Summary
Rather than personally seeking vengeance upon those who wrong us, we are to pay back good for evil, and trust that God’s Justice will always catch up with those in need of consequences. Praying for the salvation and ultimate good of our enemies may be terribly difficult, but it is what the Bible calls us to. This doesn’t mean we are not allowed defend ourselves or stand up for justice though (physically, in court, or otherwise)—the idea is more that we aren’t to act maliciously towards others (wishing for their personal harm), even if they have in fact objectively wronged us in the past.
Content
Introduction
In 1 Thessalonians 5:15, Paul tells us to not pay back wrong for wrong, but instead always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.
Returning good for evil is something that can seem mad to third party outsiders who do not look with eyes of faith. They may perhaps mistake it for weakness, and think that Christians are merely pushovers too spineless to stand up for themselves.
But what they think does not matter, for God is plenty capable of handling everything. It is not our business to take revenge, since God will avenge the righteous without us having to even lift a finger (cf. Romans 12:17-21).
Let me run through some practical reasons why this practice of stepping back and just leaving it to God is the only safe course of action:
- If you feel someone has wronged you, well, you are a fallible human being, and we all suffer under delusions of our own greatness. It is completely possible that pride is blinding your eyes. So if you go off and “get even” with someone, what if you were actually completely misguided in this? Now you have harmed your brother or sister without any cause.
- Sometimes we are blind to the consequences of our actions due to our very limited perspective. We may think our punitive response reasonable and just, but what if we overestimate or underestimate the consequences of our response, and “get it wrong”? If we take matters into our own hands, suddenly there is all this potential for us to misjudge things—even if we have the very best and purest of intentions—simply because we are finite human beings that cannot know the full consequences of actions with certainty. So, for example, what we might think to be a nothing more than a slap on the wrist might completely crush another person in a different set of circumstances, or vice versa.
- In fact, our lack of knowledge extends far past just evaluating consequences of actions. For example, how are we to know what response is most likely to reform the problematic behavior of the other person? Should we be very stern, or instead try to patiently explain logically and rationally why their actions hurt us, or perhaps take some other approach altogether? We cannot see inside their hearts or read their thoughts and intentions. Maybe there are circumstances that person is going through that we simply are not aware of. Not that sin is ever really excusable on account of circumstances, but the point is simply that there can be far more than meets the eye—matters we as humans will never be able to factor into our evaluations of situations, no matter how well we think we know the true state of things.
One might go on. The point is that we are just as likely (if not more likely) to make a mess of things in trying to figure out how to properly respond to being wronged as we are to take any action even remotely approaching appropriate. And that is precisely why leaving things in the capable hands of the Lord is always the safer and better option. He is the one other human beings are accountable to, after all, not us. And because He is Omniscient, He always judges rightly, unlike us.
Returning good for evil does not mean we do not defend ourselves physically, legally, etc.
I should note that just as with the “turn the other cheek” passages (cf. Matthew 5:38-42; Luke 6:27-31), legitimate self-defense is not really the thing in view, but rather slights to pride and ego and the like. In other words, if someone breaks into your home and starts sexually assaulting your wife, do you think you should offer the violent criminal your daughter as well, just as you might offer your other cheek to be slapped, or offer your coat in addition to your shirt? I hope that thought makes you curl your lip in disgust just as much as it makes me do so. Yet some people, as best I can tell, really do believe that “turn the other cheek” means “there is no such thing as justified resistance under any circumstances”. They would be wrong—very wrong. Strict pacifism has no place in biblical Christianity, ever. Full stop.
One wonders if these people have ever read how Jesus will return in Revelation 19:11ff. to slaughter the enemies of God. The idea that somehow violence is always unjustified is in fact itself an incredibly unjust notion. Evil must be punished by the sword just as much as righteousness must be rewarded.
It drives me nuts that so many people all but worship self-styled martyrs in the news who refuse to defend themselves in circumstances when they obviously ought to “because they are Christian, and it is not what Jesus wants” or some other such drivel—that people laud this sort of irrational behavior as some sort of cardinal Christian virtue. People who are martyred by the state are one thing (for government—even corrupt government—has been instituted by God; resisting corrupt government is a decidedly complex matter of spiritual discernment, if ever it might be justified). But when people refuse to stand up to the wickedness of straight-up criminals? That’s just moral cowardice, and there’s nothing praiseworthy about it whatsoever. Quite to the contrary.
Calling evil good is in fact a defining characteristic of true evil. I can tolerate faux holiness and self-congratulatory crowing about one’s excellent moral witness (when instead the witness is in fact very much the opposite) much less than I can tolerate evil that at least does not pretend to holiness. These people are why the name of Christ is mocked. If I thought Christianity was all about that nonsense rather than standing up for Justice and Truth and Love, I’d want no part in it either.
So please, stop saying that “returning good for evil” means that we must allow horrific evil to run about unopposed! Not only is it not true even one bit, but it makes others think that Christianity somehow requires such illogical madness. And promoting that false witness is not something you want on your record before God when Judgement Day comes knocking, I’d wager.
Instead of constantly doing our best impersonation of doormats (as the above terribly misguided position insists we must), the idea is more that we can pray for someone as we call the police on them, or even shoot them in self-defense. The point is that it is not vengeance in our hearts, but a legitimate desire for their eternal salvation.
The same general principle holds any time justice is perverted in any way—in situations where legal proceedings (or the like) may need to be undertaken to see the law upheld. Just as we may physically defend ourselves and those who rely on us without at the same time necessarily making it about vengeance, so too may we take legal action against someone to see justice wrought, while at the same time not doing so out of any particular thirst for harming them personally. For example, suing a predatory contractor whole stole from you and defrauded you is not “paying back wrong for wrong”, even though it may see the individual face serious consequences if they are found guilty. In fact, not taking legal action against the predatory contractor might lead to other innocent people being hurt in the future!
All this to say, we should not make this about behavioral inaction (so to speak) so much as our heart state. We should not harbor malicious intentions towards others, even if they have in fact objectively harmed us in the past. So long as we act not out of a desire to hurt the other person because they first hurt us—but instead out of a true and legitimate desire for their ultimate spiritual good—then we will have followed the spirit of the command to not pay back wrong for wrong. No doormat impersonation necessary.