Chapter # 12 Paragraph # 4 Study # 11
July 19, 2020
Humble, Texas
(060)
1769 Translation:
19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but [
rather] give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance [
is] mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
1901 ASV Translation:
19 Avenge not yourselves, beloved, but give place unto the wrath [
of God]: for it is written, Vengeance belongeth unto me; I will recompense, saith the Lord.
20 But if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him to drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head.
21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
- I. The Second "Application" of Unhypocritical Love: One's "Attitude" Toward Others Continued.
- A. Prior studies of unhypocritical love.
- 1. The major thesis: Let love be without hypocrisy: 12:9a.
- 2. The first sub-thesis: Let this be true in respect to the saints: 12:9b-13.
- 3. Current Studies: The second sub-thesis: Let this be true in respect to the "enemies": 12:14-21.
- a. "At Issue": Unhypocritical Love, being rooted in a strong antagonism toward "the evil" (in oneself) and in a "welded unity" (of oneself) with "the good".
- b. Paul's opening command [See (051)].
- c. Paul's next command [See (053)].
- d. Paul's continuing instructions; a series of participles followed by a controlling verb. The controlling verb is ginomai and it puts the focus upon "not becoming", as one who "thinks", a person who compares himself/herself with others and comes out "superior".
- e. Paul's continuing instructions; another series of participles followed by a controlling verb. The controlling verb is didomi and it puts the focus upon "giving [God] the place for the execution of wrath" so that the "beloved" do not execute wrath for themselves upon those who have done them harm.
- B. Current instructions.
- 1. These are given under the deliberate thesis of "Beloved". An unhypocritical love can only arise from a fixed conviction of being loved.
- a. This is only the third use, of seven, of this adjectival form from agape. There are a further eight uses of the noun and six of the verb.
- b. The second use is 11:28 where the Jewish enemies are called "beloved for the sake of the fathers". In a word, "beloved" means "objects of grace unto ultimate salvation", of which one part is the establishment of "Justice" through vengeance.
- 2. The focus is upon the written revelation of inspired scripture regarding whose "place" it is to exercise "wrath".
- a. The typical "gegraptai gar" formula is: It stands written.
- 1) Paul used "gegraptai" sixteen times in Romans alone; a heavy emphasis upon biblical revelation from God regarding some "theological" conclusion being used to sustain a point he was making as he wrote.
- 2) This "gegraptai" is a third person, singular, perfect, passive, indicative form of "grapho", which is the standard verb for "to write".
- 3) At issue here is the previously given revelation from God through a writing prophet who was "moved by the Holy Spirit" (Peter's terminology in 2 Peter 1:21) to produce "scripture [that] is inspired by God" (Paul's terminology in 2 Timothy 3:16). This is written truth that "stands" because it is "written" and, thus, is not easily altered. This is particularly true of the Hebrew scriptures as they were handled by the scribes (there are far less textual problems with the Hebrew scriptures than with the Greek-based ones).
- 4) This raises an entire issue: God's words recorded in writing and preserved through many generations.
- b. The particular written revelation is that "The Lord says", "...to Me [is] vengeance, I will recompense" (Deuteronomy 32:35).
- 1) "legei kurios".
- a) This is another form of the "truth" of "gegraptai gar". As the recorded utterance of the writing prophet, the words are "God's" so that "legei kurios" is emphatic. The words were written by a man, but the words are God's. Obviously, for some, God informs the mind so that a man has an understanding that is accurate and true down to the very jot and tittle, and the outcome is that that man can then write "inspired truth". But, from that high water mark of a man's mind being, in a spectacular and direct way, informed unto written content, we descend into the reality of many whose minds are not so directly, or spectacularly, informed. Most men are not apostles or prophets, yet, by their words, some become as informed as they were initially. Great levels of maturity can come through man's interaction with "men-written, God-informed" words.
- b) The legei is a focus upon "content of truth" as different from "laleo" where the focus is upon the "sounds" uttered.
- c) Paul's use of "kurios" in Romans is extensive (38 texts contain this descriptive title). From this text alone we derive the concept of "Lord" as "Ultimate Judge Over All Creation" because "vengeance is Mine" means He will dispense righteous judgment without any legitimate objection. The emphatic "ego" preceding the verb only intensifies this concept. When it comes to righteous judgment over the totality of time and all creation, it is this "kurios" Who will sit as both "Evaluator" and "Executor". There is in this an echo of Abraham's question in Genesis 18:25; "Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?"
- i. This concept is first introduced by Paul in Romans in 4:3 where it is "God" Who makes His decision regarding "righteousness" on the basis of whether a man "believed" Him, or not.
- ii. Then, in 4:4-8, it is "kurios" Who establishes the "blessedness" of the man whose sins shall not be "reckoned". This word, "reckoned", translated "impute" by the Authorized Version is the same word used in 4:4, 4:5, 4:6, and 4:8 to indicate a decision (judgment) that has been made: "The Lord will not use a man's sins as a part of the basis for His "decisions". Truly, any man whose "outcomes" are decided on some basis in which his sins are absent is "blessed". Paul actually used this word eleven times just in chapter four. It was heavily involved in his argument as he presents it in that chapter.
- iii. Then, in 4:24 (following up on 1:4 and 7), Jesus is identified as "the Lord". This specifically moves this "identity as Lord" to Jesus. This is in accord with Acts 2:36 where we are told that "God has made Him both Lord and Christ". Thus, "God" (either the Father, or the totality of the Godhead) has settled the title and status of Jesus of Nazareth: He is Lord. And, according to 1 Corinthians 12:3, no one can come to an understanding of this reality, and, thus, "say" it, except by the Holy Spirit. "God" made Jesus "Lord" and His Spirit reveals and confirms that this is so.
- iv. The remaining texts of Romans in which the word "Lord" is found continue to affirm and expand this basic issue: "Lord" means "Ultimate Sovereign" with "examination" and "final decision" up front among all of the other concepts tied to it.