God Expects Love Not Revenge

Pakistan: Zeba

            “I will not repeat the verses. I am a Christian. I will always be a Christian.” With her family in poverty, Zeba was forced to work as a servant for a wealthy Muslim family. While she was working, the head of the household tried to teach her about Islam and coerced her to memorize verses from the Koran. On three different occasions Zeba refused, stating, “I am a Christian.” She was beaten each time she refused.

            Zeba’s employers then had her arrested, falsely accusing her of stealing from the family. After securing her daughter’s release, Zeba’s mother visited the Muslim family to take up her daughter’s defense. She was not welcomed.

            One of the family members screamed, “You are an infidel! Both you and your daughter are infidels and do not deserve to live.” They threw gasoline on Zeba’s mother and lit a match. Zeba never saw her mother again. Despite the tragedy, Zeba continued her walk with Christ and was recently baptized.

Today in Pakistan, a sewing machine school has been established so young Christian girls like Zeba will no longer have to seek employment as servants to help feed their families. Despite her pain, Zeba holds no grudges, and she dreams of sharing her faith with others in her country. She wants to become a Bible teacher.”[1]

Introduction

            After the events of the last few weeks, does this story still shock you? Honestly, do you know of anyone who sincerely believed or stopped believing something because they were being threatened with physical harm or even death? The premise that someone deserves death because they offended God or his “prophet” through their words, deeds or unbelief is evil foolishness. Is God’s psyche so delicate that he needs humanity to defend his honor? Furthermore, how can a “prophet’s” status be so elevated that his honor must be defended in the same manner as God? This is not the image I have of a God who, without any help, created the entire universe! Instead, the image of a God that constantly needs to be defended paints a picture of a petulant and helpless child stomping his feet wondering when someone will come to his defense because he is powerless to defend himself. Just look at the story above (and there are countless many more just like it) and decide which God you think is more worthy of following: A God that needs to be defended by requiring his followers to abuse or kill those who don’t believe in him or a God that can defend himself and requires his followers to love those who abuse and kill them for not believing the way they do? Which faith is worthy of serious consideration: A faith whose highest calling is death in the service of killing those who don’t believe the same thing they do or a faith whose highest calling is death to self so that others might have life?

            I’ve read countless stories about Christians like Zeba and I am always amazed at their perseverance and faith. But there’s one thing they all seem to have in common that I so often struggle with. Here’s how the story describes it: “Zeba holds no grudges.” She was beaten repeatedly and her mother was murder because of her Christian faith and she “holds no grudges.” Those words are like a punch to the gut! I know Zeba has the right attitude but that’s honestly not my first reaction. I’m not proud of it, especially after being a Christian my whole life, but my first reaction is that someone has to pay for that. But that’s a human reaction (and a sinful one at that) not a godly reaction. Instead, God Expects Love Not Revenge! But don’t take my word for it, let’s see what God’s Word actually says:

Romans 12:9-21

⁹ Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. ¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. ¹¹ Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. ¹² Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. ¹³ Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. ¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. ¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. ¹⁷ Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. ¹⁸ If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. ¹⁹ Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. ²⁰ 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.” ²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Context

Paul is writing to the church in Rome as an introduction of himself and his message in advance of his visit there. The church in Rome was comprised primarily of Jewish believers with quite a few Gentile believers as well. The immediately preceding verses to our subject verses provide the perfect backdrop for our lesson as Paul instructs the church, and by extension us, that our spiritual act of worship that is holy and pleasing to God is to offer our bodies as “living sacrifices” (Rom 12:1). To what shall we offer our bodies? Paul tells us according to our gifting: to prophesy (Rom 12:6); to serve or teach (Rom 12:7); to encourage, provide for others, lead, or be merciful (Rom 12:8). It is unlikely that Paul intended the list to be exhaustive but, instead, intended to convey a sense that it is our duty to commit our lives to serve others in such a way that would benefit them. It seems fairly obvious that abusing or killing someone that does not believe the same thing would never be included as a “spiritual act of worship” that is “holy and pleasing to God!”

However, if there’s still any doubt what our attitude and behavior should be as Christians, then our subject verses should resolve those doubts. “As for the Christians’ mutual relationships and relationships to the wider world, the norm given is love. Paul illustrates what this will mean in practice…Here peaceable good-neighborliness must be the rule.”[2]

Text Explanation

            V. 9a introduces us to the overarching theme of these verses; Love. Sincere love should be the attitude and actions toward all people. But why does Paul emphasize that love should be sincere? Because Paul makes a distinction between love that is only words and love that manifests itself in beneficial actions toward others. Paul remains consistent with Jesus’ assertion that the greatest command is to love God and the second greatest command is like the first; that we should love one another (Mk 12:28-31). “Love for others, singled out by our Lord himself as the essence of the OT law and central demand of the New Covenant (John 13:31-35), quickly became enshrined as the foundational and characteristic ethical norm of Christianity.”[3] Grammatically, there is no verb in the Greek text in the first half of v. 9. Although adding the verb “to be” is not technically incorrect, the literal Greek is more like a heading for what is to follow. The heading would be “Sincere Love” and what follows is Paul’s explanation of what “Sincere Love” looks like.

            In vv. 9b-13 Paul starts off with an imperative parallel clause that acts as a guardrail with one rail being the command to hate evil and the other rail the command to cling to what is good; all attitudes and actions fall within the two. These particular verses apply to the believer’s personal attitude and the believer’s attitude and actions toward other believers. Paul exhorts believers to love one another in the same way as siblings would love one another. When Paul says that we are to honor others above ourselves (v. 10), he’s not saying that we are to be doormats for abuse. What Paul is saying is that we are to defer to other believers in our words and actions as an expression of genuine love toward them. Paul continues by exhorting them to maintain their zeal (V. 11). But zeal for what? Paul hints about it when he says that they are to keep up their spiritual fervor in their service to the Lord. Most of us know or have known someone “on fire” for God when they first become a believer. But as the years wane, the spiritual fervor that was once an inferno becomes only an ember or worse becomes misdirected. “Paul urges us to be ‘set on fire’ ‘in’ or ‘by’ the S/spirit. ‘Spirit’ can refer to the human spirit, but, in light of the reference to ‘the Lord’ in the next clause, it probably refers to the Holy Spirit, the agent who inflames our passion for the Lord and his work. Passion for the cause of Chris is exemplary, but it can be misguided and even harmful. Thus, Paul concludes the verse with the reminder that our spiritual passion must always be put in obedient service of the Lord.”[4] However, it can be difficult to maintain the zeal and fervor for our faith, especially in the face of difficulties, trials and tribulations which is why Paul exhorts us to be joyful in hope, patient in affliction and faithful in prayer (v. 12). “Paul, ever the realist, knows this; and so here, as he does elsewhere, he quickly moves from hope to the need for endurance. At the same time, we realize that our ability to continue to rejoice and to ‘bear up under’ our tribulations is dependent on the degree to which we heed Paul’s challenge to ‘persist’ in prayer.”[5] To conclude this section of verses, Paul exhorts us to share with believers who are in need and to be hospitable to other believers (v. 13). Believers too often rely on the church to be obedient to this particular command as part of their tithe. While that is certainly part of the church’s responsibility, the primary responsibility for this belongs to the Church. Therefore, if believers anywhere remain in need, it is primarily an indictment of the Church. As believers, we are called to both tithe to the church in order to perpetuate the services of the church and directly provide for the physical needs of believers when necessary. One of the needs that believers are called to meet is the need to be hospitable to other believers. “‘Hospitality’ was badly needed in a day without motels and restaurants. Traveling missionaries and ordinary believers depended on the kindness of other Christians.”[6] As is often the case, the English doesn’t really convey the gravity of Paul’s exhortation. Believers aren’t just supposed to “show” hospitality toward others, the Greek instead calls believers to “pursue” hospitality.

            Paul makes a transition, grammatically and topically, in v. 14 from dealing with believers (vv. 10-13) to dealing with an unbelieving world (vv. 14-16). Paul says that we are to bless those who persecute us; not curse them. This is beautifully consistent with Jesus’ words from his Sermon on the Mount recorded by Matthew where he says “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Mt. 5:44). Paul depends more on Jesus’ teachings here in Romans than he does in any of his other letters. This verse, like the opening verse in the previous section, could be seen as a heading for this section of verses with the verses that follow illustrating how we can bless those who persecute us. Paul tells us that we are to rejoice or mourn with people as the occasion may dictate (v. 15). Don’t misunderstand Paul’s instruction here. Paul is not limiting our involvement with unbelievers to an occasion of joy or sorrow only. Instead, this is merism; a literary style intended to describe opposite extremes. In modern vernacular, Paul is telling us that we bless those who persecute us when we “do life” with them. This includes rejoicing with them, weeping with them and everything in-between. In v. 16 Paul instructs us to live in harmony with each other. Scholars are divided as to whether Paul is back to talking about Christians dealing with other Christians or whether Paul is still talking about Christians dealing with unbelievers. I actually believe it acts as another heading for the verses that follow that illustrate the ways in which we are able to live in harmony with other; whether they are Christian or not. We live in harmony with others in complete humility. We live in harmony with others by being willing to associate with them even if they are somehow considered inferior; socially, economically, educationally or otherwise. When Paul admonishes us to “not be conceited,” he “Probably inserted this echo of Proverbs (Prov 3:7) at this point because he recognized in the attitude of the man who is self-sufficient in his confidence in his own wisdom something particularly destructive of the harmony to which he has just referred.”[7]

            Vv. 17-21 are the culmination of the subject text noting that v. 9 references love while v. 21 references evil. Is Paul again talking to Christians or non-Christians? I think this is probably the case of both/and instead of either/or. V. 17 says we are not to repay evil for evil. This is again a lesson taken from Jesus’ teachings. Keep in mind that the Roman church was made up primarily of Jews so they would be quite accustomed to the law allowing for an “eye for an eye” and a “tooth for a tooth.” Therefore, this command is a radical departure from the way they have always thought and probably not too different from the way most other people thought as well. Throughout history, being wronged or offended, required justice; someone had to pay. But Paul’s instructions, like those of Jesus, reversed this teaching and custom and insisted that we should instead bless those who persecute us or commit some evil act against us. We are called to do what is right/good in the sight of everyone. This section is a bit more tricky as we try to discern what is right or good since this seems to be quite subjective; especially today. “Paul was well aware of the darkening of men’s minds (cf. Rom 1:21) and the need for the human mind to be renewed, if it is to recognize and approve the will of God (cf. Rom 12:2). The meaning is rather that Christians are to take thought to, aim at, seek, in the sight of all men those things which (whether they recognize it or not) are good, the arbiter of what is good being not a moral communis sensus {Latin: “Common Sense”} of mankind, but the gospel.”[8] V. 18 instructs us to live at peace with everyone and is in parallel to v. 16 where Paul’s instruction is to live in harmony with one another. However, v. 18 adds the qualifier to do so to the extent that it “depends on us.” “Christians are to do what they can to find approval with non-Christians and live at peace with them. But they must never seek approval with the world at the expense of God’s moral demands; this means that harmonious relationships with unbelievers will not always lie in our power to achieve.”[9] V. 19 takes the command to love to a level that makes Christianity so beautiful and yet so terribly difficult. Paul, again following Jesus’ teaching, says that we are not to take revenge on those who perpetrate evil against us. Instead we are to leave vengeance in the hands of God. Paul quotes God speaking about revenge when he says, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay.” These words would have been quite familiar to Paul’s Jewish audience because it comes right from the Song of Moses (Dt. 32:35). Moses prepared a song as an indictment against Israel for future disobedience. The song makes very clear that God needs absolutely no help to defend himself or his name from any offense. Paul’s audience would have known this song by memory so his reference to leave room for God’s vengeance would have made perfect sense to them. But Paul’s not done; it’s not enough to passively leave revenge in the hands of God, we are to actively bless those who have offended us by providing for their needs (v. 20). This serves a twofold purpose; first and most importantly, it demonstrates God’s unique love and the power of a transformed life and it magnifies the offense in a way that will reflect very badly on the offender. Paul uses and Old Testament idiom of “heaping coals on his head” to describe this. This idiom comes right from the wisdom literature of Proverbs 25:21-22. “What is usually implied is that our responding to evil with good will cause people to become ashamed of their actions and perhaps seek reconciliation with the Lord.”[10] Paul completes this section of verses with v. 21 and the admonition not to be overcome by evil but to go to the other extreme and defeat evil with good. “Evil can overcome us when we allow the pressure put on us by a hostile world to force us into attitudes and actions that are out of keeping with the transformed character of the new realm…By responding to evil with ‘the good’ rather than with evil, we gain victory over that evil. Not only have we not allowed it to corrupt our own moral integrity, but we have displayed the character of Christ before a watching and skeptical world.”[11]

Application

            This is such a difficult teaching in light of the recent events of September 11^th as well as the historical events of September 11^th and the ongoing attacks by Muslim terrorists. I know that many want to fight back but not necessarily for the purpose of future security. Many don’t even want to fight back for the purpose of justice. Instead, many want to fight back out of revenge. But, as Christians, we must resist this temptation. This evil is not defeated by seeking revenge. Instead, this evil, like all evil, is defeated by demonstrating a love that is only possible with God’s strength. As Christians, we know that God doesn’t need us to protect him or defend his honor. In fact, God doesn’t “need” us for anything! Instead, God wants us to be transformed through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

The principle of overcoming evil with good applies to all areas of our lives not just world changing events. Sometimes “evil” doesn’t really strike us as “evil” but more like a personal offense. Nevertheless, the principle remains the same. Maybe it’s someone who cuts you off in traffic. It might be someone who says something about you behind your back. It might be someone who purposely cheats you out of some money. It might be ugly words from a former spouse or hurtful words from an abusive boss. Or maybe it’s unfair criticism from a teacher. Whatever the case may be, it is our duty as Christians to respond to these situations by doing good to those who have harmed or offended us. This is the image of the God of the Bible. Think about it, throughout history, humanity has been sinful and all sin is first committed against God. God, in his perfect judgment, would have been perfectly justified to condemn and eradicate humanity. But God was not after revenge. Instead, God sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross to pay for humanity’s sin. In a sense, God took his revenge for humanity’s sin out on Jesus instead of us. Payment has been made, restitution for the offense against God for past, present and future sins has been made. So why did Jesus suffer and die in our place? I’ll let the Apostle John remind us: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). So if God loves us that much then is it any wonder that our first and highest calling is to love Him and love others? If God is not prepared to condemn humanity then what in the world gives anyone the right to condemn another person even if that person has somehow offended God? No! This is not what God expects. Instead, God Expects Love Not Revenge!

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[1] The Voice of the Martyrs, Extreme Devotional, (Nashville, TN: W Publishing Group), p. 193.

[2] Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, Daniel G. Reid, eds., Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), p. 849.

[3] Douglas Moo, NICNT, The Epistle to the Romans, (Grand Rapids, MI, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1996), p. 775.

[4] Douglas Moo, The NIV Application Commentary, Romans, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000), p. 410.

[5] Moo, NICNT, Romans, p. 779.

[6] Moo, NIV, Romans, p. 410.

[7] C. E. B. Cranfield, ICC, Romans, Vol. II, (Edinburgh, Scotland, T & T Clark Ltd., 1979), p. 645.

[8] Ibid., p. 646.

[9] Moo, NIV, Romans, p. 412.

[10] Ibid., p. 413.

[11] Moo, NICNT, Romans, pp. 789-790.