Overcome Evil with Good: A Meditation on Romans 12

Let love be without dissimulation.

Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.

Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love;

in honour preferring one another;

 Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;

Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;

 Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.

Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.

Rejoice with them that do rejoice,

and weep with them that weep.

Be of the same mind one toward another.

Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate.

Be not wise in your own conceits.

Recompense to no man evil for evil.

 Provide things honest in the sight of all men.

If it be possible, as much as lieth in you,

live peaceably with all men.

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves,

 but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written,

Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him;

 if he thirst, give him drink:

for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

Be not overcome of evil,

but overcome evil with good.

 

Every verse of Romans 12 is worthy of deep meditation, and each is an elucidation of what St. Paul meant when he started the chapter by telling the Christians in Rome to “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”  His concluding encouragement was that they not be overcome by the evil which swirled all around and inside them, but rather to overcome all that evil with good.  A tall order, indeed, as the violence, corruption, and intrigue of Rome was well known throughout the ancient world.

 

Such an injunction is also contrary to the natural response most people have to injustice, which is probably closer to fighting fire with fire, or as the murderous mobs of our day often phrase it, “no justice, no peace.”  Violent, destructive mobs have often swollen their ranks with people who feel injured, abused, downtrodden, or oppressed, feeding their passion for vengeance to substitute for justice.  This general human inclination burns with intensity when fanned into flame, rationality losing place to bloodlust, and pours out terrible harm onto communities and individuals like a volcanic flood.  One person’s lust for power and destruction feeds another’s until everything around them is in ashes, and inevitably that disordered passion burns within the mob itself, until all is consumed.  Across all the ages of human history this pattern repeats, as if to warn every person against the folly of the lust for vengeance hidden in dark recesses of the fallen human heart.  Far from satisfying the true demands of justice, the lust for vengeance consumes everything in its path, including the one who pursues it.

 

But of course, this is because the darkened mind of fallen man cannot clearly see either justice or truth, nor can it control the murderous appetites of disordered passions.  A wounded person thinks himself wronged, and due a recompense greater than the pain inflicted upon him, all the while ignoring the evil within his own heart and the wrongs he has done to his neighbors.  The one who calls for justice forgets their own guilt before God and man, and the eternity of justice they personally deserve in the fires of hell.  No one living in this world is without sin, and no heart that beats is without offense before its Creator.  We have all wronged our neighbors, been dishonest and deceitful, pursued idols of every kind, harbored thoughts of hatred and malice and lust which on occasion we have brought forth in word and deed—things we’ve done, and things we’ve left undone which were our duty to perform.  Every person stands before God a fallen creature condemned by our own hands, perverse to the very core of our heart, mind, and soul.

 

And this is the insanity of either individuals or mobs who unleash their wicked lusts for vengeance, bathing in the blood and ashes of their victims, while they unwittingly call down upon themselves eternal damnation and temporal destruction.  People often wonder why violent mobs are so fickle, so dangerous, and impossible to reason with, but there is no real mystery here:  the lustful pursuit of vengeance is fundamentally irrational, and the mind set aflame by it loses all sense of logic or perspective.  Such minds forget their own fallen nature, and bring forth a cycle of violence and retribution whose only end is total destruction.  This is the Roman backdrop against which St. Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome, and which seems so familiar in America today, because our fallen human nature is the same in every time and place.  To borrow a bit from the old philosophers, the incidents and accidents may change, but the essence remains the same—people act out their evil inclinations in different ways and dress them up in different language, but the wicked passions which lead to destruction are hauntingly familiar.

 

Thus Paul encourages the Christians of Rome not to be overcome by this evil through yielding to it, but rather by the power of the Holy Spirit given to them by grace through faith in Christ alone, to live in opposition to it.  When the Christian feels the rise of passion for vengeance, he instead recalls the justice he is due for his own sins, the unmerited grace of forgiveness, life, and salvation he has received for Christ’s sake, and offers blessings rather than curses.  The Christian knows by the Eternal Word of Jesus that he has freely received his own forgiveness for crimes against God and man that should land him in hell forever, by the righteous vengeance taken out upon Jesus for the sins of the whole world as He hung upon a Roman cross.  In Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, the wicked atrocities of every human heart across all the ages of man were paid for, and no person’s sins were left in debt.  So the Christian knows to pray as Jesus has taught him, that he might be forgiven, even as he forgives those who wound, betray, attack, oppress, or in anywise sin against him.

 

The truth to which Christians cling is that vengeance belongs to God, who alone can see clearly through eternity to bring forth true and enduring justice.  Only God could choose to either let individual people bear their own justice both in this world and the next, or take that justice upon Himself and die for the sins of the world.  Only God could be both just and gracious, that He might offer life in place of death, and flourishing instead of destruction.  Only God could execute true vengeance, because only God could execute true justice and thus offer true grace, through the Person and work of Jesus as our High Priest, our atoning Sacrifice, and our Divine Intercessor.  Only Jesus could be both righteous Judge and gracious Savior, and thus to Him alone is given authority to judge the living and the dead.

 

As this age in which we live finds the swirling seas of evil vengeance played out in violence and destruction, we are reminded of our high calling in Christ, that we be not overcome by this evil, but overcome this evil by the good of Jesus’ saving Gospel of faith and repentance.  In this eternal truth we stand unassailable by the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, able to calm the destructive impulses both within and without by words of forgiveness for Christ’s sake.  Thus we become the peacemakers of our time and place, the conduits of reconciliation between fallen men and their saving God.  And so the ages will roll on until their fulfilment, until all the saints be gathered in, and every burning heart aflame with destruction is salved by the grace of Jesus.  Here we take our stand with the saints of old, and the saints yet to come, saved by the same grace, through the same faith, in the same Jesus.  Amen.