Why are we commanded, "Do not avenge yourselves?" (Romans 12:19)

Romans 12:19. "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath; for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." This is a kindred precept to the previous injunction, not to render evil for evil: still, it is varied and amplified. The Christian, under any provocation, must never avenge himself; we must leave that matter to God, who, in His own good time, will certainly avenge His "dearly beloved." Nothing can be more touching and beautiful than these terms of endearment. Just when provoked and excited to retaliation by wicked and unreasonable men, the voice of tenderest love is heard rising above the strife of human passions: "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath." Retire from the scene; give place to my government, because of the injury you have received. It is my prerogative to punish. "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." See Deuteronomy 32:35.

The knowledge of God, as the avenger of His people's wrongs, is not intended to awaken in our hearts the smallest desire that the divine vengeance should overtake our enemies. This we must watch against as a secret desire for we are prone to count on the divine vengeance falling on those who have injured us; and such expectations are closely allied to the hope that it may come. This must be guarded against; it is natural to us, and bordering on the principles of the world. It is a most unhappy thing to be dwelling, either in our own minds, or in conversation with others, on the injuries — supposed or real — which we have received. How much happier to forget them, and commit ourselves and all our affairs into the hands of the Lord! To advance in arms against our enemies; to watch for their halting; to wait our opportunity to give out what we have been nursing within; to exaggerate their failures, that they may receive double for their sins; to rejoice inwardly when we think they have been repaid in their own coin, is to indulge a spirit entirely contrary to the mind of the Lord in the passage before us, and to the whole genius of Christianity. To the Lord alone rightfully belongs the prerogative of vindicating the innocent, and of punishing the guilty.

From verse 17 to the end of our chapter we see what is the godly attitude toward those who wrong us. We are not to reward them in their own coin: “eye for eye, tooth for tooth” has no place here. If we do as they do to us, we are thus far making ourselves like them — and how can we dare to so lower Christian character? If others do wrong to gain their own ends, let this only make us the more purposed in heart to “provide things honest in the sight of all men.” Do we fear we shall suffer if we do not resort to the same questionable methods that others do? Let God answer it: “Them that honor Me I will honor; and they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.”

Nor, on the other hand, are we to be contentious even concerning the dishonesty of others?If at all possible we are to live peaceably with all men — that is as much as lies in ourselves. This does not mean sacrificing righteousness or what belongs to God, but as regards our personal ways and character giving no occasion for the enmity of others. They may of course even then be full of enmity, but it is well that we do not let the fault lie at our door — nor indeed are we to feed their enmity, no matter how determined it is.

This may mean the sacrifice of personal rights, but if walking by faith we shall steadfastly refuse to avenge ourselves. Let the enemy rage if he will, but let us never rush to our own defense. “For it is written, Vengeance is Mine: I will repay, saith the Lord.” Good for us to remember that only our God knows both the time and the measure of recompense that is perfectly suited. “Faith can firmly trust Him, come what may.”

Self-confidence is another and kindred danger, which in such a world as this would soon ensnare the saint in retaliation. In every way contrariwise we are called to be witnesses, not of the first man, nor of the law, but of Christ, and hence to be above suspicion before all men in providing things good or comely (for such is the true sense here, rather than benevolent); and this too in a spirit of peace with all as far as depends on us. It is a solemn thought that wrath and vengeance belong to God. It becomes us, instead of avenging ourselves, to bend before the blast, looking to God; nay, to render service to an enemy in need and distress. This will bring him to a point with God or with you: if he melt, so much the better for all; if he harden himself, so much the worse for him. For the Christian it is exercise in the divine nature, that is in faith and patience and love. For the christian rule is Christ, not to be overcome by evil, but to overcome it with good. So God, in our own case as with all who love Him, overcame our evil with His good in Christ our Lord; and now also He gives us to be imitators of Him in grace, which wins the victory in His sight and to our own consciousness, even when we may seem most downtrodden before the world. For this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith — of course faith working through love.

In earnest entreaty the psalmist addresses the "Lord God, to whom vengeance belongs" (v. 1), for 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 think too that judgment ought to be carried out more quickly than it is, but God knows better than we both the time of judgment and its character. Interestingly, the psalmist adds, "shine forth," though possibly he did not understand the force of what he wrote. Has God "shone forth"? Yes, in the incarnation of the Lord Jesus, in whose face all the glory of God is shining (2 Cor. 4:6). Is not the shining of that face the full answer to the need of saints of God who endure days and months and years of suffering?

(Vv. 1-2). The Psalm opens with a prayer. The godly man finds himself, not only in a world in which the people of God suffer, and the proud prosper, but, where to natural sight it might seem that God is indifferent. Therefore the Psalmist prays that God would "show" Himself, act on behalf of His suffering people, and deal with the proud. At the same time it is realised that "vengeance" belongs to God. This, surely, is a truth of which the Christian needs to be reminded, for the Apostle Paul can say to us, "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." In the presence of provocation, anger, and deliberate insults, let us beware of seeking to take vengeance. The insults and injustice may arouse righteous indignation, we cannot be trusted to take vengeance. That the Lord keeps in His own hands. Our part is to "give place" unto wrath. If a person's anger makes me angry, then I am "overcome of evil" (Rom. 12:18-21).

The place of faith is always to look beyond present circumstances, on to the time of the end; then we begin to see and judge of things according to God. Thus it was with Abigail. And when we realise our association with God, and the appointed end of glory, we shall act as she did. In the most trying things which happen to us, if we can by faith associate ourselves with God, if we can see Him with us as our friend, the One who hath said, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord:" we shall never feel disposed to avenge ourselves, or think of anything, save intercession, as it regards those who may have grieved and wronged us. The present actings of God are in grace and mercy. We should rather seek to bring down, and subdue, and melt. "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." There is nothing so suitable, now, as taking the place of grace, and desiring to bring under its power whatever meets us individually.

The Apostle thinks of the envy and malice, the insults and affronts, the bitterness and evil speaking, that believers have to meet. In the presence of those things we have to beware of the natural tendency to answer the flesh by the flesh, to revile when reviled, and to seek to take revenge on an offender. We have neither to assert out rights nor avenge ourselves. All is to be met in "Gentleness" - the spirit of Christ. As the Apostle can say, "Let your gentleness be known of all men" (N.Tn). Gentleness is irresistible, but how can we act in a way so contrary to our natural tendency? Only as we realise that the Lord is our resource. Thus the Apostle can say, "The Lord is near" (N.Tn.). He is near to support us; as the Apostle can say, in another Epistle, when some did him much evil and all deserted him, "Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me" (2 Tim. 4:17). He is near as the One to whom we can commit ourselves when reviled by others (1 Peter 2:23). He is near to act on our behalf in His own time and way, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord" (Rom. 12:9). Realising His presence - that He is near - we can afford to be silent, and "be still," and learn that the Lord is God, a very present help in trouble (Ps. 46:1, 10).

Then He, as it were, retires into the glory of His own person. The Son has to reveal the Father. The world rejects Him, and He submits to the rejection of the kingdom, and brings out, instead of it, the blessedness of the heavenly thing, and now speaks of Himself as the Son, and glories in that. The present result of His coming is the Son revealing the Father; and this is even better than the kingdom. The testimony is brighter as to what God is about, when I take things quietly and submit, not desiring to be a wolf among the wolves. It is exceedingly difficult for one's heart to bow and say, "I will be nothing but a lamb"; but that is our place, for the Lord says, "Vengeance is mine": "rather give place unto wrath" (Rom. 12); and "neither give place to the devil" (Eph. 4). But if you do not give place to wrath, you will give place to the devil. Shall we lose anything by being quiet, and taking things patiently? No, "all power," He says, "is given unto me in heaven and on earth." We must bow to what it is, without, and be satisfied with what is written. If not we shall be only wearing ourselves in the greatness of our way. May we be satisfied to have our "names written in heaven.

Under the law of Moses it was enacted 'an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' Matt. 5:38; Ex. 21:24. With the Christian it is quite different: having been dealt with in grace, he must act also in grace towards others. The word to him is "Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord." Rom. 12:19; Rev. 6:10; Rev. 19:2. Now it is the day of grace; but there is a day of vengeance coming for those that "know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Thess. 1:8. The duty of a Christian in not avenging himself in no way clashes with the exercise of the government of God by magistrates, who derive their authority from Him, in repressing and punishing evil.

Nevertheless, whether in the day of the Psalmist, or in the last days of Christendom, the one who seeks to walk in obedience to God will find that the time of suffering becomes a season of blessing. If, however, we are to obtain the blessing in the time of suffering, we must, in the first place, give up all thought of taking our case into our own hands and seeking to revenge ourselves upon those who unjustly oppose and abuse us. Whatever the suffering, the believer is to refrain from taking vengeance. When reviled the flesh is ever ready to revile again, and when suffering unjustly it is ready to threaten, and would delight in taking vengeance upon all who oppose and insult us with their hard speeches. But the godly are not to render evil for evil, or railing for railing. The LORD cannot trust the believer to deal with those who oppose. Vengeance belongs to the LORD (Verse 1).