — the command comes wrapped in affection. It is spoken to people at the moment they are most provoked.
- Reserved — God keeps vengeance in His own hands because we always overshoot. He alone knows the right time and the right measure.
- Vacated — leaving room for God's wrath means stepping out of the judge's seat. The room you refuse to leave for God gets taken by the devil.
- Searched — the test reaches past the hand to the heart that quietly hopes judgment will fall on the one who hurt it.
- Overcome — active kindness takes the place of revenge. It copies how God met our evil with His good in Christ.
If therefore thine enemy should hunger, feed him; if he should thirst, give him drink; for, so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head.
Paul answers injury with action, not silence, and he borrows the words from the Old Testament. Here they become daily Christian practice, which raises two questions: what do the burning coals mean, and how far does this rule reach?
Paul is quoting Proverbs, but not all of it. One writer shows what he left out, and what the coals mean now.
First, note that Romans 12:20 quotes Proverbs 25 but leaves out the words, "and the LORD will reward you." This shows one of the early hints of grace scattered here and there in the Old Testament. When the Psalmist cries, "Let burning coals fall upon them," the context shows he wants judgment on his enemies. That fully fits the principles of righteous government, since his enemies are the enemies of the LORD. But the reign of grace changes everything... In Romans, heaping coals of fire on an enemy's head by kindness keeps the meaning of judgment — but self-judgment produced in his heart, not judgment falling on his head.
This is more than holding back from revenge. Food and drink stand for far more than a meal.
Instead of avenging himself, he bows under the attack and looks to God. He seeks to do his enemy real good in his need and distress. He not only holds back from revenge, he shows love. He returns good for evil, kindness for injury, blessing for cursing. The words feed him and give him drink stand for every duty of kindness. In this way he seeks to overcome the hostility of those who persecute him, and even turn them into his friends.
So what do the coals do? One writer answers with a picture from the furnace.
To heap coals of fire on an enemy's head is to care for him, feast him, and treat him kindly, as the most effective means of subduing him, of melting him down. Who ever conquered an enemy's heart by revenge? How many have been conquered by love? What was it that dissolved the hardness of our own unyielding hearts? A Saviour's love. Charles Bridges says: "Try it. Surround the stubborn metal below and above. Do not only put it over the fire; heap coals of fire on top of it. Few hearts are so hard that they will not melt under the power of patient, self-denying, burning love."
Fire does not only melt. It also tests, and the outcome is not certain.
Heaping coals of fire on an enemy's head by kindness (Prov. 25:21-22; Rom. 12:20) becomes a test to him (as metal is tested by fire); the kindness shown him will either bring about repentance and friendship, or harden him still more.
Helping an enemy is not grovelling before him.
More than this, however, we are to show positive goodness in return for evil. This is not easy for pride. If an enemy is in need, we ought to be at hand to help him. This will act as coals of fire on his head, burning into the conscience. This does not mean cringing to him. We are to act with the same lowly dignity of faith and kindness that we would show a friend in need.
This kindness starts with God, not with us.
This was strange then, and it must always seem strange to human thinking. Yet it is so natural to the Christian that the Apostle was led to quote the words as a rule for any and every day... It was God in Christ; it is God in the Christian. Is it obsolete in Christendom? May it not be so in Christians? It is too precious to lose.
One writer draws a boundary: this rule is for Christians, not for nations.
But if anyone asks, "What about the world? Could it act on the teaching of Romans 12:20?" Not for a moment... We are not called on to regulate the world, but to pass through it, as pilgrims and strangers. Jesus did not come to set the world right. He came to seek and to save the lost.
The final temptation is to admire the verse and never do it.
We now close our reflections by begging all our readers not to think, as so many do, that these instructions cannot be practised. Do not treat them as ideals to admire but never live out. This is unbelief, the suggestion of Satan, the language of the world and of our own corrupt hearts.
- Quoted — Paul takes the words from Proverbs but drops "and the LORD will reward you." Under grace the coals no longer call down judgment on the enemy; they produce self-judgment in his heart.
- Practical — Food and drink stand for every duty of kindness. The believer does not just stop revenge; he starts love.
- Powerful — Kindness is heat on a hard heart. It can melt an enemy into a friend, or test him and leave him harder still.
- Dignified — Help him without cringing, with the same dignity you would show a friend in need.
- Possible — This was God in Christ, and it is God in the Christian: a daily rule for believers, not a programme for nations, and never an ideal only to admire.
Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Paul ends a long run of practical instruction with one rule for the moment someone wrongs you. It changes the question from "how do I get even?" to "who won?"
The world assumes that hitting back proves self-respect. Writers on this verse say the opposite: the retaliation itself is the loss.
We are never to conquer evil by evil, but to treat our enemies with kindness. In the world we will often meet evil in some form. But we must never let it provoke us into a spirit of retaliation. The first display of temper is a defeat; the enemy has gained a victory. People generally suppose that to resent an injury is only to show a proper spirit. But the Christian's rule is Christ: not to be overcome by evil, but to overcome evil with good.
The two small words "by" and "with" carry weight. Evil presses in from outside; good is not a weapon we grab but a climate we already live in.
"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Here "evil" is a power from outside. It threatens us and could easily overcome us. "Good," on the other hand, is the air we are to live in. We are to be taken up with it, and in its power we can meet evil and overcome it.
The command is not an abstract ideal. One writer reads it first as a picture of the Lord's own life. Then he turns it onto an ordinary day of ours.
He showed the perfect goodness of God in a world of evil. By the power of that good He rose above all the evil, and it never overcame Him. We walk through the same world, and every day tests us. Nothing humbles us more than how easily an imagined slight or insult upsets us. In a moment we are caught off guard. We flare up, bitter feelings rise, and they tell the sad story of our defeat. Leaning harder on the Lord, and staying near Him, would have brought the triumph of His grace instead.
Refusing revenge is not pretending the wrong did not happen. It is handing the case to a Judge who has reserved it for Himself.
In a world like this we may have to suffer wrong, and face insults and opposition. It may even come from people who call themselves Christians. Wherever it comes from, we are not to avenge ourselves. We are to step aside quietly and leave room for God's anger. Naturally we would seek to revenge a wrong, but this the Lord does not entrust to us. Vengeance He keeps in His own hands.
Just before this, Paul speaks of heaping coals of fire on an enemy's head. The Psalms ask for burning coals too, but in a very different spirit.
When the Psalmist cries, "Let burning coals fall upon them," it is clear from the setting that he wants judgment on his enemies... But under the reign of grace all is changed... Not only so, but while we leave an enemy in the Lord's hands, our own hearts, instead of calling down judgment, are to go out in tender compassion towards him... We show him every possible kindness. In this we show the heart of God towards us while we were still His enemies. And with God's blessing, this will make him feel the effect of coals of fire on his head.
Such kindness is not a technique with guaranteed results. It puts the other person to the test:
Kindness heaps coals of fire on an enemy's head, and this tests him, the way fire tests metal. The kindness will either bring him to sorrow and friendship, or harden him even more.
Behind the rule stands the way God has already dealt with us — which is why writers call this more than good advice.
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good — a noble, and indeed divine, principle. By grace I am myself despite the evil of others. I do not take revenge for myself. I am above the evil of others, as God is, doing good on principle to those who hate us.
The most common escape is to admire the verse and shelve it. One writer names that move for what he believes it is.
We close by begging all our readers to drop a very common thought: that these commands cannot be lived out. Many treat them as an ideal to admire but never practise. This is unbelief... Rather let us adopt the language of the apostle and say, "I can do all things through him who strengthens me"; and surely this among the rest.
- Overcome, not merely endure. Every injury is a contest. Hitting back is the moment you lose, and the first flash of temper is already defeat.
- Overcome by living in good. Evil is a pressure from outside; good is the atmosphere the Christian lives in, and only that power can meet evil.
- Overcome by stepping aside. You can refuse revenge because vengeance is not entrusted to you — God keeps it in His own hands.
- Overcome by kindness. Food and drink for an enemy act as coals of fire. They test him: he either melts into friendship or hardens further.
- Overcome as God did. God met our evil with His good. Writers call this a divine principle — one to practise, not just admire.