Dr. Sproul follows up on the concept of evil by explaining the difference between sin and evil. We are warned against a life driven by "fleshly" ambition, but in contrast to have a life imitating Christ. The difference between natural and moral evil is investigated. This lesson is concluded with an emphasis on vengance and revenge and that it should be by God.

We continue this evening with our study of Paul’s letter to the church at Rome. We are in the twelfth chapter, which gives practical applications of the fruit of our understanding of the gospel that the Apostle sets forth in the first eleven chapters. Chapter 13 is introduced by Paul’s revelation to the people of God regarding the role and purpose of government in society, and the responsibility of those in the church with respect to that human government. God willing, we will take that up next time.

We are going to be looking at the last few verses of chapter 12 as we continue an evaluation of Paul’s aphoristic injunctions of Christian behavior. We will pick it up at verse 16 and read to the end of the chapter, so we will look at Romans 12:16–21. I would like to ask the congregation to stand for the reading of the Word of God:

Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
If he is thirsty, give him a drink;
For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

This teaching comes to us not from the cumulative wisdom of ancient sages, but it is wisdom from God Himself, who understands all things and does all things well. Let us, as His children, receive it as such. Please be seated. Let us pray.

Again, our Lord and our God, we invoke Your presence in our midst as we endeavor to sit at the feet of the Apostle, whom You have anointed and given Your Word for our edification, instruction, and admonition, to the end that we might live by the light of that lamp You have set before our feet, so that, in the final analysis, Christ may be glorified through the obedience of His people. Be with us now as we contemplate the matters set before us in this chapter of Romans. For we ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Be of the Same Mind

Last time, we looked at the injunction to “rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” Immediately following is Paul’s statement that we ought to “be of the same mind toward one another.” This is linked with the previous injunction of rejoicing with those who rejoice and weeping with those who weep. It means more than just having doctrinal unity.

It is important for the people of God to believe the same things, to have one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and to be in agreement in our understanding of the content of our faith. That is why churches produce confessions of faith, to say, “This is what we as a body believe.” But the intellectual assertion we find in our creeds and doctrinal statements is only a portion of what the Apostle is speaking about here.

Paul is concerned for church unity when he says, “Be of the same mind toward one another.” But the idea in this text is more than the mental and the intellectual. Being of the same mind, in this context, has to do with a certain affection. There is a certain equanimity among the people of God, that we are not to reserve our love and affection for a small “in” group or clique within the church, but our affections should be distributed to the whole body of Christ.

Associate with the Humble

Then Paul says, “Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble.” The second clause amplifies the first. If we just looked at the first one, “Do not set your mind on high things,” I think we would be astonished. That would sound like a direct contradiction to what the Apostle enjoins on many other occasions, when he calls us to set our mind on high things. He is calling us to focus our attention on the lofty principles of the kingdom of God, on those things that are pure, and on what has been accomplished for us by Jesus. Those are high, lofty, and holy matters.

Paul is not talking about focusing our thinking on the heavenly things of the gospel. Rather, he is speaking with respect to high positions of status in the world. Some people are driven by the desire to be exalted over the rest. They want to get to the top of the ladder, to be in the highest position of power and authority.

In Mark’s gospel, we see Jesus’ rebuke of the scribes, who were guilty of that very thing—seeking the highest status among the people, looking for the chief seats in the synagogues and at the feasts, and desiring a position of honor in the community. What is enjoined here is a warning against a life driven by fleshly ambition. Such an ambition drives us to be ruthless in our relationships with other people, where we will not hesitate to step on people’s bodies in our desire to reach the top of the ladder.

Paul is saying, in essence: “Do not do that. Do not set your mind or fix your heart on the positions of esteem and exaltation in this world, but associate with the humble.” This is one more example of following and imitating the life of Jesus, who associated Himself with those of low esteem.

I remind you of the joyous celebration, inspired by the Holy Ghost, in the song of Mary when she received the news from Gabriel that she would give birth to the Son of God. She sang the Magnificat. Do you remember that?

My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. (Luke 1:46–47)

In the course of that song, she said, “He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant” (Luke 1:48). In other words, Mary was overcome that God would notice her in the depth of her humble situation in this world. She had no earthly claim to riches, status, or significance. She was a humble peasant girl whom God noticed and chose to be the mother of His incarnate Son. No woman in the history of the earth was visited with greater blessedness than Mary, the mother of Jesus.

In this action of God, we see His manner of working. Not many of the great and powerful have been called into the kingdom of God, but God gives Himself to those of no reputation, those who are lowly and meek in this world. Jesus practiced, as the Son of God, this same process that was manifested by the Father. Now, in turn, we are called to follow His example of associating with the humble.

Wise in Your Own Opinion

Recently, a friend and I were talking about the next verse. I said: “I do not like this one too much. It says, ‘Do not be wise in your own opinion.’ I struggle with this.”

I will be very candid with you. I have spent much time studying and working to understand matters of faith and theology, to train my own mind, and to develop skills of critical thinking that oftentimes, I find myself having more confidence in my own judgment than I have in the judgment of others. There may be some justification for that. Yet, at the same time, I come up against a verse like this, telling me: “Do not be wise in your own conceits. Do not rely simply on your own opinion.”

I am not alone in this struggle with relying too heavily on my own opinion, because in my analysis, every one of us has to believe what we, in fact, believe. That to which you give your intellectual assent is a matter of what conclusions you come to after sifting through and examining the evidence, whether weak or strong.

Nevertheless, no one else in this world can think for you. You have to think for yourself. Paul is not denying the reality of human thought and conviction. We have to think for ourselves because no one else can do the thinking for us. But have you ever wondered why you have so many disagreements with other people?

I listen to newscasters, read the paper, and listen to speeches, and I say: “I disagree with 98 percent of what that person just said. We are on such radically different pages. These people seem to think in a way that is the antithesis of my thinking.” I step back, from time to time, and ask, Why? Why do we think so differently? Why do we come to such radically different conclusions about so many important things in the world?

It is easy to see why Christians come to such radically different conclusions from pagans, because the worldviews they embrace are so different. But what about among Christians? We believe in the same God, the same Lord, the same faith, the same Bible, and yet we still have radically different views on so many things.

Examine Your Opinions

When I find myself in disagreement with someone on some topic, even if it is over many things, I try to find something that we can agree on, even if it is only the weather. Can we agree that it is a nice day today? At least that is something to work from.

If I can find a point of agreement with somebody, I start from that agreement and follow the train of thought to see where we come to a fork in the road and why that person goes in one direction and I go in another. In other words, when we differ, the first thing I want to find out is why we have come to such different conclusions.

Remember the story of Alice in Wonderland. On Alice’s journey, she came to a fork in the road. She did not know which way to go. In her confusion, she looked up and saw the Cheshire Cat smiling at her, and she asked the Cheshire Cat, “Which way should I go?” The Cheshire Cat said: “Well that depends. Where are you headed?” Alice said, “I don’t know.” The Cheshire Cat said, “Then it doesn’t matter.” It was a preview of the greatest sage of our day, Yogi Berra, who said, “If you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

We have to ask the question, Why are we inclined to take this road rather than that road? That involves an analysis not only of other people’s manner of thinking but also of our own. One of the most important things we can learn as Christians dealing with disagreements, controversy, and differences of opinion among ourselves is that, from time to time, we need to take those guns we have aimed at our adversaries and opponents, turn them on ourselves, and ask, Why do you believe what you believe? Are you just opinionated? Are you fighting for some idea that you have inherited from your youth, from the denomination in which you were raised, from your own home, or from your school? Why do you embrace the opinions that you do?

Trust in God’s Word for Truth

The next question when you examine yourself is this: Are my opinions consistent with the teaching of the Word of God? In the final analysis, dear friends, my opinions do not mean anything. What matters is truth as God defines it. That is why, since we are so prone to error and delusion, we ought never to trust merely in our own views.

The preacher who stands in the pulpit should study the text of Scripture diligently. He should examine the original languages as much as possible, trying to get an accurate understanding of what the text says. But if he relies on his own intellect, he is doomed. That is why it is important to let the wind of the ages blow through your mind.

When I come to a text, I want to know what the greatest minds in the history of the church have understood it to mean. What can they teach me? If I rely on my own mind, I will miss the insights and counsel of those far wiser and more knowledgeable than myself. So, the Apostle warns, “Do not be wise in your own opinion.” Examine your own opinions and see if they are just that, opinions, or whether they have a solid foundation in truth.

In the history of Western civilization, the golden age of Greece, which was brought forth early in their history, threatened to collapse when people abandoned the pursuit of ultimate and objective truth. In those days, skepticism and cynicism brought to the fore the kind of political relativism that reigns in our culture today.

Everyone was doing what was right in their own minds and their own opinions, abandoning any ultimate view of truth. This was until the “gadfly of Athens” began to ask penetrating questions. Socrates went around from person to person and basically forced upon them the examined life, saying: “Why do you think the way you think? Why do you act the way you act?”

Of course, no one incorporated Socrates’ pursuit more brilliantly than his star pupil, Plato. Some of you may remember, from Plato’s Republic, that famous analogy of the cave. It talked about prisoners held captive in a dark cave, where the only light came from dimly burning candles that cast shadows on the wall. The only perception the prisoners had of reality was the perception of the shadows they saw there.

By looking at these shadows dancing on the wall, the prisoners thought that they were achieving a high level of truth—that is, until they were freed, came out of the cave into the sunlight, and saw things, not as shadows, but as they were in reality. When that happened, when the light of the sun dawned upon their consciousness, the views that they had developed from watching shadows dancing in the cave were completely annihilated.

What was the point of this story? Plato was making a distinction between knowledge and opinion. In his view, opinion was the shadow on the wall that could not stand up to the light of day. I ask the question of myself and of you: Can our opinions stand under the scrutiny of the Word of God? Can they stand in the light of divine revelation? Or must they be discarded? “Do not be wise in your own opinion.”

The Difference Between Evil and Sin

The Apostle goes on to say, “Repay no one evil for evil.” Before I try to expound that, I need to point out that after last week’s sermon, a member of the congregation came up to me and asked me a somewhat provocative question. He said to me, “R.C., what’s the difference between evil and sin?” Because here, Paul is talking about evil and not repaying evil with evil.

The question is this: Are the words evil and sin synonyms? Do they mean exactly the same thing? The answer is no, they do not mean the same thing. The difference between evil and sin is the difference between genus and species. All sin is evil, but not all evil is sin. Sin is one particular, although poignant, manifestation of evil. But when Scripture speaks of evil, it considers within that concept of evil many things besides moral failure in human behavior.

In the Old Testament, for example, the Hebrew word for evil has at least eight different nuances of meaning, and it can refer to any experience in this world that we do not welcome as being pleasant or good. For example, when God reveals Himself through the prophet Isaiah, He speaks of His own providence by which He both visits the world with prosperity and brings calamity.

The famine in the field and the earthquake that destroys villages are experiences of nature that may be catastrophic and bring upon us all kinds of bad consequences. But we do not go to the field that fails to yield its fruit or to the earthquake in order to bring them to trial and accuse them of sin. They are bad things, evil happenings, but they are what we call natural evil, as distinguished from moral evil.

Moral evil has to do with the behavior of moral agents, agents whom God has created with the faculty of choosing, who are capable of obeying or disobeying the commandments of their Creator. The Westminster Shorter Catechism gives this definition of sin: “Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God” (Q&A 14). Sin is defined as the failure to obey a command or prohibition of God Himself.

Historically, the concept of evil has been defined by the great minds of the church, such as Thomas Aquinas and Saint Augustine, as a negation or a privation. Evil is either the negation, or rejection, of the good, or the privation, privatio, a lack of the good. If there is a bumper crop at the time of the fall harvest, we say that we had a good crop. If there is a famine, there is a lack of a good crop. It is a privation, or the negative side of the crop, and we say that is evil. But again, it is not a moral evil.

What moral evil has in common with other kinds of evil is the idea of a lack or negation, because sin lacks righteous obedience. Sin is defined in negative terms. It is unrighteousness. It is godlessness. It is disobedience. Notice the negative use of these terms. They are a lack of virtue.

Do Not Repay Evil for Evil

Paul is talking in the moral realm when he says, “Repay no one evil for evil.” Sometimes, in our culture, if someone hurts us or offends us, we say, “It is payback time. What goes around, comes around.” We look for the opportunity to wound the one who has wounded us and pay them back. We want to get even. In fact, even worse, we are seldom satisfied with getting even. Getting even is a tie, and a tie does not give us any great satisfaction. We do not want to get even; we want to get one-up. We want to win in the battle of human relationships.

According to Paul, that disposition, which reigns in the human heart, is a manifestation of corruption and is itself an example of moral evil. If we are victims of someone else’s sin, the flesh wants to get even and pay it back. That payback involves our committing sin because someone has committed sin against us. Paul says, “No, that is not the way the Christian life is to be.” We are not supposed to return evil for evil.

Paul goes on to talk about relationships that have suffered from brokenness and conflict, and how we are to handle that conflict. “Repay no one evil for evil.” That is the basic premise.

“Have regard for good things in the sight of all men”—that is, people are watching you, and they know of you. Even if they are unbelievers, even if they slander you day in and day out, is there something they see in your life that, even in their paganism, they cannot deny? Do they see that you have a tender heart? Do they see that your word can be trusted? Do they see that you are not out to destroy them?

As hostile as unbelievers may be to Christians, they are not blind. They can see certain virtues that they may not enjoy admitting are there, but they know are there nonetheless. Paul says, “Have regard for good things in the sight of all men.”

Live Peaceably

Paul continues, “If it is possible, as much as depends upon you, live peaceably with all men.” Do you have no enemies? Do you have no broken relationships? Are you living peaceably with everybody that you know and everybody you have met?

If you say yes to those questions, I suggest that you are wise in your own conceits and need to reevaluate your opinions, because you are probably not telling the truth, either to me or to yourself. We have all experienced broken relationships. We have all experienced significant conflicts with other people in our lifetime. This is one of the most painful elements of human experience.

Paul says that we are to live peaceably with all men. Our Lord said,

Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called sons of God. (Matt. 5:9)

The making of peace should be part of our Christian character. We ought to endeavor to live peaceably with everybody.

At the same time, we are warned in the Bible to beware of one of whom everyone speaks well, because there are those who are peacemakers of the flesh. There are the Neville Chamberlains of the world, who think they have achieved peace for our time when they have not. There were the false prophets of Israel, of whom Jeremiah complained when they said, “Peace, peace,” when there was no peace. There is what Martin Luther called a fleshly peace, a peace born of falsehood rather than truth and cowardice rather than courage. We understand that is the wrong kind of peace. We also know that it is impossible to live at peace with all men.

Do Not Give Offense

Notice how Paul qualifies this admonition with the introduction, “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” I get a bit of relief there, although not a whole lot, because Paul realizes that he is addressing a problem that strains possibility to its limit.

Here is where the burden comes: We are to live peaceably with all men as much as it depends on us. When someone offends me, I can have a spirit of retaliation, revenge, and vengeance, which only exacerbates the tension and conflict and deepens the chasm that separates me from that person.

Paul is saying that if someone offends you, do not strike back. Try to be at peace with that person—which is difficult. This is what our Lord did throughout His earthly ministry. He did not have the word doormat printed on His forehead. No one could ever accuse Jesus of being a doormat.

No one could ever accuse Paul of being a doormat. He is not advocating that we emulate Caspar Milquetoast when it comes to living out the Christian life. But, he is saying: “I want people who are not bellicose. I want people who are not belligerent. I want people who do not love a fight, who do not throw gasoline on a fire. As much as possible, as far as it concerns you, live at peace with all men.”

I have used a word several times already, and that is the word offense. Let me make an important distinction that we all should be equipped with, and that is the distinction between an offense given and an offense taken. What is the difference between an offense given and an offense taken? If I walk up to somebody and, with malice aforethought, crush their toes under my heel and intentionally seek to hurt them, I have offended them and they have taken offense. They have every right to take offense, because I have given an offense.

However, we live in a world where people take offense where there is none. People may be offended by something you say or do that is perfectly just and right, but because they do not like it, they are offended. They have no just grounds for taking offense. When people take offense when none is given, they are doing something offensive by responding in that manner. Just because someone is offended does not mean that you have given offense, but it may mean that you have. We have to guard ourselves in the middle of this exchange of offenses.

“As much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men”—that is, as much as it depends on you, do not offend people needlessly. Be sensitive to people. If they are offended by something you have done that is just, then it is their problem that they take offense. There is not much you can do about it, except to try to maintain a peaceable relationship with them.

Do Not Avenge Yourselves

This warning escalates here when Paul says, “Beloved.” It is interesting that Paul prefaces the next admonition with this term of affection for his readers. I wonder why he does that. Many times, when I am preaching and I know I am getting to a place that may be hard for people to handle, I try to remind the people that I love them. So, I will say, “Beloved.” That should signal to you a punch coming any minute, so that you may be on guard and prepare yourselves for it.

Paul was not just flattering his readers. He loved them, and he understood their temptations. He understood their weaknesses. He understood their struggle for Christian maturity and obedience. Addressing them as “beloved” signals that a tough saying is about to be delivered. Listen to what that tough saying is: “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves.”

Do not avenge yourselves. When you have been injured, do not seek revenge on your own. As I said earlier, the deepest natural desire when we have been wounded by someone else is payback, revenge, for us to be the avengers of our own pain.

Vindication vs. Vengeance

There are a couple of concepts deeply rooted in Scripture that must be distinguished. One of the most important concepts that we have in the New Testament is the concept of vindication. Vindication takes place when someone accused of a crime or evil is found to be innocent of the charge, or their labor, which may be ridiculed or scorned, is shown to be of great value despite the mockery of the world. Vindication has to do with justice. Justice is served when innocent people are shown to be innocent, exonerated of charges brought against them. Where the charges are shown to be false and slanderous, the innocent person has experienced vindication.

Our Lord gave a majestic parable about this matter in the parable of the unjust judge, sometimes called the parable of the importunate widow. She had been wronged, and she brought her case to the court and sought justice, but the judge, who would not hear her case, had no regard for man or God. Yet, she wore him out with her ceaseless entreaties until finally, just to get rid of this pest, he heard her case.

The point Jesus made is this: If an unjust judge, who has no regard for people or for God, will from time to time actually execute justice, how much more will your heavenly Father be quick to bring justice to bear? Jesus asks the question rhetorically, “And shall not God avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him?” (Luke 18:7).

You may remember when Jonathan Edwards was unjustly accused of sin by a malicious man in his congregation. As a result, Edwards, who had loved and served that congregation in Massachusetts for so many years, was kicked out of his parish and exiled into ministry to the Indians. When his friends heard the scandalous charges against him, they begged Edwards to speak in his own defense, but he refused to do it.

His friends said to him: “What is wrong with you, Dr. Edwards? Don’t you want to be vindicated?” He said: “Yes, very much. I want to be vindicated.” They asked, “Well then, why don’t you defend yourself?” He answered: “I’m afraid that if I seek to defend myself, the defense I will bring to bear will be one the Lord deems sufficient. But if I remain silent and rely upon Him, He will vindicate me, and I’m convinced that the vindication He will give will be greater than anything I could achieve by my own defense.”

That may seem foolish. In many cases, the vindication will not take place until we stand before the bar of justice in heaven. But in Edwards’ case, after ten years, this malicious member of the church was so overcome by conscience that he confessed to the congregation that he had lied entirely in the charges he brought against Edwards. Edwards lived to see his vindication in this life. This is what the book of Job is all about. Job’s integrity is vindicated by God, who is Job’s redeemer.

There is a difference between vindication and vengeance. Vindication is that which shows you to be innocent. Vengeance is payback for the harm that you have innocently had to bear. We not only want to be vindicated and proven to be innocent, but we want revenge.

Vengeance Belongs to God

Let me ask you this question: Is revenge a bad thing? We often say, “Yes, it’s a bad thing.” A little child shall lead them into error. Revenge is not a bad thing. Revenge is a good thing. If revenge were a bad thing, then not only would it be evil for us to seek revenge, but it would be equally or even more evil for God to seek revenge. But revenge, in and of itself, is not evil. What is evil is when we assume for ourselves something that does not belong to us. Revenge belongs to God.

God says we ought not to avenge ourselves because He says clearly, “Vengeance is mine.” God owns it. It is His property and His prerogative alone to dispense it—although, as we will see in chapter 13, He delegates the responsibility of vengeance to human offices in giving power to the civil magistrate. But in the final analysis, vengeance belongs to God.

Notice what Paul says: “‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.” There will be payback. There will be vengeance. Our offenses will be avenged. But the One who is to avenge is God. Why? Because when God brings vengeance to bear, He brings it perfectly. His justice never punishes more severely than the sin deserves.

If vengeance is left to us, and we have been the victim of someone’s abuse, our fallen condition is such that we are unlikely to stop at getting even at a just level of payment. We are not satisfied until we can inflict more pain than the crime deserves. God never, ever does that.

Minister to Your Enemies

Going back to the Sermon on the Mount, Paul says, “Therefore,” and then, “If your enemy is hungry”—do not just not starve him, but—“feed him.” If he is hungry, you feed him. “If he is thirsty, give him a drink.” You do not ask him why he is thirsty. You do not ask him why he is hungry.

If somebody is high on drugs and falls into a ditch and cannot get out, you do not ask him how he got into the ditch. You do not ask him what he is doing in the ditch. You do not ask him why he has AIDS. That is not our job. Our job is to bind up people’s wounds; if they are hungry, to feed them; if they are thirsty, to give them a drink. This is what the ministry of mercy is in the life of the church. If someone suffers from a sexually transmitted disease, we minister to him in his suffering. That is what Jesus did, and that is what His people are to do.

“For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” That is a tough text. What does it mean? It means that rather than repaying your enemy with evil, you repay him with good. You repay him with kindness. When you respond to evil with good, not only do you keep your own hands clean from producing more evil, but you put coals of fire on his head. You expose him to God’s wrath. If he persists in his evil treatment of you, every time you repay the guilty party with good, you increase his guilt before God.

The reason that Paul says we ought to repay evil with good is not so we can get evildoers into trouble. That is not the point. But the burden is no longer on us. If we return good for evil, then our hands are clean and the exposure to the lightning bolt of God is on the other person.

Overcome Evil with Good

I remember when I was a senior in seminary, I had the task of being a student pastor in a Hungarian refugee church in Western Pennsylvania. We had fewer than one hundred members. There was a lady in our congregation who was somewhat vexing. On one occasion, I made a remark to her that she found offensive. She would come to church on Sunday morning and sit looking out the window so that everyone could see she was ignoring my sermon. It created a real problem for me. I did not know what to do about it.

I went to see this woman. I apologized to her for the remark that I had made. Honestly, I apologized in tears. I told her I was sorry for saying what I said, and I hoped she would forgive me. She would not forgive me. So, I went a second time, and asked her again to forgive me. She refused to do it.

I met once a month with my appointed mentor for the student ministry at that church. He was an eighty-five-year-old retired missionary who had spent fifty years in China in the mission field. For one five-year period, he and his wife were incarcerated in two different concentration camps. This man was a saint. I had to go, with my hat in my hand, and give him the report. He asked, “How are things going?” I answered, “Not too good—I alienated Mrs. So and So,” who was a pillar of the church.

My mentor asked, “What did you say?” I told him what I said. He said, “You said that?” I answered affirmatively. “Wow,” he said, “that wasn’t a very nice thing to say.” I said, “I know.” He asked, “What did you do?” I said: “I went to her, I apologized in tears, and asked her forgiveness. She wouldn’t forgive me.” And he asked, “What did you say?”

When I told him what I said to her, my mentor started laughing, and he slapped his knee. He said, “You didn’t really say that.” I said, “Yes I did.” He said, “It’s about time somebody said something like that to her.” That is what my mentor really said. But anyway, I was still confessing my sin to my confessor.

When I was done, my mentor said: “You know, you made one big mistake here. It was a mistake to say what you said. You shouldn’t have said that. But your biggest mistake was apologizing for it twice. Once you apologized to that woman, sincerely repented, and asked her forgiveness, the ball was in her court. Her refusal to forgive, in light of your repentance, was far worse than the offense you gave in the first place.” He said: “When that happens, don’t keep pursuing it. The coals of fire are on their heads.”

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” This is the grand strategy of Jesus, the grand strategy of the Apostolic church, and the grand strategy of the Christian life. With everything that is in us, we are to overcome evil, not with evil, but with good. Let us pray.

Father, so many of these injunctions You have given to us are difficult for us to perform. When we hear them, we are immediately aware of how desperately we need Your grace to carry them out. Help us as we seek to do that which is pleasing to You. We ask, O God, that You would have your way with us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.