“Recompense to no man evil for evil.”

~ Romans 12:17 ~

            We are God’s children, His sons and daughters, taught by His very Spirit and taught His spirit.  Thus, understanding the glory of our Father increases our esteem of Him, as well as, glorify His instruction to us.  As our Father is holy, peculiar, distinct; so is His instruction holy, peculiar, and distinct.  The radiance of His beautiful, distinct character manifest in the distinct image of Christ bursts from the excellency of His distinct Word to penetrate our soul and thereby effectually work distinct godliness in our lives. 

Our Father’s instruction to “recompense to no man evil for evil” is distinctly godly.  The distinctiveness of the instruction has similar forms in worldly wisdom but simply by its composition is understood as wholly from God.  Without question, the intent and purpose of our instruction always completely and totally sets forth our Father’s wisdom as holy, peculiar, and distinct in our understanding.  The instruction mentioned is one component – an angle of a gem, that is Christ, to manifest brightly and dwell richly within us.    

God’s sons and daughters, that love Him, do not “recompense…evil for evil”.  The measure of retributions absence is extended to any and all men that do evil to us.  The son and daughter of God are to prove the gentle righteousness of God and not pursue self-avengement.  We are not to seek private revenge or vigilante law.  Rather, we are to premeditate an altogether different reaction, response, attitude, and behavior toward a personal or non-personal enemy.  Recompensing evil for evil is our natural, fleshly response that comes so easy to us.  We will even utilize man’s wisdom, cloak it as godly, and seek to uphold it in the name of God.  Yet, our action toward those that have done evil to us is to be distinct; that is, to reflect and manifest His mind, our renewed mind. 

Our renewed disposition to evil is to “abhor” it and thus when evil is done to us, we are to shriek at the thought of its recompense by our hand but wait on Him Who judges righteously.  We are to yield our members as instruments of righteousness, as those that are dead to sin and alive unto God. 

When and as we “recompense to no man evil for evil” functioning as “dead” to our fleshly reaction and, “live” unto “provid[ing] things honest in the sight of all men” our Father is directing our paths, we follow the steps of Christ, and understand the pattern of Christ manifest in the apostles – the most of which was Paul.     

Josh Strelecki, Pastor-Teacher