The Way To Treat Enemies
THE WAY TO TREAT ENEMIES
ROMANS 12:18-21
Doing good is much more effective than taking revenge.
Verse 18. “All” again ends the verse, and it is moving to remember that Paul addressed his letter to a church which numbered imperial slaves among its members. It was difficult for those who lay under the burden of slavery and its vast injustices not to harbor resentment, and resentment so often results in acts of hostility. Live at peace, Paul says, “as far as you can,” recognizing that strife is sometimes not of the victim’s own making.
12:19. “Leave room for God’s wrath,” says Paul. Let the wronged do nothing, only stand out of the way. God needs a clear field, uncluttered by human efforts, to accelerate the working of the moral law. “Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him” (Isaiah 37:7). Serenity is healthy, elusive though it may be. It lives within, and not in circumstances. The key to it is a submissive will. The Italian poet Petrarch listed five enemies of peace: anger, ambition, avarice, envy and pride. Paul has dealt with them all. Read Isaiah 26:3 and then the closing verses of Isaiah chapter 54.
12:20. Beware, nevertheless, of a passive attitude. Paul tells the Romans not only to abstain from active retaliation, but also to seek to do good to those who harm them. This, in fact, could have been an effective form of evangelism. The last words are frequently misquoted. They come from Proverbs 25:21-22 and speak of the pain of shame and self-reproach, which provoke conviction of sin and a search for salvation. To see kindness to the undeserving and the hostile as a subtle form of vengeance is not to take Paul correctly. He regards such goodness as a testimony, and a method of Christian witness.
12:21. The last words sum up the chapter. Paul wants no ethical vacuum. He wants constructive activity. Evil can never overcome evil. Two wrongs have never made a right. Evils only breed and perpetuate their kind. Good, on the other hand, neutralizes and replaces.
Here, then, is Christian character. Such are the people fashioned by God’s grace. This is salvation in action, the “abundant life” of Christ’s promise (John 10:10).