The Christian's Asymmetrical Warfare: Text: Romans 12:14-21
Introduction: The Gospel's Counter-Intuitive Tactics
We live in a world that is obsessed with justice, or at least its own twisted version of it. Our culture is animated by a spirit of perpetual grievance, a constant score-keeping of slights and offenses, both real and imagined. The world's operating system is one of retaliation. You hit me, I hit you back, only harder. You insult my tribe, my tribe mobilizes to cancel yours. It is a system of symmetrical warfare, an eye for an eye, until the whole world is blind. It is the logic of the playground, the logic of the feud, the logic of hell.
Into this endless, dreary cycle of payback, the Apostle Paul, having laid the glorious foundation of our justification by faith alone, now details the radical, counter-intuitive, and frankly bizarre tactics of the Christian life. If the first eleven chapters of Romans are the declaration of peace with God, this chapter is the manual for how to wage peace in the world. And it is a form of warfare, make no mistake. But it is an asymmetrical warfare. The world throws hatred, and we are commanded to throw blessings. The world deals in pride and division; we are to deal in humility and empathy. The world demands personal vengeance; we are to step aside and make room for the wrath of God.
This is not weakness. This is not pacifism in the face of evil. This is the calculated, strategic, and ultimately victorious methodology of the kingdom of God. It is the way of the cross. When Christ hung on the cross, He absorbed the very worst that evil could do, and He did not retaliate in kind. He prayed, "Father, forgive them." And in that moment, He disarmed the principalities and powers, making a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. He overcame evil with good. And we, as those who have been united to Him, are called to walk in that same pattern. This passage is not a collection of sentimental platitudes for a stained-glass faith. It is a set of hard-nosed commands for spiritual commandos operating behind enemy lines.
The Text
Bless those who persecute you; bless, and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep, by being of the same mind toward one another, not being haughty in mind, but associating with the humble. Do not be wise in your own mind. Never paying back evil for evil to anyone, respecting what is good in the sight of all men, if possible, so far as it depends on you, being at peace with all men, never taking your own revenge, beloved, instead leave room for the wrath of God. For it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord. “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.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
(Romans 12:14-21 LSB)
Supernatural Benevolence (v. 14)
The first command strikes directly at our most basic instinct for self-preservation and retaliation.
"Bless those who persecute you; bless, and do not curse." (Romans 12:14)
This is not natural. When someone persecutes you, when they cause you harm because of your faith in Christ, the natural response is to curse them, to wish them ill, to call down judgment upon them. But Paul, echoing the Lord Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, commands the opposite. The word for "bless" here is eulogeo, from which we get our word eulogy. It means to speak well of, to praise, to invoke divine favor upon. We are to actively wish for and speak of the good of those who are actively wishing for and working our harm.
The repetition, "bless, and do not curse," leaves no room for loopholes. You cannot bless them to their face and curse them in your heart. You cannot say, "Lord, bless him with a flat tire." This is a command that goes to the root of our desires. Why? Because this is what God did for us. While we were yet sinners, His enemies, Christ died for us. God's posture toward His enemies is one of redemptive love, and our posture must mirror His. This is not a denial of justice. It is a recognition that our persecutors are spiritually blind and captive to the devil, and what they need most is not our animosity, but the very gospel they are persecuting. To bless them is to desire their conversion, which is the greatest good they could ever receive.
Radical Empathy and Humility (v. 15-16)
Next, Paul turns from our conduct toward our enemies to our conduct within the household of faith, which is the training ground for this kind of radical love.
"Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep, by being of the same mind toward one another, not being haughty in mind, but associating with the humble. Do not be wise in your own mind." (Romans 12:15-16)
Christian community is to be marked by a profound empathy. "Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep." We are to be so intertwined with one another that the joys and sorrows of our brothers and sisters become our own. Of the two, rejoicing with those who rejoice is often the harder task. Weeping with the grieving comes more naturally to us, but to genuinely celebrate another's success without a trace of envy requires a heart that is truly dead to self and alive to Christ. It requires humility.
And that is precisely where Paul goes next. We are to be of the "same mind," which doesn't mean we all have the same opinions on everything, but that we have the same disposition, the same fundamental attitude of humility. He warns against being "haughty in mind," against the kind of pride that makes us look down on others. Instead, we are to "associate with the humble." This means we are not to be social climbers, seeking the company of the important and the influential. We are to be drawn to the lowly, the unimpressive, the forgotten. This is the mind of Christ, who though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but humbled Himself and took the form of a servant.
The final shot in this volley is, "Do not be wise in your own mind." This is a prohibition against the kind of intellectual arrogance that believes it has everything figured out. The man who is wise in his own eyes is unteachable. He cannot learn from Scripture, from the church, or from his brother, because he already knows it all. This is the seedbed of pride, and it must be mortified.
Peace, Prudence, and Divine Prerogative (v. 17-19)
Paul then returns to our interactions with the outside world, laying down the principles of non-retaliation and deference to God's justice.
"Never paying back evil for evil to anyone, respecting what is good in the sight of all men, if possible, so far as it depends on you, being at peace with all men, never taking your own revenge, beloved, instead leave room for the wrath of God. For it is written, 'VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,' says the Lord." (Romans 12:17-19)
The command is absolute: "Never paying back evil for evil." This is not a suggestion. It is a flat prohibition. Our response to evil is not to mirror it, but to counteract it. We are to respect, or take thought for, what is good and honorable in the sight of all. This means our conduct should be above reproach, giving no legitimate cause for offense.
Paul is also a realist. He says, "if possible, so far as it depends on you, being at peace with all men." He knows that some people are simply not going to be at peace with us, no matter what we do. The responsibility lies on our end. We are to be the peacemakers. We are not to be the source of the conflict. If a conflict is unavoidable, let it be because of the gospel, not because of our own arrogance or foolishness.
The central point is this: "never taking your own revenge." Why? Because vengeance is not our job. It is God's. When we take revenge, we are usurping a divine prerogative. We are climbing onto the bench and trying to do the Judge's work. Paul says to "leave room for the wrath of God." This is a picture of stepping aside. An injustice has been done, and God's wrath is coming. Our job is not to get in the way and try to deliver a down payment on it. Our job is to get out of the way so that God can deal with it in His perfect time and in His perfect way. This is not a denial of justice; it is the ultimate affirmation of it. We trust that God is a better and more thorough judge than we could ever be. He will repay.
The Offensive Weapon of Radical Kindness (v. 20-21)
Finally, Paul gives us our offensive strategy. We are not just to refrain from evil, but to actively engage in doing good to our enemies.
"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. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:20-21)
Quoting from Proverbs 25, Paul instructs us to meet our enemy's basic needs. This is a practical, tangible act of love. It is not a feeling; it is an action. And this action has a startling effect: "you will heap burning coals on his head." What does this mean? It is not a sneaky way of getting revenge, as though the kindness is a secret way to inflict pain. Some have suggested it refers to an Egyptian ritual of repentance where a person would carry a pan of hot coals on their head. The most likely meaning is that your unexpected, undeserved kindness brings a burning shame and conviction upon your enemy. It confronts his hatred with a goodness he cannot explain. It short-circuits his categories. It is a profoundly evangelistic act, designed to lead him to repentance.
This brings us to the summary principle of the entire passage: "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." There are only two options in this spiritual war. Either evil will conquer you, or you will conquer evil. You are overcome by evil when you start to play by its rules, when you repay evil for evil. When you hate your hater, evil has won. It has successfully replicated itself in you. The only way to win is to refuse to play the game. The only way to conquer evil is with its opposite: the radical, unmerited, cross-shaped goodness of the gospel.
Conclusion: The Logic of the Gospel
Every command in this passage is impossible for the natural man. They run contrary to every instinct we have. Blessing persecutors, loving enemies, forgoing revenge, overcoming evil with good, this is the logic of another world. And that is precisely the point. This is the logic of the gospel.
We bless because we were cursed and He blessed us. We rejoice with others because God has given us the ultimate reason to rejoice in our salvation. We weep with others because Christ is a man of sorrows, acquainted with our grief. We live in humility because the King of Glory humbled Himself for us. We do not seek revenge because the wrath of God that we deserved was poured out upon His Son. We overcome evil with good because the ultimate evil of our sin was overcome by the ultimate good of His sacrifice.
You cannot live this way by trying harder. You can only live this way by being so overwhelmed by the grace of God shown to you in Jesus Christ that it begins to spill out of you onto everyone around you, friend and foe alike. This is what it means to be a living sacrifice. It means laying down your rights, your pride, and your lust for vengeance at the foot of the cross, and taking up the strange and glorious weapons of the kingdom of God.