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Jesus assured us, in the world you will have trouble, but, He said, “Take courage. I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Sometimes the evil in this world can be beastly and monstrous, especially when tyrants rule and Christians are declared the enemy of the state, as in the Roman Empire and perhaps at some point in our own nation when they label Christians as domestic terrorists because of their strong spiritual and political convictions. So how should Christians respond to evil? Can you overcome evil with good? Here’s the story of one of the early martyrs, Polycarp, who lived from AD 69 to AD 155. He was burned at the stake for being a Christian. How did he respond to his enemies?
When the officers came to arrest him, he asked them if he could take some time for prayer. They agreed. So, Polycarp had a meal prepared for the officers while he went upstairs and prayed for two hours. The officers were so struck with his kindness, they regretted coming to arrest this godly and venerable old man.
They took him to the arena where he was presented to the governing authority. He said, “Reproach Christ and I will set you free.” Polycarp replied, “86 years have I have served him, and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?” When threatened with wild animals Polycarp said, “Bring them.” When threatened with fire he said, “You know nothing of the fire of a coming judgment and eternal punishment reserved for the ungodly.”
When they prepared to burn Polycarp and began nailing him to the stake, he said, “You don’t need to nail me, for the One who strengthens me will enable me not to struggle.” Standing there before Christ’s enemies he ended his prayer to the Father: “I bless you and glorify you, along with the everlasting Jesus Christ, your beloved Son. To you, with him, through the Holy Ghost, be glory both now and forever. Amen.” They lit the fire, which failed to burn him. So, an executioner stabbed him to death with a dagger. Polycarp returned good for evil and glorified God through his persecution and death.
How would you respond? Would you have fed the officers? What if you were Joseph who had the power to exact vengeance on his brothers after they cruelly treated him and sold him into slavery? Instead, he fed them sumptuously and finally assured them, “You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good,” and he spoke kindly to them (Genesis 50:20-21). Paul has a lot to say in Romans 12 about overcoming evil with good.
In Romans 12:17-18 we saw the first three steps for how to respond to personal evil.
Romans 12:17a – Never pay back evil for evil to anyone.
Filled with the Spirit and for the glory of Christ, godly strength refuses to return evil for evil, even when we have the strength and are in a position to do it. This is an absolute command. It is a sin to return evil for evil. We illustrated this principle with David’s treatment of his enemy Saul, who in his furious jealousy chased David all over the Judean wilderness.
Romans 12:17b – Respect what is right (good) in the sight of all men.
God says plan ahead to do what is right. Returning good for evil doesn’t come naturally. Christ counseled us like this: when a soldier commands you to carry a load a mile, plan to carry it two miles. Plan ahead to do more than expected.
Romans 12:18 – If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.
The power of Christ by His Spirit filling our hearts does everything possible to make peace. It isn’t always possible in this world. The point is, don’t live in reaction to people but in response to God’s grace and wisdom. You may not be able to change that person in your life who is giving you grief, but as much as lies in you, do everything possible to bring about peace. Don’t prolong the problem. Don’t be a troublemaker. You have a higher calling, you are born-again, a new creation in Christ who refuses to take offense and keep the fight going. You refuse to fight fire with fire. Let’s go to the last three steps in verses 19-21.
GODLY STRENGTH LETS GOD TAKE CARE OF THE INJUSTICE
Romans 12:19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord.
First, notice how Paul addresses them: “Beloved.” Paul’s heart is for Christ and His people, and here he uses this endearing word. He knows persecution is on the horizon for God’s people and we would naturally want to take justice into our own hands. So, if someone does evil to us, what do we do? Do we go after them and punish them?
Here you have another absolute: “Never!” When is it okay for a Christian to take his own revenge? Never! But that doesn’t mean evil goes unpunished. Oh, there’ll be justice on God’s enemies, but notice who is qualified to bring justice? “Leave space for God’s wrath.” When you pull into a company parking lot, there is often one space with this sign, “Reserved for the President.” That means you don’t park there. Taking vengeance is God’s parking space, “Reserved for the Almighty.” Don’t park there. Bringing wrath is God’s business, not ours. He has the right, the authority, the power to bring perfect vengeance, perfect justice. So, stay out of God’s parking space (illustration from Jay Adams, How to Overcome Evil).
Paul is quoting from Deuteronomy 32:35, “Vengeance is Mine, and retribution. In due time their foot will slip; For the day of their calamity is near, And the impending things are hastening upon them.” This is an awesome verse and God hasn’t changed. He is a loving God, but also a holy God of vengeance and wrath on all His enemies. When it seems the wicked are getting away with murder, notice, “In due time their foot will slip. The day of their calamity is near.” This was the basis of Jonathan Edward’s famous, gripping sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
We know God will bring judgment on all evil. Either through the cross when Christ bore God’s wrath in all its fury for sinners (the doctrine of propitiation), or He’ll bring eternal punishment on all those who refuse to repent and receive His Son. But here Paul’s point is that as much as we want to wreak wrath on our enemies, that’s God’s business. Remember from last week, God isn’t talking here about our responsibility to defend ourselves or our family. The 2nd amendment is a prized amendment for protection from tyrants. And God’s not talking about letting evil people off the hook. Paul doesn’t mean you never take action or say anything. If someone rips you off, you don’t go slice their tires. Rather, you report him to the authorities. Paul used his Roman citizenship to defend himself against injustice.
How does God execute His justice? He uses ordained authorities. First, the family. When children do evil, parents are responsible to discipline. Kids, you can’t say, “Dad, vengeance is God’s; you can’t touch me.” If a school system wants to make transgender or other sexually perverted material available to your children, you as parents are responsible to protect your child. One day when I was quite young, I was helping my dad in the Farmer’s Market. I asked a customer how I could help her. She said, “Go to (you know where).” I told my dad, and he stepped up to her and said, “If anyone is going to (you know where), you are. Now, how may we help you?” My respect for my dad went up a few notches that day.
Second, there’s the church. When a professing Christian persists in evil, in sin, the church is responsible to discipline the person. Matthew 18 says the church is to bring the unrepentant professing Christian to account for the sin. If they refuse to listen and repent, eventually they are removed from the protection and blessing of the church and turned over to Satan, according to 1 Corinthians 5:5.
Third, the government is God’s main instrument of inflicting His wrath today. God has ordained human government to render justice and even capital punishment for murder. According to Romans 13, the whole purpose of government is to restrain evil and encourage good. It’s a travesty when governing authorities allow thieves, thugs, and murderers to go free.
Fourth, God knows how to execute His wrath personally and directly according to Romans 1, turning people over to their persistent and vile sins. You see God’s wrath cutting down people like Herod Agrippa in Acts 12:23, when God sent an angel to strike him down because he didn’t give glory to God. He was eaten by worms and died. God’s wrath will fall in the tribulation period. And there is eternal wrath coming on all God’s enemies. Every human being will stand before Christ at the Great White Throne Judgment and be judged according to his works and every Christ-denier will be thrown into the lake of fire and the smoke of their torment will go up forever and ever. “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay,” says the Lord. No one gets away with one little sin. Justice will be served. Either Christ paid for that sin, or the Christ-denier will pay.
So here in our verse 19, God is talking to believers and forbidding personal revenge and retaliation. This is when you have been mistreated, you have an enemy who is out to make life miserable for you, and you want to even the score. Martyn Loyd-Jones says, “This is perhaps the greatest demand that is ever made of us.” We want to pay the guy back on the spot.
There is something sweet about taking revenge. One more story about David in 1 Samuel 25. One day David sent his men to ask a wealthy landowner for some provisions for his soldiers. Nabal refused and scorned David’s men. When they told David, he flew into a fearful case of ancient road rage, strapped on his weapons, and headed out with his troops to not only kill this fool (that’s what his name “Nabal” means), but all his male servants too. Abigail, Nabal’s wise and beautiful wife, heard David was coming and quickly went out to meet him and gave David a biblical counseling session. “David, don’t take your own revenge. You’ll be sorry.” David wisely listened to her. Within ten days Nabal was dead of a heart attack. Lesson: God knows how to handle your enemies. Don’t take your own revenge, stay out of God’s parking space.
GODLY STRENGTH FINDS WAYS TO MEET THE NEEDS OF YOUR ENEMIES
Romans 12:20, “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”
So, in review, you haven’t returned evil for evil, you’ve planned ahead how to respond to evil, you’ve done all you can to righteously bring about peace, and you’ve let God deal with the injustice of the situation. Now what? God says you look for ways to bless this person. What does he need? What would be a great gesture? Maybe a gift card. Maybe a cup of coffee. Maybe a plate of Republican cookies, especially if he’s a Democrat. I’m not aware of Democrat cookies.
What happens? You’ll heap up coals on his head. “Heap” means not just one cookie, but a whole tin of cookies. If some guy berates you in McDonalds, you don’t go, “Here, have a French fry, fella.” You go buy him a Big Mac, and a chocolate shake, too. You heap up burning coals on his head. What does that mean? Look at Proverbs.
Proverbs 25:21-22, If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; 22 For you will heap burning coals on his head, And the LORD will reward you.
What does it mean? Jay Adams suggests it refers to soldiers dumping burning coals on the head of the enemy as he is trying to climb the ladder to breach the wall of the city. Others think it refers to an Egyptian practice of a guilty person carrying coals on his head as a symbol of shame and reproach. Either way, the idea is to overwhelm your enemy with so much kindness he’ll be ashamed of how he treated you. He’ll think, “What an idiot I’ve been for talking to you like that.” Who knows, God may use your acts of kindness to bring conviction of sin to his heart and he may bow his knee to Christ in repentance. But that’s God’s business, too. Our business is to obey God. There’s the story (I believe it is true) of the army officer who scorned a private for praying outside his tent. One day the officer came in with muddy shoes and whacked the private on the side of his head while he was praying. The private went right on praying. The next morning the officer found his muddy shoes all cleaned and polished. The officer allegedly said this act of kindness for his evil brought him to Christ. That’s meeting the needs of your enemy. God may use your coals to save his soul.
GODLY STRENGTH DETERMINES TO BE AN OVERCOMER IN THE NAME OF CHRIST
Romans 12:21, Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Paul is brilliant here. Under the inspiration of the Spirit of God he knows exactly how to end his argument. Terse, simple, but powerful. He is calling us to be conquerors of evil, not victims of evil. We belong to Christ. Christ has made us overcomers. The word overcome is nikao. Every time you see the Nike swoosh on a sneaker or sweatshirt or cap, remember, you are an overcomer in Christ. You’re not a victim in the fight with evil. You have the power of Christ in you.
Christ conquered evil for us. He defeated death and the devil. Evil may seem to carry the day for a short time, but death advances us right into Christ’s presence. That was Polycarp’s experience. That’s why Paul could rejoice and face the executioner’s blade with the heart of a conqueror for Christ. Looking back to that first century Roman jail, Paul was the hero, not Nero!
What is God’s will? Not just to not return evil for evil, but to overcome evil with good. Figure out the real needs of your enemy and overwhelm him or her with the love of Christ. A letter of understanding and assurance of your love and concern; a plate of his favorite cookies or pie; take him to lunch; pray for her and her family; express appreciation for his diligent work. Conquer evil with good. This is what it means to be like Christ. But you need the power of Christ to live like this. While Paul was sitting in a Roman prison, he wrote to the Philippians, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice” (Philippians 4:4). Then he added in Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Behind every command Christ gives us, He includes His power to obey.