Romans 12:19-21: Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.” Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing so, you will heap coals of fire on his head.” Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
The first eleven chapters of Romans describe the “mercies of God,” which should motivate us to “present [our] bodies a living sacrifice” to God (Rom. 12:1). We do this by transforming our lives to think and behave as God instructs instead of conforming to the world’s standards of righteousness (verse 2).
The fruit God’s Word produces in a sincere heart is described in the remainder of Romans 12.
Much of the focus is on our treatment of others: loving sincerely (verse 9), putting others first (verse 10), helping when it is needed (verse 13), being there for others in good times and bad (verse 15), and loving even those who treat us poorly. Verse 14 says “Bless those who persecute you; bless, and don’tcurse.” Verses 17-18 teach “Repay no one evil for evil. Respect what is honorable in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as it is up to you, be at peace with all men.”
An interesting phrase used in Romans 12:21 is the command “overcome evil with good.”
It is a simple truth that if one wants to “put out” darkness, he or she would need a light of some kind. We cannot put out darkness by adding more darkness to it.
In the same way, evil does not go away when one responds with more evil. It only makes things worse.
We can allow evil to overcome us, or we can respond to it with good.
Jesus chose the second option. “When He was cursed, He didn’t curse back. When He suffered, He didn’t threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously” (1 Pet. 2:23). He was (and is) a light in a dark world.
When we observe the darkness of sin around us, we must not join in, but be the light of the world (Phil. 2:15).
May we respond to darkness with light…and may we never be “overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
– Michael Hickox