Romans 12: 17-21

 Scripture Verse

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.

 Do not repay evil with evil but overcome it with good

I find this command extremely challenging to obey. My instinct calls out for retaliation, making it feel impossible to do good to those who harm me. Yet scripture commands otherwise. Is the solution simply to repress my feelings and force myself to comply through sheer power? I could even treat this season of Lent as a test of restrain and endurance – biting my tongue and absorbing injustice because I am supposed to! But that would not be sustainable; moreover, it is not Christlike. I need the gospel to change my thinking and transform my heart, not just my behavior. Three truths from Romans changed my perspective.

• The righteousness of God. God’s righteousness is in His very nature. His righteousness – all His rightness, properness, truth, beauty – is divine and glorious. 1 Jn 1:5 makes it so clear: “God is light, in Him there is no darkness at all”. God is so pure, perfect, and holy and there is not a tinge of evil in Him; in fact, His righteousness must command against any association with evil. If I do not believe this, I will recognize no boundaries for my actions, and everything will seem right in my own moral compass. If I believe these truths about God’s righteousness, I will stop defining “right” on my own terms and instead try to live by His rightness and goodness, even if imperfectly (and in verses 17b and 18, God graciously recognizes this imperfection!).
• Man’s sin and God’s wrath. Romans 1-3 shows that our sins are hideous and we all deserve God’s wrath and righteous judgment. But it is not a “tit-for-tat.” Just as the very nature of light dispels darkness, the very nature of a righteous God judges, overcomes, condemns, banishes, and removes sin and evil. In fact, no amount of “tit-for-tat” can satisfy God’s wrath. He will judge sin and evil comprehensively, but that is His task, not ours. If I do not believe these truths, every injustice will overwhelm me, and I may even get angry at God for not fixing it my way. But if I believe, I will leave justice in God’s hands and focus on obeying Him and do His bidding.
• Christ’s righteousness and our salvation. Jesus showed us what true righteousness is by living a sinless life. His is the only kind of righteousness that makes a relationship with a Holy God possible. Jesus then bore our sins on the cross and died to take God’s wrath and judgment on himself so that we need not. As a result, we now may even relate with a Holy God, as if we have Jesus’s righteousness. This is the gospel of salvation in Romans 3-5. If I do not believe these truths, I will live under sin, guilt, and the weight of God’s judgment which I will one day receive in full. I will be trying in vain to chalk up good works to appear right. If I believe in the salvation offered by Jesus, I am free from needing to earn favor or secure my own justice. His love reshapes my heart to love even those who have wronged me.

May this Lent be a time of reflecting on what Jesus has done so that we find rest from our efforts and allow the Holy Spirit to turn every desire for retaliation into a desire to love others and to make Jesus known.