The Ultimate Avenger

Romans 12:17–21 CSB

¹⁷ Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Give careful thought to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes. ¹⁸ If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. ¹⁹ Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for God’s wrath, because it is written, Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord. ²⁰ But If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head. ²¹ Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.

As we wrap up chapter 12, our bullet points go back to how we respond to when wronged. As expected, the admonition is do do that which is NOT natural nor easy.

Romans 12:17 CSB

¹⁷ Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Give careful thought to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes.

No paybacks , do what is honorable

“Repay” or “pay back” is an interesting phrase.

It used to predominantly mean to literally pay back money you had borrowed or that was due. It had very cordial meaning – someone helps you with a job, you can pay them back by helping them with a job.

In its most literal sense it means to give to someone what they are due.

Don’t pay back bad for bad, evil for evil.

Most people, and many commentaries, believe these verses are talking about the way we are treated by those outside the faith. But that does not seem consistent with the chapter as a whole. I think this can certainly apply to those in the church, in the “family”. It is possible you might be treated badly by someone who is a “Christian”, and maybe even is part of our church family. And this truth applies to that situation!

1 Thessalonians 5:15 CSB

¹⁵ See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all.

In his letter to the church in Thessalonica Paul said not to pay back evil but pursue what is good for “one another” – which would be your church family – and “for all” which would include those not in the family of faith. That implies that the evil was also amongst the “one another”.

Payback. We have several off-color sayings about payback in our culture that I will not share in a sermon… but in each case it is the idea that when we pay someone back they will certainly be sorry!

When someone treats you badly how do you WANT to react? We want to get them back – payback, right? It is what they are due – what is coming to them. What are some ways we might do this?

This not only seems natural, it seems like it is expected. Like it is “justice”, right? And when you read parts of the scripture you might get the impression that payback is a biblical concept:

Exodus 21:23–25 CSB

²³ If there is an injury, then you must give life for life, ²⁴ eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, ²⁵ burn for burn, bruise for bruise, wound for wound.

That sounds lot like payback, doesn’t it? And if you were a Jew studying the Torah, you would know that passage. An eye for an eye is payback. Some pokes out your eye, you poke out theirs! Tit for tat. Equal payback – you hurt me so I hurt you the same way.

That is what is natural for us. But that is not what Jesus wants us to do. When Jesus showed up on the scene he said this:

Matthew 5:38–41 CSB

³⁸ “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. ³⁹ But I tell you, don’t resist an evildoer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. ⁴⁰ As for the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt, let him have your coat as well. ⁴¹ And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two.

When someone slaps you in the face… you WANT to slap them in their face! But Jesus said – “turn the other cheek”, “give them your cloak”, and “go the extra mile for them”. In other words:

Romans 12:17 CSB

¹⁷ Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Give careful thought to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes.

The word for “evil” also means “bad”. And Paul says that we need to repay what is “bad” with that which is “not bad”. in verse 17 different translations give it a different nuance:

“do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes.” CSB
“do what is right in the eyes of everybody” NIV
“Take thought for what is good in the sight of all people” LEB

There is a bit of a twist in this verse that you would not notice in English. In Romans 12, Paul has used the word “good” three times:

• vs 9 “good” = agathos ἀγαθός
• vs 21 “good” = agathos ἀγαθός
• vs 17 “good” = kalos καλός

The word “good in verse 17 is different!

Romans 12:17 CSB

¹⁷ Do not repay anyone evil [κακός – kakos] for evil [κακός – kakos] . Give careful thought to do what is right [καλός – kalos] in everyone’s eyes.

• καλός suggests aesthetic beauty, usefulness, and fitness,
• ἀγαθός acquires philosophical and ethical connotations.

So why use kalos instead of agathos? Word play.

Paul’s choice of καλός emphasizes what is visibly commendable and socially honorable—conduct that appears right to observers. Καλός denotes what is pleasing or gives joy.  The wordplay’s power lies precisely in this distinction: rejecting evil (κακός) and pursuing what appears noble (καλός) creates a sonic and conceptual parallel that wouldn’t work as effectively with ἀγαθός.

In English we do this all the time to get a point across or to get it to stick. We might rhyme, or use two words that are almost identical, like one letter apart, to make it memorable.

Don’t fight, do what’s right.

“When something happens to you, you have two choices in how to deal with it. You can either get bitter, or get better.” ~ Donald Miller

Get better, not bitter.

One letter apart but opposite reactions. That is what Paul is doing:

Payback Kalos not Kakos – Payback good not bad.

The fact that Kalos means socially acceptable, socially honorable, recognized as good by and brings up a major point -> while paybacks may seem deserved and justified, it is not what is “honorable” – Paul uses honor in contrast to paybacks.

The goal is honorable responses, even when they “deserve” something else. Be the better person. Do what is honorable.

Be at peace with others, as much as possible

The second concept Paul passed by us in these verses is:

Romans 12:18 CSB

¹⁸ If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

It is obvious that we are called to be peacemakers, right? I mean, Jesus had this really long message that he gave that we call the sermon on the mount, and he started off who WHOM is blessed by God.

Matthew 5:9 CSB

⁹ Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

It is obvious that we are called to be peacemakers. It is one of the things God blesses! And, again, this is talking about being at peace with others in the church.

Do you think it is possible to have hostility between believers? absolutely! It is not right, but it is real.

1 Thessalonians 5:12–13 CSB

¹² Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to give recognition to those who labor among you and lead you in the Lord and admonish you, ¹³ and to regard them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.

Notice the “be at peace among yourselves….” that is the church.

As an elder, I know people can be mad or upset with me. It comes with the job 😉. My job is to do what I can to be at peace with everyone. That does NOT mean I water down the word of God or pander to whatever anyone in the church thinks I ought to be doing. It means I follow God’s lead and if someone gets upset I try to make peace with them. And it hopefully means they try to do the same thing… but they may not.

• that means NOT paying back bad with bad
• that means treating the other person with respect
• that means NOT adding fuel to the fire

James 1:19 CSB

¹⁹ My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,

It means we listen, we hold our tongues, we try not to get angry. That sounds hard, doesn’t it? While this verse may seem like a painfully difficult task that requires a lot of energy, patience and humility, it is actually a very freeing concept.

I LOVE the practicality of our verse in Romans!

Romans 12:18 CSB

¹⁸ If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

I love it because it is freeing in two ways:

1. When we are peacemakers, when we do all that we can to make peace or be at peace with others, it frees us from the burden of guilt. I can stand tall knowing I am not the cause of the continued hostility. I can have a clear conscience before them and God knowing that I was trying to be peaceful, but that they refused. That is so freeing!
2. BUT it also means there is a limit. There are some people who will never seek peace. We cannot make people change. We cannot force peace. Peace in relationships comes from BOTH parties being committed to it. Hostility CAN be one-sided. And I am off the hook as long as I have tried and am willing to try to be at peace. We are not enslaved to working at it until we achieve peace. That may never happen. A Peacemaker seeks peace, but cannot force it.

Do NOT add fuel to the fire. Do not be the one that causes dissent and disunity in the body of Christ – be the one that tries to resolve conflict and strive for peace.

Don’t take revenge, let God handle it

Romans 12:19 CSB

¹⁹ Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for God’s wrath, because it is written, Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.

Do not seek revenge. Do not avenge yourself.

• vengeance — noun. the act of harming someone in return for an injury or offense; can include harm beyond what is physical.to take
• vengeance — verb. to take revenge for a perceived wrong.

I think this is the idea of taking justice in into our own hands. Don’t take justice into your own hands.

Again, lets go back to Torah school… I was taught that God explained his law to Noah after the flood when he said this:

Genesis 9:6 CSB

⁶ Whoever sheds human blood, by humans his blood will be shed, for God made humans in his image.

That is a direct command. It was given to Noah after God poured out his wrath on mankind. It was the law.  In the OT we learn of a special title, “The Avenger of Blood” that takes on this role for a close family member.  You can read out it in Judges 8.

In Arabic culture it was common for the father to NOT be the avenger of blood. Since those that would be killed were capable of taking a life, it was left up to the son, who would be younger, stronger and more capable, to perform the execution.

That sure sounds like revenge to me!

Apparently, that is justice that God has granted to humans, that is not considered revenge – but a way to honor God and the sanctity of life that he created.

How is REVENGE different from JUSTICE?

Justice restores order; revenge restores feelings.   Justice asks “What is fair?”; revenge asks “How do I make them feel what I felt?”

Justice and revenge differ at their core in motivation, method, and outcome. They overlap because both respond to wrongdoing — but they diverge sharply in what they aim to accomplish and how they operate.

Later in Torah, when God was giving of the Law to the nation Israel, there is a clear command spelled out:

Leviticus 19:18 CSB

¹⁸ Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.

NOTICE it is “against members of your community”. Inside the family. #justsaying

That law to not take revenge or bear a grudge gets expanded upon later on in the Torah. In Deuteronomy 32, Moses is reciting a song, a very LONG song, to the people of Israel. He said this, which is what Paul is quoting:

Deuteronomy 32:35–36 CSB

³⁵ Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay. In time their foot will slip, for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.” ³⁶ The Lord will indeed vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants when he sees that their strength is gone and no one is left—slave or free.

The song that Moses sang is a very gruesome song about God’s vengeance

Do you remember the song, “El Shaddai?”. That was my first prompt into some of the Hebrew names of God. Do you know any others?

NAMES OF GOD:

• El Elyon — Translated “God Most High,
• El Shaddai — Translated “God Almighty”
• El Olam — Translated the “Everlasting God”
• El Emunah (“The Faithful God”)
• El Gibbor (“Mighty God”)
• El Hakabodh (“The God of Glory”)
• El Hay (“The Living God”)
• El Kanna (“Jealous God”)
• El Marom (“God Most High”)
• El Rai (“God Seest Me”)
• El Simchath Gili (“God My Exceeding Joy”)
• El Roi (“God of seeing, God who sees me”) appears uniquely in Genesis 16:13 which I believe Justin preached a sermon on here at NCF in a sermon titled, “Do You See Her?” Mar 17, 2024

Wow. I know a lot of names of God, but there is one you do not often hear in songs – and yet here it is in a Psalm: [el  |  nek·aw·maw ]  “el nâqamah” – Avenging God

Psalm 94:1–2 CSB

¹ Lord, God of vengeance— God of vengeance, shine! ² Rise up, Judge of the earth; repay the proud what they deserve.

El Nekamoth (“God that Avenges”) – read the whole Psalm some time and you will understand why the author of Hebrews says this:

Hebrews 10:30–31 CSB

³⁰ For we know the one who has said, Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, and again, The Lord will judge his people. ³¹ It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

The Bible is actually very clear that revenge is NOT a human right. Perhaps there are commands not to do it because it is our human nature to want to exact revenge.

We are called to trust God’s ultimate justice rather than seize it themselves. Our verses in Romans says to leave room for God’s wrath. And we can trust God’s justice and his wrath.

Nahum 1:2–3 CSB

² The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord takes vengeance and is fierce in wrath. The Lord takes vengeance against his foes; he is furious with his enemies. ³ The Lord is slow to anger but great in power; the Lord will never leave the guilty unpunished. His path is in the whirlwind and storm, and clouds are the dust beneath his feet.

Notice what we are told?

• God is an avenger
• God’s wrath is fierce
• He will NEVER leave the guilty unpunished

God’s justice operates on a fundamentally different plane than human revenge.

God declares that “vengeance belongs to me; I will repay,” establishing an exclusive divine prerogative that we are explicitly forbidden from exercising. Scripture prohibits taking revenge or bearing grudges, and we are instructed not to avenge themselves but instead to “leave room for God’s wrath.”

Again, this is very freeing. I do NOT have to be “Indigo Montoya” – I do not have to spend my life trying to avenge a wrong. I am free to live my life and KNOW that God promises to bring all to justice – including ME which is why revenge is not my right.

Paul does tell us how to treat people – instead of seeking revenge we are to seek their good. We covered that a few weeks ago, but the reminder is there that we are to do what is “good” even to those that do us willful harm.

Don’t let evil win, do what is good

At the end of the chapter we have this command:

Romans 12:21 CSB

²¹ Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.

Good and evil, evil and good. We end our section where we started:

vs 9: detest what is evil, cling to what is good.

One of the problems of payback, is that it is never satisfied. And if you are satisfied there is a chance that the other person is not, so it goes back and forth. Eventually it will consume you, which means it will conquer you. It will destroy you, and you will most likely blame the other person, but that would not be the truth.

One of the problems with being a warmonger, not a peace maker, is that you live in the guilt of knowing that you are at least partially responsible for the animosity, the disunity, the conflict and there is no rest in that.

One of the problems with seeking revenge is that it will consume you, and even if you get it, you will not be satisfied. And, as a Christian you will not be justified.

Notice the words that Paul used: “conquer” or “overcome”.

When we fail to heed the wisdom of these verses, we become defeated. We are “conquered by evil”. Evil wins. Friends, do not let the emotions of being hurt, or the pain of being wronged, or the pride if needing to be right – be the cause of your default. DO NOT give in – be victorious and overcome evil with good.

How can we overcome evil? We over come it with that which is “good”.

What is good: God’s perfect will.

Romans 12:2 CSB

² Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

Who is good? Only God.

Mark 10:18 CSB

“Why do you call me good?” Jesus asked him. “No one is good except God alone.

When we overcome evil with good, it means we have lived up to our calling of being image bearers. We have not taken the name of our lord in vain, we have made the name of God hollowed, holy, honored by the way we live. We have proven his will and we have honored his name.

Brothers and sisters – when you are wronged, be better, not bitter. Honor God with your response and trust him for the outcome. In doing so you bring honor to the one who is good.