Romans 12:19, commentary and pictures

Believers are forbidden to take revenge for themselves and are told to step aside from personal anger, because settling wrongs belongs to the Lord and He will repay them. God keeps His own record of every wrong, knows every heart, and in His own time will reward each person according to deeds and bring every work into judgment. Those who are cheated, defrauded or made to suffer loss are therefore to endure the wrong patiently rather than press their rights, contend in courts, or entangle themselves in strife that injures God's cause. The same command governs religious conflict, where truth is to be defended only by spiritual means with meekness, pity and firm loyalty to principle, never by violence, harsh controversy, personal attack, or sharp speech. In daily life this means refusing retaliation for insult or false accusation, overcoming inherited and cultivated selfishness by patience and forbearance, seeking peace and righting one's own faults, and where harmony proves impossible leaving the matter with the Lord.

Words and Setting

Dearly loved believers are forbidden to avenge themselves and are commanded instead to give place to wrath, because vengeance belongs to the Lord and He will repay judgment to wrongdoers. No wrong done to them justifies taking revenge or taking vengeance into their own hands, even when punishment seems deserved, for judgment and repayment are left to God who knows the heart and will repay. Retaliation is not to be cherished, and personal revenge, resentment, bitterness, animosity, and anger indulged over a supposed provocation must be cast out.

The command is practical instruction for daily life for how members of Christ's body and members of the heavenly family are to treat one another and respond to persecution. It stands together with blessing those who persecute, refusing to recompense evil for evil, providing things honest before all, living peaceably with all as much as possible, returning good for evil, feeding a hungry enemy and giving drink to the thirsty to heap coals of fire on his head, and overcoming evil with good rather than being overcome by evil. Christians are to help and strengthen each other and to overcome as Christ overcame in order to win heaven. When others treat them suspiciously or unjustly, and when brethren lack faith, speak unadvisedly, act suspiciously and unjustly, and make the work hard, they must not treat them as they were treated, draw off from them, dislike them, become hostile, or stand in warfare against them. They must walk humbly before God, keep His honor first, expect disappointment from men, leave reputation in God's hands, be kind and courteous without dissimulation, live peaceably, do good to enemies including meeting an enemy's needs, and remember the church militant is not yet the church triumphant.

Romans 12 is history and teaching of high value for all churches, calling the work to a higher plane of action. There all who hold position in the church as shepherds represent the great Shepherd, and dominating, masterly ruling power that charges the Lord's people what they shall do and shall not do is forbidden as not of God, another gospel, not the righteousness of Christ, and a spoil to the church.

The instruction must be brought into daily life and be carefully studied and obeyed as doers of the word in small matters as well as large. Living it marks true believers, while daily character that fails it shows spurious faith, and those who live it are transformed by the renewing of their minds and prove in their own experience what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. For men of God's appointment, obedience is the condition to be sustained and to be used by God as His instruments while working humbly and seeking wisdom from Him. Neglect brings positive danger, for Satan tries by every device to weaken, to bring exaltation in one's own opinion, and thereby to gain power over the person, and obedience guards against this.

Giving place to wrath involves keeping the mind clear, pure, and strictly guarded under the control of God by the Holy Spirit. Not every kind of anger is forbidden, for indignation at God's dishonor or the oppression of the innocent can be just. But anger indulged over a supposed provocation opens the heart to Satan, and bitterness and animosity must be cast out to live in harmony with heaven. People reap what they sow.

God's Vengeance and Judgment

God keeps an account of all wrongs and will repay and avenge them in His own time, bringing every work into judgment. He knows the heart and will deal with deceivers and with those who violate the rights of others, rewarding each person according to deeds, so that people reap what they sow. For this reason those who are abused or defrauded are to bear it patiently and suffer loss and wrong rather than take personal revenge, oppress the wrongdoer, press their rights, or appeal to courts of justice and contend for rights. This holds even when a fellow believer defrauds a brother or defrauds the church and the cause of God, and even when punishment seems deserved, for judgment and repayment belong to the Lord and not to the injured to settle for themselves. Believers are to trust Him and walk by faith instead of taking vengeance into their own hands.

Vengeance belongs to God and not to human beings or civil governments. Since the kingdom of Israel passed away He has not delegated to any person or government authority to enforce laws concerning duties to God, but has left judgment of such offenses to Himself alone, who judges with wisdom and mercy. Human attempts to enforce them open the way to injustice, cruelty, and religious persecution. His repayment may be long delayed, but it will awake in wrath and judgment upon the wicked and upon corrupt nominal churches whose sins and pride have reached heaven, giving them their appointed portion. That outpouring stands in connection with the threatenings of the third angel.

The Lord's certain repayment falls on those who set themselves against the light, as was shown when opposition in Rochester was followed by judgment in the removal of the publication office from Rochester and the turning of the angel of mercy from the city. The same taking of the matter into His own hands applies to wrongs done at the publishing institution, where punishment was not the speaker's place because the Lord had taken the matter into His hands and the speaker's part was to help the institution recover. He does not overlook wage injustice, for taking large unearned wages from God's treasury while faithful, conscientious, wholehearted workers doing their work in integrity receive small wages and are oppressed and placed in a hard position is a deep wrong. Dealing with Christ's saints is dealing with Christ Himself, so exalting one worker and depressing another more faithful and true violates justice, equity, and strict principle, and the guilty are not clear before God until converted and making restitution to His cause of every dollar received above what was just.

The Lord fights the battles of servants wronged in His service and vindicates their cause. Complaints and neglect directed against them are ultimately against the Master, and suffering endured for Christ's sake will receive a reward, so the wronged need not seek to make others understand the wrong or vindicate themselves. Those falsely accused should remain silent and leave accusers to God's retribution while truth is made plain.

Life Without Retaliation

Christians who are abused, defrauded, or made to suffer loss are to bear it patiently and suffer wrong rather than seek personal revenge, press their rights in courts of justice, or contend for their rights. This holds especially when a fellow believer defrauds a brother or defrauds the church and the cause of God, where the wronged one is to accept loss and leave the matter to God to deal with the wrongdoer. Becoming entangled in conflict over such abuse harms God's cause and deepens personal trouble, so peace is to be sought instead of revenge. God keeps an account of all such wrongs, and He will repay and avenge them and bring every work into judgment.

In religious conflict believers must not avenge or defend themselves by violence, for the weapon is spiritual and not physical, and the gospel must never be made a cause of bloodshed. Human passion, sharp speech, and ungenerous and unrighteous bearing must have no place, and harsh controversy, hard personal attacks, hard thrusts, and every effort to silence and humiliate an opponent are forbidden to anyone in Christ's service. Sharp words return to injure the speaker and discourage honest inquiry, and controversies seldom advance truth. Opposition is to be met with the meekness of wisdom, with pity and a melting heart and with the love of Christ, for the opposer is enclosed by Satan though supposing to serve God, is opposing God's counsel against himself, is unable to discern truth without unprejudiced searching, and is deciding his own eternal destiny. The aim is only to convince of the truth as it is in Jesus, while remaining firm to principle, true as steel, and loyal to God.

Those who present truth must not avenge insults to Christ or to truth by reviling revilers, by reproving and irritating others, or by vindicating truth with accusation, condemnation, and overbearing words. They must give place by caution and self-control, remaining calm, dignified, just, meek, and gentle, and by praying silently for those in error that the Lord will touch their hearts instead of answering offensively. The soul of the opposer is as valuable to God as their own soul, having been purchased by the blood of the only begotten Son, so His property is to be dealt with wisely and considerately. Wise, considerate tenderness softens and subdues opponents and convinces souls that they have the Spirit of Christ, whereas unwise zeal and indignation close ears and doors to truth.

When others speak or act wrongly, believers must not retaliate or answer with angry words, even when evil is spoken without cause, because retaliation does not pay. They must refuse to be provoked, accuse no one wrongfully, keep silent when wrongfully accused, and live peaceably with all with a sweet and fragrant spirit in the tenderness and love of Christ. Patient restraint, patience, longsuffering, and forbearance battle selfish human nature and steadily overcome hereditary and cultivated tendencies to wrong. In this way wrong tendencies are overcome and the victory is preserved that would be lost by answering unwisely, for no one can be humiliated by another's unwise speeches, but speaking unwisely humiliates oneself.

When brethren lack faith, speak unadvisedly, act suspiciously and unjustly, and make the work hard, believers must not treat them as they were treated, draw off from them, dislike them, become hostile, or stand in warfare against them. Even when warred upon unjustly over the light on health reform, putting on irritation and retaliation and making another's work as hard as possible in order to build oneself up is not God's will and is not endorsed by Him. Instead they must walk humbly before God, keep His honor first, expect disappointment from men, leave reputation in God's hands, be kind and courteous without dissimulation, live peaceably with all as far as possible, do good to enemies including meeting an enemy's needs, exercise patience and forbearance, and overcome evil with good, remembering that the church militant is not yet the church triumphant.

Believers must first do their very best to remove differences with brethren and live harmoniously, doing all in their own power to make peace and conscientiously righting their own mistakes. Only when harmony still cannot be effected are they to leave the matter with the Lord, getting away if possible from scenes that continually afflict the soul and severing connection with persons with whom harmony is impossible. Mischief and malice are to be answered with kind acts following Christ's example, returning kindness rather than retaliation, while never sacrificing truth or principle or making false concessions to secure peace. The heart is to remain free of bitterness and stubbornness, troubles are to be entrusted to Jesus, and personal claims are not to be vindicated by retaliation, revenge, or deceitful and underhand efforts to obtain supposed rights, with God's love softening the heart and guarding speech from harm to self or others.