Chapter # 12 Paragraph # 4 Study # 10
June 28, 2020
Humble, Texas
(058)
1769 Translation:
17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
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:
17 Render to no man evil for evil. Take thought for things honorable in the sight of all men.
18 If it be possible, as much as in you lieth, be at peace with all men.
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 [ (051)].
- c. Paul's next command [ (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".
- B. Current instructions.
- 1. Dominant theme: retaliation.
- a. Another four participles followed by a controlling verb.
- 1) Main verb: dote from didomi (in 12:19). This controlling verb has everything to do, in this sentence, with "giving place to wrath" (meaning "give God the 'place' of the One Who will execute 'wrath' instead of giving oneself that 'place'"). This is in direct harmony with 12:17's first participle (paying back) and, in somewhat lesser terms, also in harmony with the other three participles.
- a) The issue of "wrath" (orge): legal retribution (13:14) as a settled determination (the court has taken its seat, the details have been set forth, and the sentence has been passed; 2:5; 4:15).
- b) The issue of "place" (topos) is best illustrated by 15:23 where Paul says, in light of his aspiration to "preach...not where Christ was [already] known", that there is no longer any such "place" "in these regions" (all the "places" where Christ has already been preached -- albeit many of which have that identity because he did that preaching and others where the gospel has sounded forth by those who believed by reason of his preaching; Acts 19:10). In a paraphrase "translation"; "give God the place of executing wrath; do not give it to yourself").
- 2) Four participles.
- a) apodidontes: Romans 2:6; 12:17; and 13:7. There is a "giving back" in the sense of a prior establishment of "due" and it is met by "paying back what is due". This is not to be done to anyone.
- i. In the text, the issue is kakon anti kakou. (this is "evil over against evil" in which "evil" is "harm done").
- ii. At issue is the Law of retribution; an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
- b) pronooumenoi: a verb only used in three places in the New Testament (Romans 12:17; 2 Corinthians 8:21; and 1 Timothy 5:8) that is formed by the prefix pro and the main verb noeo.
- i. It seems to indicate a "thinking" that is able to "link" various truths together to form a greater grasp of each of the linked, individual, truths in harmony with each other.
- ii. It is used to indicate "a regard that has taken multiple truths into consideration so that it (the "regard") has become a settled matter (indicated by the pro as "prior" to the present and an outcome of the nou" ) in the mind of the "thinker".
- iii. The prior "thinking" is indicated by the pro and that it is "thinking" is indicated by the noeo because it is a derivative of nous (the "typical" word for "mind" as that facility by which we are "transformed" as it is "renewed" -- 12:2).
- iv. Paul is heavily invested with this issue of "thinking" in a way that governs one's choices. It may well be the postlude to "faith" out of "love". His particular focus of attention in this verse is upon "consensus-good" as what "all men 'think' to be 'good'".
- c) eirhneuontes
- d) ekdikountes