Romans 12.19-Paul Commands Romans To Not Avenge Themselves But Let The Lord Exact Retribution Upon Their Enemies
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday November 22, 2009
Romans: Romans 12:19-Paul Commands Romans To Not Avenge Themselves But Let The Lord Exact Retribution Upon Their Enemies
Lesson # 427
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 12:19.
This morning we will study Romans 12:19 and in this passage Paul issues a prohibition in which he warns his readers to not avenge themselves of their enemies.
Also, in this passage, he solemnly charges the Roman believers to give an opportunity for the Lord Jesus Christ to exercise His righteous indignation on their behalf against their enemies.
He cites Deuteronomy 32:35 to support this command, which states vengeance belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ and that He will exact retribution upon the enemies of God’s people.
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.”
“Never take your own revenge” is composed of the negative particle me (mhv) (may), “not” and the accusative masculine second person plural form of the reflexive personal pronoun heautou (e(autou) (heh-ow-too), “your own,” which is followed by the nominative masculine second person plural present active participle form of the verb ekdikeo (e)kdikevw) (ek-dik-eh-o), “take revenge.”
In Romans 12:19, the verb ekdikeo means “to avenge” in the sense of repaying harm with harm, on the assumption that the initial harm was unjustified and that retribution is therefore called for.
Paul is prohibiting his readers from avenging themselves of their enemies in the sense of repaying their enemies with harm for the harm they caused them unjustifiably.
The verb’s meaning is negated by the negative particle me, “never” and together, they form a prohibition and the Roman believers are the subject of this prohibition.
Paul employs me and not ouk since the latter is much stronger than the former and would indicate that his readers were avenging themselves of their enemies.
Thus, by employing me instead of ouk, he does not believe that his readers were doing this, which ouk would indicate.
Therefore, the particle me indicates that this has not taken place but is used with the verb ekdikeo to prohibit Paul’s readers in the future from taking revenge against their enemies.
The verb functions as an imperatival participle, which indicates that Paul is commanding his readers that they must continue to never avenge themselves of their enemies.
This is a “customary present imperative,” which denotes that the Roman believers’ must continue to make it their habit to never avenge themselves of their enemies.
Paul’s statements in Romans 1:8 and 15:14-15 indicate that they were obeying this prohibition.
Therefore, Paul is simply performing preventive maintenance by employing this prohibition in Romans 12:19 as he does with all the prohibitions contained in Romans 12:9-21.
He is in effect warning the believers in Rome to not take revenge against their enemies.
Thus, he is simply stating a general precept for his readers to follow in the future that would protect their fellowship with God and their testimony before the unsaved in their personal periphery.
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.”
“Beloved” is the vocative masculine plural form of the adjective agapetos (a)gaphtov$) (ag-ap-ay-tos), which means “divinely loved.”
The adjective agapetos would serve to remind the Roman believers that they are beneficiaries of God’s love before salvation and objects of His love after salvation.
It would also serve to encourage them in the midst of undeserved suffering and persecution and would challenge them to advance to maturity and execute the plan of God.
Lastly, it would serve as a reminder that they are obligated to love their enemies just as God loved them when they were His enemies prior to their faith in Christ.
In this prohibition, Paul is forbidding his readers from retaliating against those who mistreat them or harm them in any way.
This prohibition expands upon the command issued by Paul in Romans 12:14 to bless those that persecute them and not to curse.
This prohibition echoes the prohibition in Romans 12:17 to never repay evil for evil to anyone.
This prohibition in Romans 12:19 echoes the Old Testament teaching.
Leviticus 19:18, “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD.”
Proverbs 20:22, “Do not say, ‘I will repay evil’; Wait for the LORD, and He will save you.”
This prohibition in Romans 12:17 echoes the Lord Jesus Christ’s teaching recorded in Matthew 5:38-48.
Romans 12:19, “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,’ says the Lord.”
“Leave room” is composed of the second person plural aorist active imperative form of the verb didomi (divdwmi) (did-o-mee), “leave” and the accusative masculine singular form of the noun topos (tovpo$) (top-os), “room.”
Together, they speak of giving God the opportunity to execute justice on behalf of Paul’s readers for any injustice done against them by their enemies or any harm caused by their enemies.
The aorist imperative means that Paul is saying to the Roman believers that rather than taking out their own revenge, “make this your top priority” or “I solemnly charge all of you” to give place to the wrath of God “and do it now!”
“For the wrath of God” is the articular dative feminine singular form of the noun orge (o)rghv) (or-gay), which refers to God’s attitude of “righteous indignation” in response to any thought, word, or action of mankind and angels, that is opposed to His holiness and manifests itself in actions that judge and punish the guilty.
Specifically, it refers to the expression of God’s righteous indignation by executing judgment against the enemies of Paul’s Christian readers in Rome.
“For” is the “causal” use of the post-positive conjunction gar (gavr), which introduces quotation from Deuteronomy 32:35 that presents the reason why the Roman believers are to obey the command in the adversative clause that appears in Romans 12:19.
“VENGEANCE” is the nominative feminine singular form of the noun ekdikesis (e)kdivkhsi$) (ek-dik-ay-sis), which refers to the execution of divine justice on behalf of Paul’s readers by the Lord Jesus Christ against their enemies and expresses God’s righteous indignation, which itself is an expression of God’s holiness.
“MINE” is the dative first person singular form of the personal pronoun ego (e)gwv) (eg-o), which refers to the Lord Jesus Christ since the Father delegated to Him the authority to judge all men.
“I WILL RECOMPENSE” is composed of the nominative first singular form of the personal pronoun ego (e)gwv) (eg-o), “I” and the first person singular future active indicative form of the verb antapodidomi (a)ntapodivdwmi) (an-tap-od-ee-do-mee), “WILL RECOMPENSE.”
The verb antapodidomi means “to repay” in the sense of exacting retribution and is used with the Lord Jesus Christ as the subject and no particular member of the human race as its object who cause harm to Paul’s readers.
Ego emphasizes the Lord Jesus Christ as the subject and involves a contrast between the Roman believers avenging themselves of their enemies with the Lord exacting retribution against their enemies.
“The Lord” is the nominative masculine singular form of the noun kurios (kuvrio$) (koo-ree-os), which refers to the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is indicated in that the Scripture clearly teaches that the Father delegated to Jesus Christ authority to judge all men because He was obedient in fulfilling His will to die a substitutionary spiritual and physical death on the cross on behalf of all of sinful humanity.
To summarize what we have learned from our study of Romans 12:19, Paul warns his readers to not avenge themselves of their enemies.
Then, he solemnly charges the Roman believers to make it their top priority to give an opportunity for the Lord Jesus Christ to exercise His righteous indignation on their behalf against their enemies.
He cites Deuteronomy 32:35 to support this command, which states vengeance belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ and that He will exact retribution upon the enemies of God’s people.