Sunday School Notes: Romans 12:19-21
19 Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to anger, for it is written, “‘Revenge is mine: I shall repay,’ says the Lord.” 20 But if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he thirsts, give him a drink. For when you do this, you shall heap burning coals on his head. 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Still on the theme of blessing persecutors, and living in love and peace with one another, Paul instructs the church at Rome not to seek revenge. Again, this is an attitude that runs counter to our natural inclination. When someone wrongs us, we want payback! But Paul says that’s not the Christian way. We shouldn’t seek to get even, or, as is often the case, get “one up” on our enemies. Rather, Paul says that we should “give place to anger.” This seems an odd thing to say on its own–whose anger? The NASB interprets this as “leave room for the wrath of God,” and, given the following quotation, I think this is close to what Paul intends. We are not to seek revenge, but rather give a place, or step out of the way, and let God be the one to display anger on our behalf.
Paul quotes Deuteronomy 32:35, quoting neither the Septuagint (the Old Testament in Greek) nor the Masoretic Text (the Hebrew text that has come down to us) precisely. But versions this saying can be found elsewhere in the Old Testament (e.g., Jeremiah 5:9; 23:2; Hosea 4:9; Joel 3:21) so he is either quoting one of those, or he’s quoting a Greek translation that hasn’t survived to our day–or he’s simply giving an approximate quote that may not be verbally precise to the original, but still accurately conveys the sense.
Before moving on to verse 20, I think it’s interesting that Paul now addresses his audience as “beloved.” This is the first time he has done this in Romans, so I think there’s significance to it. One of the main, overriding themes of chapter 12 is showing love for one another, primarily among one’s fellow Christians within the church, and then also to those in the world. He has been talking about the need to view each other and each other’s gifts as having equal importance, and not looking down on people, perhaps even going out of our way to associate with those on the fringes. There should be an atmosphere of familial love within the church, so it seems fitting that now, as Paul is about to exhort them on the subject of revenge, he should remind them of this loving attitude they should have: they are, after all, beloved, both of Paul, and, most importantly, of God.
We had some discussion over the question of whether this means we should never seek to redress wrongs done to us, especially by means of the civil law courts. I certainly agree that any issue between believers needs to be settled within the church. Paul is quite adamant in 1 Corinthians 6 that Christians have no business asking the world to sort out their disputes. However, when it comes to lawsuits with the world, while I think the Christian shouldn’t undertake such things lightly, these can be places where God’s justice and wrath may be seen. In other words, God may indeed use the ruling authorities as the means by which His anger against wrongdoers is manifest. We’ll get into this more in Chapter 13. Clearly, God does not always choose the here-and-now to bring about justice. Many Christians have died for their faith under unjust circumstances, and many today face persecution that they willingly endure for the sake of God’s glory. Scripture promises us that God will one day bring his anger and justice to bear on all those who cause suffering to His people.
In verse 20, Paul quotes Proverbs 25-21-22, showing active, positive ways we can bless our enemies. Instead of looking to get even, why not give them food if they’re hungry, or drink if they’re thirsty? In other words, we should let God take care of bringing our enemies to justice, and instead we should concentrate on being a blessing in their lives. Our ideas of justice are so muddled with sin, and our perspective is so much narrower than God’s, it’s only right that we leave the vengeance to God. At least by seeking to do good to our enemies, we don’t run the risk of running into sin ourselves, and bringing shame upon Christ and the gospel. Indeed, Paul says that when we respond in this way, we “heap burning coals” on our enemies’ head.
Paul’s use of this phrase here is a little confusing. It sounds as if he’s saying that by doing good, we bring some kind of judgment on them. But isn’t that the same as getting revenge, which he has just said we shouldn’t do? Some have suggested Paul means that our good deeds will either lead to their repentance, or they will ultimately come under God’s judgment. But that still sounds like we’re doing good as a way to get our own back on our enemy.
A better explanation, I think, actually comes from ancient Egyptian culture. It seems that the Egyptians used to carry a tray of burning coals on their heads as a sign of contrition. While there’s no evidence of this phrase used in this way in the Greek Old Testament, it would fit the context and intention of Paul’s words here. That such a practice was known throughout the ancient world–or at least to Paul–is not unlikely. Also, there is an old Jewish commentary on Proverbs 25:21-22 that adds the words “and will make him your friend” to the end. This seems to points to an understanding of the wrongdoer being shamed into contrition.
I think verse 21 also lends support to this positive understanding of the phrase. We are not to let the evil done to us overwhelm us, forcing us to act in ways that pull us back into the realm of sin. By doing good, we show the victory we have in Christ over evil, displaying the love of God to a corrupt world, perhaps even igniting shame and repentance in the hearts of those who oppose us.
Program Note: Next week we’re going to step away from Romans to compare and contrast Covenant Theology, Dispensationalism, New Covenant Theology, and Federal Vision. I plan to do this as a summary overview in one session, though it might take more than one. This is something I originally planned to do before Christmas but didn’t get around to it. The topic does have some bearing on Romans since it has to do with the place of God’s Law in the life of the believer, and where the nation of Israel stands with regard to God’s plan (at least insofar as He has revealed His plan in Scripture). We’ve seen what Paul says in Romans (particularly Romans 11), and so I thought it would be useful to see how these various systems deal with the topic. I may or may not post notes–we’ll see.
