Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Romans 12:21

Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

21. Be not overcome, &c.] The verbs are in the singular; individualizing the appeal. The verse runs, lit., Be not thou overcome by the evil, but overcome the evil in the good. “ The evil,” “the good; ” that of the evil-doer and the sufferer respectively. Q. d., “Do not let his evil principles and acts conquer the better mind that is in thee by grace, but use ‘the good’ given to thee the good of Divine peace and love shed abroad in thy heart to subdue the evil in him.” “ In the good: ” = under its influence.

Out of countless examples in Christian history we quote a recent one, from the Native Church in China. In 1878 a small and new Christian community was severely persecuted, and some of the converts, grownup men, were cruelly ill-used by a petty official, without the least resistance on their part. Some time after, this official was summoned before a superior officer, and sentenced to severe punishment. But one of his former victims, who meanwhile had not been his accusers, interposed and procured his pardon; and their enemy was turned forthwith into a grateful and cordial friend. (A. E. Moule’s Story of the Chehkiang Mission, ed. 2, p. 120.)

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Be not overcome of evil – Be not vanquished or subdued by injury received from others. Do not suffer your temper to be excited; your Christian principles to be abandoned; your mild, amiable, kind, and benevolent temper to be ruffled by any opposition or injury which you may experience. Maintain your Christian principles amidst all opposition, and thus show the power of the gospel. They are overcome by evil who suffer their temper to be excited, who become enraged and revengeful and who engage in contention with those who injure them; Pro 16:22.

But overcome evil with good – That is, subdue or vanquish evil by doing good to others. Show them the loveliness of a better spirit; the power of kindness and benevolence; the value of an amiable, Christian deportment. So doing, you may disarm them of their rage, and be the means of bringing them to better minds.

This is the noble and grand sentiment of the Christian religion. Nothing like this is to be found in the pagan classics; and nothing like it ever existed among pagan nations. Christianity alone has brought forth this lovely and mighty principle; and one design of it is to advance the welfare of man by promoting peace, harmony, and love. The idea of overcoming evil with good never occurred to people until the gospel was preached. It never has been acted on except under the influences of the gospel. On this principle God shows kindness; on this principle the Saviour came, and bled, and died; and on this principle all Christians should act in treating their enemies, and in bringing a world to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. If Christians will show benevolence, if they will send forth proofs of love to the ends of the earth, the evils of the world will be overcome. Nor can the nations be converted until Christians act on this great and most important principle of their religion, on the largest scale possible, to overcome evil with good.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 21. Be not overcome of evil] Do not, by giving place to evil, become precisely the same character which thou condemnest in another. Overcome evil with good – however frequently he may grieve and injure thee, always repay him with kindness; thy good-will, in the end, may overcome his evil.

1. THOMAS AQUINAS has properly said: Vincitur a malo qui vult peccare in alium, quia ille peccavit in ipsum. “He is overcome of evil who sins against another, because he sins against him.” A moral enemy is more easily overcome by kindness than by hostility. Against the latter he arms himself; and all the evil passions of his heart concentrate themselves in opposition to him who is striving to retaliate, by violence, the injurious acts which he has received from him. But where the injured man is labouring to do him good for his evil – to repay his curses with blessings and prayers, his evil passions have no longer any motive, any incentive; his mind relaxes; the turbulence of his passions is calmed; reason and conscience are permitted to speak; he is disarmed, or, in other words, he finds that he has no use for his weapons; he beholds in the injured man a magnanimous friend whose mind is superior to all the insults and injuries which he has received, and who is determined never to permit the heavenly principle that influences his soul to bow itself before the miserable, mean, and wretched spirit of revenge. This amiable man views in his enemy a spirit which he beholds with horror, and he cannot consent to receive into his own bosom a disposition which he sees to be so destructive to another; and he knows that as soon as he begins to avenge himself, he places himself on a par with the unprincipled man whose conduct he has so much reason to blame, and whose spirit he has so much cause to abominate. He who avenges himself receives into his own heart all the evil and disgraceful passions by which his enemy is rendered both wretched and contemptible. There is the voice of eternal reason in “Avenge not yourselves: – overcome evil with good;” as well as the high authority and command of the living God.

2. The reader will, no doubt, have observed with pleasure the skill and address, as well as the Divine wisdom, with which the apostle has handled the important subjects which he has brought forth to view in the preceding chapters. Nothing can be more regular or judicious than his plan of proceeding. He first shows the miserable, wretched, fallen, degraded state of man; next, the merciful provision which God has made for his salvation, and lastly, the use which man should make of the mercies of his God. He shows us, in a most pointed manner, the connection that subsists between the doctrines of the Gospel and practical piety. From the beginning of the first to the end of the eleventh chapter he states and defends the grand truths of Christianity, and from the beginning of the twelfth to the end of the epistle he shows the practical use of these doctrines. This is a point which is rarely considered by professors; multitudes run to the Epistle to the Romans for texts to prop up their peculiar system of doctrine, but how few go to this sacred book for rules relative to holy life! They abound in quotations from the doctrinal parts, but seldom make that use of them which the apostle makes in this chapter. “I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world, &c.” Now we learn from the use which the apostle makes of his doctrines, that whatsoever teaching comes from God leads to a holy and useful life. And if we hold any doctrine that does not excite us to labour after the strictest conformity to the will of God in all our tempers, spirit, and actions, we may rest assured that either that doctrine is not of God, or we make an improper use of it. He that knows God best, loves and resembles him most.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

This verse is a Divine aphorism: therein the apostle anticipates an objection. Some might be ready to say, If we should follow this advice we should be counted cowards and dastards, &c. To this he answers, that it is the ready way to be triumphers and conquerors. By evil, here, he means, the wrongs and injuries of men; and to be overcome of evil, is to be moved and provoked thereby to impatience or malice. When it is thus with a man, he is overcome, or conquered: in revenge of injuries, he is a loser that gets the better. Therefore he exhorts us, rather to

overcome evil with good; that is a noble victory indeed: this is the way, not to be even with him that wrongs us, but to be above him. Thus David overcame Saul, and Elisha the bands of Syria. This is the way to overcome ourselves, and our adversaries too: ourselves, in denying our lusts that egg us on to revenge; our adversaries, in winning them to relent and acknowledge their miscarriages.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

21. Be not overcome of evilforthen you are the conquered party.

but overcome evil withgoodand then the victory is yours; you have subdued your enemyin the noblest sense.

Note, (1) The redeemingmercy of God in Christ is, in the souls of believers, the livingspring of all holy obedience (Ro12:1). (2) As redemption under the Gospel is not by irrationalvictims, as under the law, but “by the precious blood of Christ”(1Pe 1:18; 1Pe 1:19),and, consequently, is not ritual but real, so the sacrifices whichbelievers are now called to offer are all “living sacrifices”;and thesesummed up in self-consecration to the service of Godare”holy and acceptable to God,” making up together “ourrational service” (Ro 12:1).(3) In this light, what are we to think of the so-called “unbloodysacrifice of the mass, continually offered to God as a propitiationfor the sins both of the living and the dead,” which theadherents of Rome’s corrupt faith have been taught for ages tobelieve is the highest and holiest act of Christian worshipindirect opposition to the sublimely simple teaching which theChristians of Rome first received (Ro12:1) (4) Christians should not feel themselves at liberty tobe conformed to the world, if only they avoid what is manifestlysinful; but rather, yielding themselves to the transforming power ofthe truth as it is in Jesus, they should strive to exhibit before theworld an entire renovation of heart and life (Ro12:2). (5) What God would have men to be, in all its beauty andgrandeur, is for the first time really apprehended, when “writtennot with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tables ofstone, but on the fleshy tables of the heart,” 2Co3:3 (Ro 12:2). (6)Self-sufficiency and lust of power are peculiarly unlovely in thevessels of mercy, whose respective graces and gifts are all a divinetrust for the benefit of the common body and of mankind at large(Rom 12:3; Rom 12:4).(7) As forgetfulness of this has been the source of innumerable andunspeakable evils in the Church of Christ, so the faithful exerciseby every Christian of his own peculiar office and gifts, and theloving recognition of those of his brethren, as all of equalimportance in their own place, would put a new face upon the visibleChurch, to the vast benefit and comfort of Christians themselves andto the admiration of the world around them (Ro12:6-8). (8) What would the world be, if it were filled withChristians having but one object in life, high above every otherto”serve the Lord”and throwing into this service”alacrity” in the discharge of all duties, and abiding”warmth of spirit” (Ro12:11)! (9) Oh, how far is even the living Church from exhibitingthe whole character and spirit, so beautifully portrayed in thelatter verses of this chapter (Ro12:12-21)! What need of a fresh baptism of the Spirit in order tothis! And how “fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terribleas an army with banners,” will the Church become, when at lengthinstinct with this Spirit! The Lord hasten it in its time!

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Be not overcome of evil,…. Neither of the evil one, Satan, who is very busy to stir up the corruption of nature to an hatred of enemies, and to seek revenge; but give no place nor heed unto him, resist him, and he will flee from you, Jas 4:7; “put on the whole armour of God”, Eph 6:11, whereby you may defend yourselves, that he cannot touch you: nor of the evil of sin that dwells in you; “for whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage”, 2Pe 2:19; nor of the evil of the man that has done you an injury, as you will be, if you return evil for evil, or take any steps and measures to avenge yourselves; for then not you, but he that has done you the wrong, will be the conqueror:

but overcome evil with good; overcome the evil man, and the evil he has done you, by doing good to him, by feeding him when hungry, by giving him drink when thirsty, by clothing him when naked, and by doing other offices of kindness and humanity to him; which is most likely to win upon him, and of an enemy to make him your friend: and if not, however it will show that you are conquerors, yea, “more than conquerors”, Ro 8:37, through the grace and strength of him that has loved you, over Satan, over the corruptions of your own hearts, and over the malice and wickedness of your enemies.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Be not overcome of evil ( ). Present passive imperative of , to conquer. “Stop being conquered by the evil (thing or man),”

But overcome evil with good ( ). “But keep on conquering the evil in the good.” Drown the evil in the good. Seneca: Vincit malos pertinax bonitas.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

1) “Be not overcome of evil,” (me niko hupo tou kakou) “Do not let yourself be conquered by the evil,” bad deeds, bad attitudes, etc., of others. Evil that men do against one is not to be let alone, but conquered, choked to death, stifled by your doing good habitually, even on behalf of, for, or to the evil doer, Rom 6:12-14; Gal 6:11; Jas 4:7-8.

2) “But overcome evil with good,” (alla nika en to agatho to kakon) “But in contrast conquer the evil or bad things, attitudes, dispositions, and practices of the former life with or by doing the inner-empowered good, good attitudes, dispositions, and habits of practice.” Kindness is a Christian virtue and key to so many victories and successes in life, Pro 16:32; Eph 4:30-32; 2Pe 1:7. Do remember the obituary tribute to our Lord, “who went about doing good,” Act 10:38; Eph 2:10; and Paul admonished, “cleave unto that which is good,” and “do good to all men,” Rom 12:9; Gal 6:10.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

21. Be not overcome by evil, etc. This sentence is laid down as a confirmation; for in this case our contest is altogether with perverseness, if we try to retaliate it, we confess that we are overcome by it; if, on the contrary, we return good for evil, by that very deed we show the invincible firmness of our mind. This is truly a most glorious kind of victory, the fruit of which is not only apprehended by the mind, but really perceived, while the Lord is giving success to their patience, than which they can wish nothing better. On the other hand, he who attempts to overcome evil with evil, may perhaps surpass his enemy in doing injury, but it is to his own ruin; for by acting thus he carries on war for the devil.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

THE WAY TO WIN

Rom 12:21

THIS twelfth chapter of Romans is one of the most interesting in the world. It is an appeal for a higher life. Duty to God and sacrifice of self in spiritual mindedness, in humble judgment of ones own powers, and in seeking to know ones place in all the service of the Most High, is the general theme.

Under this, ones obligation to his fellows is to give them affection, to deal with them honestly, to administer to the comfort of the needy, to bear with the weak, to sorrow with the sorrowful, and to joy with the joyful.

Duty to ones self, the holding of the reins of passion in overcoming all meanness even when injured and wronged, is clearly set forth.

The Apostle knew from experience, as well as by the Holy Ghost, how difficult it is to return good for evil, and so wrote,

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.

Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. (Rom 12:20-21).

We are in need of such counsel. One of the hard things of this life is to treat those who wrong us half right.

The fact that God said, Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, saith the Lord, is easily forgotten when we are injured, and we are seeking to get our rights with a high hand. Sorry way! This Scripture sets forth the only successful means of coping with the wrong. Overcome it with good!

THE GOOD IS ONLY POSSIBLE BY DELIBERATE CHOICE

As a member of a Tennyson Club I came to delight in the beauty and magic of that authors poems; and, as with most people, In Memoriam was my favorite. But I trust I was not blind to its theological falsehoods.

Oh, yet we trust that somehow good Will be the final goal of ill,To pangs of nature, sins of will,Defects of doubt, and taints of blood.

That nothing walks with aimless feet;That not one life shall be destroyd,Or cast as rubbish to the void,When God hath made the pile complete.

* * * * * *

Behold we know not anything;I can but trust that good shall fall At lastfar offat last, to all,And every winter change to spring.

That is the religious hope of not a few who are living in daily indifference to present good, and refusing to choose the better.

When Micawber puts Tennysons thought into plain speech, people laugh to scorn such a notion, and know that his thriftlessness and indolence will never result in good. But the same people turn about and adopt from Tennyson as the hope of eternity that which they ridicule in Dickens as the cheat of time.

No man will ever be good who does not choose to be. No man will ever sow good seed who does not choose to do so.

And this choice is personal. There are other things that cannot be done by proxy beside being born, falling in love, marrying, dying, and such like. Choice is one of them. Sometimes we almost wish that others could choose for us. When we meet a pale-faced woman on the streets, leading her half-clad, half-starved child toward the illegal saloon whence she hopes to persuade the brutalized husband home, we wish that she could make choice for him. When we see a mother whose sweet face has sad lines, put there by the sins of a wayward son, we wish that she could choose lifes path for him. When we meet a wife whose heart loves the Lord, but whose husband has no sympathy with Christ, we wish that she could choose for him, that in Christ they might be one. But alas for our desire!

The natural law is no doubt as wise as immutable every man must make choice for himself. You remember Joshuas words to Israel in the hour of their vacillation, when, having set before them the end of Satans service, and the reasons why God should be obeyed, he said, Choose you this day whom ye will serve; * * but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Jos 24:15).

You remember how Moses, in the thirtieth chapter of Deuteronomy, says to this same people, I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life. The prodigal son, sitting in the solitude of his rags and ruin, saw that he must choose the better course, or perish, and in the poor strength of his remaining manhood, he made it and was saved. It is the decision of a lifetime. Will you make it?

The time allotted for this choice is limited: not so much by the fact that Gods Spirit shall not always strive with man, as by the circumstances of life itself. Gods Spirit is slow to give up a soul to Satan. The danger of grieving Him away is not the greatest danger.

Some years since the Chicago papers told the story of a breach of promise suit. On account of the death of a brother, a young woman sought to defer her wedding. The prospective groom grew angry and brought suit for breach of promise. Gods Holy Ghost loves the soul too dearly to act in such petulance, or to forsake it for small reason. As long as there is the slightest hope, that Spirit will continue to plead His love.

There are circles in life over which one steps at his peril.

There is the circle of sanity. Years since, in New Albany, Indiana, I pled with a man to accept Christ as his Saviour, and he indifferently replied, I mean to, but a few minutes at the last is sufficient to do that. A short time elapsed, and he was hopelessly insane, and his day of grace was forever gone.

There is the circle of consciousness. My good but unsaved friend was well in the morning, but at noon-day he was unconscious, and before the evening he was gone.

Then there is the circle of life itself. Who can tell how near to it he stands? Once over the line, there is no return. You doubtless remember your history at the point where Pompilius was sent by the Roman senate to order Antiochus to withdraw his army from Egypt. When the letter was delivered, Antiochus kindly smiled and said, I will consider it and give my reply at my leisure. Then Pompilius took his sword and drew about him in the sand a circle and said to the invader, You will give your answer before you cross that line. And Antiochus well knew the power of Rome and speedily replied, I will obey.

The circle may be about you already. My plea is that you do not pass over it before you have made the choice of good and of God. Many men see their opportunities, but they only who seize them are successful. The day when I accepted Christ there stood at my side a man who saw the truth as plainly as did your servant, but delayed to accept it, and years since he died in spiritual darkness.

THE GOOD CHOSEN MUST BE LOVED

Falling in love is not a mere act of the will, but the will has much to do with intelligent affection. The man who consults his emotions instead of his judgment is fickle in the extreme, and counted a flirt.

True love rests in strong conviction. It is more than a fascination for a pretty face and form, and those who do not so count it are likely to come into the courts and seek separation before life is ended. One reason why so many men are disloyal to those who joined hands with them at the altar, and so many women unfaithful to the pledge of fidelity, is found in the fact that folks go to the hour of orange blossoms without the intelligent conviction of what they want in a wife, or a husband. And the man who accepts the truth of Christ and the love of Christ lightly, not esteeming it the supreme good, but thinking to have it serve him some personal ends, is the man who will give it up and go back to the old life. But the man who believes that righteousness, holiness and salvation are the most estimable of all Gods gifts, will receive them to live by them, and rejoice in them, and will be the least tempted to share his heart with unworthy loves.

You remember how the Prophet of old considered this weakness of two affections. When he discovered it in Israel he remonstrated in pathetic tones, and with severe indictment, said of them, Their heart is divided: now shall they he found faulty! How common that fault, and how great that fault! People pamper the flesh and propose to shut up the Spirit of God in a heart that still harbors some sin.

You may be saying of it as Lot said of Zoar, Is it not a little one? But God replies, Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth. One small sin, loved and lived, will drive God out of the heart, and defeat the good in your life.

You are familiar with the sop parable intended to illustrate this point. It relates that on a certain occasion an Arab was in his tent enjoying its rest and warmth. A camel coming that way asked to have his nose inside that it might be warmed. The request was granted. Soon he added, and my head also, and that was granted. Then he wanted to warm his neck, and when the Arab consented, he stalked in bodily, crowded the Arab against the wall and trampled him under foot, and when the Arab complained that there was not room for both, the camel replied, Then you go! Roomy as is the heart of man, it is not great enough for Gods Spirit and any sinful or unclean thing.

Joseph saw that truth, and in consequence was the noblest spirit of the Old Testament. His choice of righteousness was so positive and definite that he could suffer wrong and remain generous; be lied about without seeking revenge; be tempted by the lust of beauty, and yet resist; be cast unjustly into jail and yet keep a sweet spirit; be forgotten by those whom he had befriended, and yet not complain. No wonder God brought him forth and set him up on high; gave the interests of the kingdom into his hands, and permitted him to live in comfort, and become the saviour of his people, and of the Egyptians. God has a hard time to find good men for His offices, and when He finds one, He fills the largest places with him.

He who loves the good will stand for the right.

William Lloyd Garrison, the apostle of civil equality and human freedom, exemplified that fact. You remember his famous sentence, when beginning the publication of The Liberator, the paper that led to his being mobbed at a later time, I am in earnest; I will not equivocate; I will not excuse; I will not retreat a single inch, and I will be heard. And never did he flinch from his promise.

Christianity has taken many a coward and converted him into the boldest warrior beneath the sun. There may be places in the earth for invertebrate men, but the Kingdom of God knows nothing of the sort. Jesus Christ wants for His service men who can stand alone with Him against the world. The fellows who are always feeling the public pulse and acting accordingly are the Judases of His service, forsaking in the hour of exigency, or at the prospect of personal gain. The man who can say with Peter, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed Thee, he shall find that he has gained the life that now is, and the glorious eternity to come. It was written in the olden time, The fear of man bringeth a snare, and it is the truth of the ages still. A full-grown man told me that he loved Christ and longed to serve Him, but feared he could never face the guying fellows of the shop. You remember that Christ said, He that taketh not his cross, and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me, and when He said it, it meant death, and yet John, and Peter, and James, and Paul were not afraid.

Have we lost the race of noblemen? Have we fallen on times of ease and compromise with the world? Can it be that men cannot stand a little ridicule for Christs sake, when He for our sakes submitted to jeers, persecutions, scorns, mockings, insult and sufferings unspeakable, and, at the last, death?

I love to reflect upon the account of that old Greek who built the Roman Coliseum. When the work was finished, the artist had so well executed it that a festival was held in his honor. According to the custom of the times, the Emperor ordered the Christians brought from their prison, and flung to the hungry lions for the sport of the people, and in honor of the Greek architect. When the noble Greek saw what the Emperor was doing, he arose from his seat at the Emperors side, and shouted till the galleries heard him above the voice of the mad multitude, and the roaring lions, and the moaning martyrs, I, too, am a Christian. He knew that it meant his martyrdom, but that knowledge did not deter him from courageously confessing Christ.

Is it possible that we have reached the point where we will indulge a secret love for Christ, and yet be unwilling to speak His Name lest some unbeliever should scoff?

THE GOOD ONCE CHOSEN GROWS

Evangelist Keen, in his book on Faith, claims that salvation is the exercise of ones own will in confidence, and that if God gives faith, it is only in seed-grains to be sown and cultivated by us. If we trust Him at one point, we will find it easier to trust him at another, and so may come to trust His every word.

It is only after a man has loved and served God that he can sing from the heart,

How firm a foundation ye saints of the Lord,Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word.

But to accept a single promise may effect his salvation and give him a start in the Divine life.

Years ago, a graduate of the Ohio University, bowed with some personal workers. He was convicted of sin, but was unsaved. Turning his face to one of them he said, Oh, give me a promise from God, and this man Keen replied, Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him (Heb 7:25). The penitent man answered, That is what I wanted. I believe it. I accept it, and praise the Lord, I am saved. Years elapsed, but that man stood firm; and from faith in a single promise which saved, he went on to all of Gods promises that sanctify and fit for service.

Begin where you can tonight. Remember that the time to come will help you to grow. One of the most difficult things I ever did was to make my first testimony for Christ. Today it is the most delightful of all privileges. My first prayer was a cross indeed. Now it is no more a cross to me to ask my Heavenly Father for what I need than it is to my children to make known their wants to their father. In early experience I feared to speak to others about their souls. My alarm now is lest some men or women who ought to be spoken to should escape me. Begin tonight if you love the good! My last question is, who will begin? Who will commence now? Who will accept salvation in Gods season? To-day is the day of salvation.

Sometime ago I was on a Chicago and Alton train, and fell in with the man who was then its superintendenta noble man indeed. He told me the story of his conversion. Some Y. M. C. A. men years before had come to the shop where he was working and had held meetings, and pled with the men who were there to accept Christ as their Saviour that night. They went to an Opera House and held similar meetings. He was affected in the meeting. Next night his conviction deepened. He went home, read the paper in silence, turned out the lights and went to bed. Finally he said to his wife, Wife, why cant we be Christians? And I want to tell you men, if you dont mean business about this matter of serving God, never make such a proposition to your wife, for, God bless her, she will respond and say, We ought, we can, and if you will consent, we will. This mans wife replied, I wish we were. I want to be. Cant we be to-night? Cant you pray, husband? 1 dont know how, he said. I dont think I can. Well, she said, you get down and Ill try. So they stole down to the bedside, and there in the darkness they joined hands, and she prayed. Years before they had stood at the marriage altar, and the preacher had made them one, but their better wedding never occurred until that night when God, by His Holy Spirit, joined their souls in Christ Jesus.

Oh, I wish you could have heard him! His face was all aglow; a fine fervor seemed pulsing through his whole life, as he said, I owe everything to that hour, Mr. Riley. God just took me up. He has made me all I am. He has given me all I have, and there are few happier men this side of Heaven.

Such decisions are glorious. They are grand in their infinite reach. They project the soul into the current of eternal joys.

Aggasiz, we are told, stood on a spot in the Alps where he could cast a chip one way, and the little brook bore it off to the Black Sea by way of the Danube. And he could cast another the other way and it would be borne out to the beautiful Mediterranean, by the Rhone. You stand on a similar eminence. Tonight you can cast your soul into the current that will land it in the Black Sea of Death, and you can, if you willGod help youcast it into that current of righteousness that will carry you on and out into the Mediterranean of Gods mercy and love.

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

(21) Be not overcome of evil, but . . .A fine sentiment. The infliction of vengeance is not a sign of strength, but of weakness. To repress the desire for revenge is to gain a victory over self, which is not only nobler in itself, but will also be much more effectual. It will disarm the enemy, and turn him into a friend.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

21. Overcome evil with good And so you will not only become a true Christian avenger, but a true Christian conqueror. It is wonderful how often love is wiser than wisdom or cunning; disarming its foes and winning its way by animating every body with the spirit to give it its way. We doubt not that Paul, with all the severity which his love sometimes wore, especially in the present epistle, often triumphed by the blessed sorcery of love.

Paul has now in this chapter organized the unity of his Roman Church, with faith in Christ for its basis, and love for its central and vital principle. How shall it deal with the powers of the world? The next chapter will show.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘Do not become overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.’

If a Christian responds to evil by doing evil, he has been ‘overcome by evil’. It has brought him down to the level of the other person. He has been defeated. But if he responds by doing good then he overcomes evil. And not only does he then triumph over evil, he might also triumph over his enemy by bringing him to repentance. There are few who, having a kindness shown to them, do not respond by being ashamed.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Rom 12:21 . Comprehensive summary of Rom 12:19-20 . “ Be not overcome (carried away to revenge and retaliation) by evil (which is committed against thee), but overcome by the good (which thou showest to thine enemy) the evil ” bringing about the result that the enemy, put to shame by thy noble spirit, ceases to act malignantly against thee and becomes thy friend. “Vincit malos pertinax bonitas,” Seneca, de benef . vii. 31. Comp. de ira , ii. 32; Valer. Max. iv. 2, 4. On the other hand, Soph. El . 308 f.: | . We may add the appropriate remark of Erasmus on the style of expression throughout the chapter: “ Comparibus membris et incisis, similiter cadentibus ac desinentibus sic totus sermo modulatus est, ut nulla cantio possit esse jucundior .”

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 1910
OVERCOMING EVIL WITH GOOD

Rom 12:21. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

THE writings of the Old Testament exhibit a system of morals incomparably superior to any that was ever promulgated by the wisest philosophers. In extent it equals the New Testament. It is quite a mistake to say that our Lord inculcated sublimer morals than ever had been revealed before: he only removed the false glosses by which the commands of God had been obscured, and enforced the observance of those commands by motives of a higher nature. Still however it must be confessed, that the New Testament brings the sublimer precepts more clearly into view, and expatiates upon them in a more authoritative and convincing manner. This appears in the injunction before us, which is as concise, as comprehensive, as forcible, as words could express it.
In discoursing upon this precept we shall endeavour to mark,

I.

Its import

The evil here spoken of does not relate to sin, but to suffering; and comprehends all those injuries, whether real or imaginary, which we are called to endure. In reference to this, two questions arise:

1.

When may we be said to be overcome by it?

[We are not overcome by evil merely because we are crushed by it; for St. Paul, when pressed out of measure by his troubles in Asia, thanks God for enabling him always to triumph in Christ [Note: 2Co 1:8; 2Co 2:14.]: and declares that while we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter, we may be more than conquerors [Note: Rom 8:36-37.]. But we are then vanquished by it, when we are diverted by it from the path of duty.

Suppose on account of the trial being exceeding heavy, we are tempted to doubt whether it can, or will, be overruled for our good: then we are vanquished; because we question the truth of God, who has said, that all things should work together for his peoples good: our faith has failed, and we are overcome.

Suppose the injury done to us has irritated and inflamed our minds, so that we give way to anger and impatience: then also we are overcome; because we ought to possess out souls in patience [Note: Luk 21:19.], and to let patience have its perfect work, that we may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing [Note: Jam 1:4.].

Suppose, though no particular vehemence shew itself at the time, we yet are induced to harbour secret resentment in our minds against our enemy: then we are overcome; because we should love our enemies [Note: Luk 6:35.], and be more concerned for the evil which they do to their own souls, than for any thing which they do, or can do, to us.

Suppose, either through the fear of evil, or through actual distress, we are induced to relax our zeal in the Lords service, or to make any sinful concessions, then also we are vanquished: for we submit to sin rather than to suffering; we have failed in our integrity; we are overcome. We should value a good conscience more than life itself [Note: Joh 12:25.]; and when we make shipwreck of it, we shew that our enemy has gained the victory over us.

If we hold fast our faith, our patience, our love, our integrity, then are we conquerors, even though we die in the conflict: but if in any of these respects we fail, then are we overcome, even though we crush our adversary, and defeat his more immediate projects.]

2.

How are we to overcome it

[We gain a victory over it in part, when we do not suffer it to injure our souls. But we must not be contented with such a negative triumph; we should endeavour to overcome the hostility of our enemy; and this can be effected only by returns of good. If he curse, we must bless; if he despitefully use us and persecute us, we must pity him and pray for him [Note: Mat 5:44.]. If he hunger, we must feed him; if he thirst, we must give him drink; with all the tenderness and compassion that we would to a querulous and untoward infant [Note: means, Feed him as an infant. Rom 12:20.]. We shall in this way heap coals of fire upon his head, to melt him into love [Note: Rom 12:20.]. It is true, many are so obdurate, that no returns of good can ever dissolve their hearts: yet the effect of such persevering kindness, is inconceivably great, and will sometimes extort confessions of our innocence, even from the most infuriated enemies. We can scarcely find in the annals of the world a more cruel or inverate enemy than Saul; yet Davids repeated exercises of forbearance and kindness towards him constrained him to confess his own wickedness, and the distinguished excellence of the person whom he persecuted [Note: 1Sa 24:10-11; 1Sa 24:16-18; 1Sa 26:21.]. Such a victory as that is greater than the most successful warrior could ever boast: and we should aim at similar conquests: we should strive, not to crush our enemy by force, but to overcome his enmity by love.]

We cannot dismiss such an important precept as this without endeavouring more distinctly to set before you,

II.

Its excellence

The moment that the precept is presented to the mind we cannot fail of admiring its simplicity, and, at the same time, its depth. But that our views of it may be more distinct, we observe,

1.

It counteracts all our evil propensities

[When we are injured or insulted, what a tumult of passion is apt to arise in our breast; and how ready are we to render evil for evil! If we forbear avenging ourselves at the time either by word or deed, we still feel a disposition to retaliate, and are ready to wreak our vengeance upon our adversary by private complaints of his conduct, though from prudence or timidity we do not maintain a contest with him to his face. Long and bitter are the resentments of many, even while they appear to be reconciled, and perhaps delude themselves with the confidence that they have forgiven their enemy. But this precept lays the axe to the root of all secret animosity as well as open hostility. It goes not to the act merely, but to the principle; it requires that all the enmity that is in our hearts should be slain; and that love alone should reign there. Were this once effected, there is not an evil in the soul which would not have received its death wound: for love is the fulfilling of the law.]

2.

It assimilates us to Jesus Christ

[To what an extent has our blessed Lord carried this principle! When we were his enemies, yea, when the whole universe were up in arms against him, he did not execute upon us the vengeance we deserved, but came down from heaven to convert and save us. And by what means did he propose to save us? Was it by a mere act of power? No: it was by bearing our sins, and dying in our stead. What astonishing love was this! But further, when he had come into the world, and his people with one voice had put him to death, still, so far from bearing resentment against them in his heart, he, after he had risen from the dead, commanded that his Gospel should he preached first of all in that city where he had been crucified, and that the offers of salvation should be first made to the very people who had imbrued their hands in his blood [Note: Luk 24:47.]. And how glorious were the triumphs of his love! By the very first sermon that was preached in his name, three thousand of his enemies were convinced of their wickedness, and brought to repentance. Similar to this was the mercy he vouchsafed to the persecuting, blaspheming Saul: he appeared to him in the midst of his mad career, and, by this transcendent act of love, changed a bitter and cruel enemy into a holy and active Apostle. Thus he overcame evil with good; and in proportion as we imitate his conduct we shall be transformed into his likeness.]

3.

It would make a very heaven upon earth

[What a very hell is this world, where the passions are let loose, and men are left to perpetrate all that is in their hearts! Even under the restraint of wholesome laws there are so many quarrels generated, and so many resentments harboured, that there is scarcely a society or a family in which real harmony prevails. But if this precept were universally obeyed, how different a world would this appear? From the combating of evil with love, there would soon be no evil to contend with: for certainly they who rendered nothing but good unto their enemies, would never render evil to their friends; or if any unintentional evil were done, the very remembrance of it would be quickly lost in returns of love. O blessed state! When shall the happy time arrive, when the wolf and the lamb shall thus dwell together, and the child shall have no ill to fear when playing on the hole of the asp, or of the cockatrice den? Surely this may well be called, The reign of Christ upon earth; for it will be the brightest image of heaven, or rather heaven itself come down on earth.]

As a further improvement of this precept, we shall.
1.

Guard it

[We are not to imagine that this precept requires us to renounce our civil rights; for St. Paul, on proper occasions, asserted his rights as a Roman citizen [Note: Act 16:37; Act 22:25; Act 25:10-11.]: nor does an obedience to it preclude the exercise of legitimate authority; for the magistrate would have been invested with power to no purpose, if he were not allowed to exercise it in the support of virtue and the punishment of vice [Note: Rom 13:4.]. Parents, masters, ministers, must exercise the authority committed to them. It is the vindictive disposition that is forbidden, and the unwearied exercise of love that is inculcated ]

2.

Enforce it

[Many arguments will arise in our corrupt minds against the discharge of this sublime and self-denying duty. The persons who have used us ill, do not deserve kind treatment; and the exercise of continued kindness to them will only encourage them to proceed in their injurious conduct; whereas a proper display of spirit on our part will tend to intimidate and restrain them. This may appear to be just reasoning; but it is directly contrary to Gods command. We are not to consider what others deserve to suffer, but what we are required to do. As to the use that others will make of our kindness, that is no concern of ours; we have only to obey God, and leave all events to him. To yield, to turn the left cheek to him that smites us on the right, and to return good for evil, may sound to us as hard sayings; but they are the path of duty, of honour, and of happiness ]

3.

Give directions for the performance of it

[Get a deep sense of your own vileness.When you are thoroughly sensible how many talents you owe to your Heavenly Master, you will not very readily take your fellow-servant by the throat for the few pence that he may owe to you.

Contemplate frequently the mercy which Christ has vouchsafed, and is daily vouchsafing, to you.How will this put you to shame, when you feel the risings of anger or revenge against even your bitterest enemy! Surely you will fall upon your knees before God, and pray for grace to forgive others even as God for Christs sake hath forgiven you: and that not thrice, or seven times, but seventy times seven.

Be much in prayer to God for the assistance of his Holy Spirit.Without his aid you can do nothing: but there is nothing so great, which you shall not be able to do through Christ strengthening you [Note: Php 4:13.].]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

REFLECTIONS

Precious Lord Jesus! in the unceasing view of thee, and thy living sacrifice, through the mercies of Covenant-love, oh! may I be enabled to come daily, hourly, to the throne of grace, and present myself in thy holiness, for acceptance before God, as the reasonably service of thy redeemed. And do thou Lord, grant me grace, to be daily, hourly, weaning from a world, from which I am momently departing, that I may no longer be conformed to it, but transformed, by the renewing of my mind, in the unceasing renewings of the Holy Ghost. Yes! thou dear Lord! through thee I shall prove my membership in Christ, and with his Church, in the exercise of all those sweet graces thy servant Apostle hath enumerated. And do thou, my honored Lord, so help me on by thy gracious, unceasing manifestations, through the whole of my walk and conversation while here below, that I may daily feel my need of thee, and daily act every grace upon thee, and by thee. Surely, Lord! grace is kept alive by grace received from my Lord. And, if my Lord will give my poor soul out of his rich fulness, grace for grace, then will his grace be manifested in all my life and conversation. Living upon Christ, walking with Christ, and receiving from Christ, then will all the fruits and effects of his grace be holiness, and Christ my portion forever.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Ver. 21. Be not overcome ] In rixa is inferior est, qui victor est, saith Basil. In revenge of injuries, he is the loser that gets the better. Hence the apostle disgraceth it, by a word that signifieth disgrace or loss of victory, , 1Co 6:7 . When any one provokes us, we use to say, We will be even with him. There is a way whereby we may be, not even with him, but above him; that is, forgive him, feed him with the best morsels, feed him indulgently (so the apostle’s word in the former verse signifies), feast him, as Elisha did his persecutors; providing a table for them, who had provided a grave for him. “Set bread and water before them,” saith he, and mark what followed; “The bands of Syria came no more after that time,” by way of ambush or inroad, “into the bounds of Israel,” 2Ki 6:22-23 . In doing some good to our enemies (saith a grave divine hereupon) we do most to ourselves: God cannot but love in us that imitation of his mercy, who bids his sun to shine on the wicked and unthankful also; and his love is never fruitless. It is not like the winter sun that gives little heat, but like the sun in his strength, that warms and works effectually upon the rest of the creatures.

But overcome evil ] This is the most noble victory. Thus David overcame Saul, and Henry VII, emperor of Germany, overcame the priest that poisoned him at the sacrament; for he pardoned him, and bade him be packing. (Fanc. Chron.) So did not Jacup the Persian king, who perceiving himself poisoned by his adulterous wife, enforced her to drink of the same cup; and because he would be sure she should not escape, with his own hand he struck off her head. (Turkish Hist.) But this (to say truth) was not revenge, but justice. Henry IV of France was wont to say, that he made all the days of those golden, who had most offended him; that so, the lead of their wickedness might be darkened by the gold of his goodness.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

21 .] If you suffered yourselves to be provoked to revenge, you would be yielding to the enemy, overcome by that which is evil: do not thus, but in this, and in all things, overcome the evil (in others) by your good .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Rom 12:21 . : the absence of any connecting particle gives the last verse the character of a summary: in a word, be not overcome by evil. = by the evil your enemy inflicts. The Christian would be overcome by evil if it were able to compel him to avenge himself by repaying it in kind. Wrong is not defeated but doubly victorious when it is repelled with its own weapons; we can only overcome it through the good we do to our adversary, turning him so from an enemy into a friend. Vincit malos , says Seneca, pertinax bonitas: Wetst. accumulates similar examples from classical writers. The in is probably = : it might be explained as instrumental, or rendered “at the cost of”.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

21.] If you suffered yourselves to be provoked to revenge, you would be yielding to the enemy,-overcome by that which is evil: do not thus,-but in this, and in all things, overcome the evil (in others) by your good.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Rom 12:21. , be not overcome) in the middle voice. They, whom the world consider to be conquerors, are in reality conquered.-) by the evil, of your enemy, and of your own nature.-, overcome) He is a brave man, who can endure.- , evil with good) So also ch. Rom 13:3-4, with which there is a charming connection.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Rom 12:21

Rom 12:21

Be not overcome of evil,-Do not let evil done you so overcome you as to lead you to do evil in return. If you suffer yourself to be provoked to revenge, you will be yielding to the enemy-overcome by that which is evil.

but overcome evil with good.-[When you meet evil with good, you have at least overcome evil in yourself, if not in your enemy.]

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

The Polemics of Christianity

Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.Rom 12:21

This description of Christian warfare, of what may be called the Apostles rule of polemics or doing battle, is well worthy of its place at the close of his great summary of Christian duties. Be not overcome of evilbe not conquered by evil (so we might more faithfully render it)be not conquered by evil, but conquer evil by good. The Apostle here, as so often elsewhere, has before his mind the image of the Christian soldier. Nothing shows more completely how in his time, peaceful as it was, the military character of the Roman Empire filled the whole horizon of the ordinary thoughts and topics of men than the Apostles constant allusions to the armourthe sword, the shield, the helmetthe battle, the conquest, the triumph. They show this, and they show that he did not shrink from using these images, even for the most peaceful, for the most solemn, for the most sacred purposes; they show that he was not in his Epistles a different man from what he was in common life; that the sights and sounds which filled his eyes and ears in the world around him were not forgotten when he took the parchment scroll, and bade his companion write down at his dictation the words which were to comfort and strengthen, not the Roman Christians of his own time only, but the whole Church of God for ever.

We shall deal with the subject in two parts. Let us take them in the order of the text.

I.The Power of Evil.

II.The Power of Good.

I

The Power of Evil

i. What is Evil?

1. We should observe in the first place the immediate object of St. Pauls prohibition. What is the particular form of evil against which he directs this warning? It is the evil of giving way to a spirit of revenge. This prohibition does not mean that no power of correction is committed to man. In the opening verses of the very next chapter we are told that an earthly ruler is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Distinguish between administration of punishment for offences against the law of God or man and infliction of chastisement through personal anger or some personal offence. The Son of Man, who never avenged Himself, by word or deed, upon those who injured or insulted Him, yet, on occasion, took upon Himself the office of avenger, visiting with His severest condemnation the profaners of His Fathers Temple, and upbraiding with the bitterest censure the hypocrisy and essential worldliness of the religious leaders of His day. As is the Master, such must the servants be. Let us reserve our indignation (a gift of God) for the condemnation of sin. Let us bear with meekness whatever slights or insults are aimed at ourselves.

Christianity is reproached because it has brought little that is new into the sphere of morals. That is quite a gratuitous impeachment. Our Lords method of dealing with evil, for instance, is startlingly new. Before He came the world knew no other way of treating evil than by reprisal and retribution; pains and penalties were the only remedies known to the rulers and judges of the earth. The Incarnation disclosed to the world a new and an amazing thought: for the mailed fist it substituted the pierced hand. Henceforth error and unrighteousness were to be antagonized by knowledge, long-suffering, sympathy, and forgiveness. On these lines our Lord taught, and thus personally He dealt with the provocations of His contemporaries. His disciples drank in His spirit, imitated His example, and taught His doctrine. The contrast between the truculent systems of the ancient world and the mild programme of the Gospel is complete. Ye have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: but I say unto you, Resist not him that is evil: but whosoever smiteth thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. The originality of this ethic is incomparable.1 [Note: W. L. Watkinson.]

2. But there is an extended application to the words of the text. The inspired maxim includes all forms of evil, and there is no form of evil by which we are to allow ourselves to be overcome. What, then, is evil? How can we define it? Evil, like good, is one of those very wide and comprehensive words which, when we want to put our ideas into shape and order, urgently require definition, and which, nevertheless, by reason of their very width and comprehensiveness, almost refuse to be defined. But let us go to the root of the matter. What is evil in its root? Simply this. It is unregulated desire. Desire is that quality in men which corresponds to gravitation in the physical bodies, which, while all is well with us, keeps us moving around our true centre, the Being of beingsGod. Sin is the free concentration of desire upon some other centre than God, that is, upon some created being; and just as if, in the heavenly spheres, a planet could get detached from its true orbitfrom loyal revolutions around its proper sunand could thus come within the range of other and counteracting attractions, the effect would be vast and irretrievable disaster, so is it in the moral world. Sin is this disorder in the governing desires of the soul, followed by a corresponding disorder in its outward action.

3. Evil is the work not of God but of the creature. God could not directly have created evil without denying Himself. Evil is a result of the abuse of Gods highest gift to created beingstheir free will. Evil is the creature repudiating the law of its being by turning away its desire from Him who is the source, the centre, the end of its existence. If it be urged that God, in making man free, must have foreseen that man would thus abuse his freedom, it must be replied that Gods horizons are wider than ours, and that we may not unreasonably believe that He foresaw, in the very cure of evil, a good which would more than compensate for its existencethat, as the Apostle puts it, if sin abounded grace would much more abound.

Every one knows that microbes are a cause of disease. It is a great wonder, seeing that there are so many microbes about, that we keep as well as we do. But the reason why we keep well has been explained. In Pasteurs laboratory in Paris a Russian physiologist named Metschnikoff has found out the secret, and he tells us how it is they are not so deadly as otherwise they might be. He has proved that certain cells contained in the blood, now called phagocytes, commonly known as the white corpuscles of the blood, have the power of independent motion. That is to say, they not only travel with the blood as it flows through the arteries and veins, but they can go anywhere in the body if they so choose. These phagocytes wander about in the blood, even make their way inside the tissue, and, wonderful to relate, they pursue, devour, and digest these deadly disease-producing microbes. They are like guardian angels of the body. Now there is something very similar going on in our spiritual life. St. Paul said: When I would do good, evil is present with me. We have all felt like that, and we all have the same war going on in our inmost being. When we disobey God, we always know what we ought to dothere is the good voice struggling to warn and crush the bad tendency. Conscience is a fine phagocyte. Listen to it always, and the deadly microbe of wrong-doing will soon be overtaken and slain. Your souls life will thus become healthy, strong, and noble.1 [Note: J. Learmount.]

ii. The warning

Be not overcome of evil. Those words contain at once a warning of danger and an encouragement to resistance. They assume, as all Scripture does, that there is such a thing as evil, that it is around us, that contact with it is inevitable, that defeat and ruin by it are not impossible. It would be a shallow and a false philosophy, it would be a treacherous and apostate religion which should attempt to conceal this from us, or to tell us that the hard, narrow, up-hill path to heaven is smooth, and easy and strewn with roses. To our first parents the school of evil was Paradise itself. Esau was bred in the noble simplicity of the patriarchs tent; the sons of Eli within the curtains of Gods bright sanctuary; Manasses in the pure palace of a royal saint; Judas among the chosen ones of the heavenly Kingdom, and in daily intercourse with the Son of God Himself. Yet what became of them? Esau grew into a coarse, sensual hunter; the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; Manasses was a foul apostate; and for Judas, the thief, the traitor, the son of perdition, it were better that he had not been born. So it is Gods will that man should be liable everywhere to the possibilities of evil. Butresist the devil, and he will flee from you.

1. Now, with regard to the particular case in point, St. Paul meant that we are overcome by evil whenever we yield to revenge, or become indifferent to the good and the welfare of those who do us wrong. If we say (or even think), Its no concern of mine. Let him reap as he has sown, let him look after himself, for to his own master he stands or falls, we forget that, in a real sense, we are all our brothers keepers; not the keepers of their consciencesand we may not presume to dictate to them what they should believe, or what they should dobut we are their keepers in the sense that we are bound to help them, and as we have opportunity, to work that which is good toward them; and above all things to aid them in the conquest of their faults, whatever they may do to us.

What is it to be overcome of evil? Generally speaking it is just to suffer evil to lead us into evil. Evil for evil, we say; that is, revenge wrong by wrong. We have an example of this in the history of Tamerlane the Great, king of the Tartars, who reigned over the greater part of Western Asia some six hundred years ago. In the battle of Angora, which was fought in the year 1402, he defeated and took captive Bajazet, the king of the Turks. At first he treated the fallen monarch with great consideration and showed him much kindness. One day, however, entering into conversation with him, he asked, Now, king, tell me freely and truly what thou wouldst have done to me had I fallen into thy power. Bajazet, who had a most fierce and implacable disposition, answered, Had God given unto me the victory I would have enclosed thee in an iron cage and carried thee about with me as a spectacle of derision to the world. Then Tamerlane, in a flame of passion, said, Thou proud man, as thou wouldst have done with me, even so shall I do with thee. And he was as goodor should I say as bad?as his word. A strong iron cage was made, and Bajazet was for three years carried about in the train of his conqueror, until at last, hearing that he was to be borne into Tartary, he struck his head violently against the iron bars and so put an end to his miserable existence. Now we see in this story how the conqueror became the conquered; the victor was changed into the vanquished. For Tamerlane was overcome of evil. His character would have appeared much nobler had he said to Bajazet, I will treat thee much better than thou wouldst treat me: thou wouldst expose me to shame, but I will advance thee to honour.1 [Note: J. Aitchison.]

2. There are, however, other evils to which this maxim applies. We are not to be overcome of evil as we see it in society, in the tendencies at work around us; neither are we to be overcome by it as it exists within ourselves, in the habits we may have formed. Are we not all at times the victims of these? It may be the outbreak of a fiery temper, or the querulousness of a discontented soul, the suspiciousness of an uncharitable heart, the jealousy of a selfish spirit, the rashness of ungenerous judgment, or the sordidness of a worldly nature.

3. Now who of us will not admit that he has at some time or other been overcome by such things? Yes, this is part of the warfare. We may have been overcome, but we are never to be beaten by them, or to despair of the conquest of such faults. St. Paul says nothing about the length of the contest, but in the ultimate issue we must be the victors, not the vanquished. Sin gets into our lives, and it is a blessed thing for us that, even after sin has conquered us, it is possible for us by Gods mercy to conquer it in the end. We may lose a battle but need not lose the war, for we can repent. What is repentance? Being sorry for sin? No, not exactly. It means thinking again. Second thoughts are best, says the proverb. And repentance means second thoughts. Whenever we sin we think foolishly and wickedly; we deceive ourselves. When we repent we think better of it; we think wisely and rightly. And when by a foolish, wicked thought we allow sin to conquer us, we still can by means of repentancethe second wise thoughts that God always gives to those who will take themdrive out sin again.

Some time ago a little girl went into a room where a table was laid for dinner. Among other things there was a plate of oranges. The little girl felt tempted to take one of these, and she let herself be conquered by the wicked thought. She walked up to the table and took one, and then, not knowing that she was being watched all the time, went out of the room. But in a few minutes the one who was watching saw her come back. She walked quickly to the table and put the orange she had stolen back in its place, saying as she did so Sold again, Satan!2 [Note: J. M. Gibbon.]

II

The Power of Good

Overcome evil with goodis this possible and practicable? Certainly. And no other method of overcoming evil is either possible or practicable. We may suppress it by force, but it remains evil still; it is not overcome. We may deprive it of its power of action, but it still exists; it is not overcome. We may frighten or flatter it into submission, but we do not thereby conquer it. We may shut our eyes to its presence, and imagine that it has ceased to be, but for all that it is powerful still, as we may soon find to our cost. Evil is overcome only when he who has been overcome by it renounces it and allies himself with good.

i. Good must win

1. God is the perfect goodness, and every good influence comes from God, therefore, however great the force of evil, good is always stronger than evil. But this is not all. The idea of God as the embodiment of abstract goodness will not materially help us in the battle of life. Sin is evil, and we feel its presence; and we need more than a mere ideal of abstract goodness to overcome the evil. But God has not left us thus blindly to feel after the good. Where sin abounded, grace did abound more exceedingly. We shall be able to lay hold of the power of goodness by recognizing that the peculiar self-utterance of God is Jesus Christ, and that Jesus Christ is the embodiment of a universal sonship, and therefore that the overcoming principle is in us and in all men, and, being Divine, is ultimately irresistible.

2. It is not enough to rely on the good within ourselves; we must look to the good without ourselves. What that highest good is, we all know. But do we sufficiently remember how in the thought of that highest good, in the communion with God in Christ, lies not only our peace and safety, but our victory over evil? In earthly warfare, we know well that, however courageous may be the host, they must have a leader in whom to trust. And so it is in our spiritual warfare; we must have the example and the encouragement of the just and good who have gone before us. But, above all, we must look to Him who is called Jesusthat is, our Joshua, our Conqueror, our victorious Leader, the Captain of our salvation, the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

It is told of the Emperor Constantine, that he, the founder of the first Christian Empire, the first of Christian sovereigns, was converted to the faith of Christ by a vision which appeared to him at the head of his armiesa vision of a flaming cross, in the centre of which was written, in almost the very same Greek words as the Apostle here uses: In this conquer, or By this conquer. The story itself is encompassed with doubt, but in a figure it conveys to us a true lesson. In this conquer should still be our motto. In this, in the Cross of Christ, the highest good which God has revealed to man, in this conquer. Conquer, because the Cross of Christ shows us what is Gods love to His creatures. Conquer, because it shows us what is the highest call of man. Conquer, because it shows us the strength and the firmness, the gentleness and mercy, the suffering and the victory in which, and through which, we too are to be victorious.1 [Note: A. P. Stanley.]

Rise, O my soul, with thy desires to heaven,

And with divinest contemplation use

Thy time where times eternity is given,

And let vain thoughts no more thy thoughts abuse;

But down in darkness let them lie:

So live thy better, let thy worse thoughts die!

And thou, my soul, inspired with holy flame,

View and review with most regardful eye

That holy cross, whence thy salvation came,

On which thy Saviour and thy sin did die!

For in that sacred object is much pleasure,

And in that Saviour is my life, my treasure.

To thee, O Jesu! I direct mine eyes,

To thee my hands, to thee my humble knees;

To thee my heart shall offer sacrifice,

To thee my thoughts, who my thoughts only sees.

To thee my self, my self and all I give;

To thee I die, to thee I only live!2 [Note: Sir Walter Raleigh.]

3. The greatest force in the world is good influence. It is encouraging to the weak and erring to know that they may overcome their weaknesses, that there is a power which may be instilled into their lives, giving them strength to resist all the overtures of the Evil One, and to battle against all his assaults. To all those who will let good influence be their guardian angel victory is secured. Right always winsfirst, last, and always right is victorious.

Blessed influence of one true loving human soul on another! Not calculable by algebra, not deducible by logic, but mysterious, effectual, mighty as the hidden process by which the tiny seed is quickened, and bursts forth into tall stem and broad leaf, and glowing tasseled flower. Ideas are often poor ghosts; our sun-filled eyes cannot discern them; they pass athwart us in thin vapour, and cannot make themselves felt. But sometimes they are made flesh; they breathe upon us with warm breath, they touch us with soft responsive hands, they look at us with sad sincere eyes, and speak to us in appealing tones; they are clothed in a living human soul, with all its conflicts, its faith, and its love. Then their presence is a power, then they shake us like a passion, and we are drawn after them with gentle compulsion, as flame is drawn to flame.1 [Note: George Eliot, Janets Repentance.]

Thou must be true thyself,

If thou the true wouldst teach;

Thy soul must overflow, if thou

Anothers soul wouldst reach.

The overflow of heart it needs

To give the lips full speech.

Think truly, and thy thoughts

Shall the worlds famine feed;

Speak truly, and each word of thine

Shall be a fruitful seed;

Live truly, and thy life shall be

A great and noble creed.2 [Note: Horatius Bonar.]

ii. How Good overcomes Evil

We may divide the evil which we have to combat into three classes. (1) There is personal evil, that is evil in ourselves. (2) Then there is the evil of which the text particularly speaks, evil in our neighbourwe might call it domestic evil. (3) And, lastly, there is the evil in the world at large. We may characterize it as public evil. All these forms of evil are to be overcome with good.

1. Personal evil.How shall I overcome evil in myself? I shall overcome it by emphasizing, predicting, calling into operation the good. I will overcome the natural with the spiritual, the temporal with the eternal, the phenomenal with the real; where I find an evil tendency in myself I will instantly call upon the opposite tendency in the Christ nature within me and accentuate it.

(1) Now all personal evil begins in thought, therefore evil thoughts will be overcome by good thoughts. Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honourable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. These thingsis this our way? Is it not rather our unhappy habit to revolve in our thought and imagination whatsoever things are painful, humiliating, ugly, and discouraging? We shall never overcome evil by this fellowship with sin and sadness. We overcome the evil in the good. The cardinal matter is to fix our thoughts and affections on things above, not on things on the earth; we cannot even think of these things without being blessed. The thought of beauty leaves a stain of sweet colour on the soul; to think of greatness is to grow; to muse on purity is to suffer a sea change into the whiteness and preciousness of the pearl.

That useless thoughts spoil all; that the mischief began there; but that we ought to be diligent to reject them as soon as we perceived their impertinence to the matter in hand, or to our salvation; and return to our communion with God.1 [Note: Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, 13.]

You remember that terrible touch in one of our Lords sternest parables, about the evil spirit returning to the house whence he came out, and finding it empty, swept, and garnishedthen goeth he and taketh to himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there, and the last state of that man is worse than the first. What does that empty, swept, and garnished mean? It means that if the heart is not pre-occupied with good, it will be invaded by evil. The labourer who stands idle in the market-place is ever ready to be hired in the devils service. The worm of sin gnaws deepest into the idle heart. But preoccupy your heart with good; preoccupy your time with honest industry, and you are safe.2 [Note: F. W. Farrar.]

She walksthe lady of my delight

A shepherdess of sheep.

Her flocks are thoughts. She keeps them white;

She guards them from the steep.

She feeds them on the fragrant height

And folds them in for sleep.

She roams maternal hills and bright,

Dark valleys safe and deep.

Into that tender breast at night

The chastest stars may peep.

She walksthe lady of my delight

A shepherdess of sheep.

She holds her little thoughts in sight,

Though gay they run and leap.

She is so circumspect and right;

She has her soul to keep.

She walksthe lady of my delight

A shepherdess of sheep.1 [Note: Alice Meynell.]

(2) Let us concentrate our efforts on the good. We overcome the evil in the good. We shall not overcome our personal defects by dwelling upon them, tormenting ourselves on account of them, dealing directly with them, or by attempting singly to uproot them. To overcome this or that failing, we must think of it as little as possible, and as much as we can about the corresponding virtue; weaken the bad side by strengthening the good. Let us frankly recognize whatever grace has done for us, and by fostering it drive out the evil. Cherish the good thought, forward the generous impulse, follow out the upward-seeking desire; starve the roots of bitterness, smother them, choke them, drive them out by flowers of grace, fruits of light, and plants of Gods right-hand planting.

Mr. Kay Robinson, the naturalist, describes a competition witnessed by him in the fields. Owing to a peculiarity of weather, the poppies had managed to get a start of an inch or so in the matter of height over the wheat and barley, and the obnoxious flowers were just beginning to burst into bloom that would have converted the stunted grain into lakes of scarlet, when down came the rain; in a single day and night the wheat shot up above the poppies, and for the rest of the season the poisonous things were overwhelmed in a wavy sea of prosperous green and yellow gold. A similar competition is going on between our good and our bad qualities; it is a rivalry between the wheat and the tares as to which shall get on top and smother the other. What is the true course to adopt whilst this struggle proceeds? It is to concentrate ourselves on the corn.1 [Note: W. L. Watkinson.]

2. In dealing with domestic evilthat which we see and deplore in our immediate neighbourhoodthe text must furnish guidance. The faults and follies of husband, wife, children, companions, servants, neighbours occasion frequent and sincere distress. How are these lapses to be effectually combated? Not by good advice even, much less by scorn and contempt. Verbal censure and social penalty do not largely avail against the evils which trouble our environment; the effectual remedy is unspeakably more costly. Our guilty neighbours must see in us the virtues they lack. Embodied excellence is to do the whole work of rebuking and charming, dispensing with eloquence, whether sacred or profane.

On the walls of a chamber of great beauty in the Alhambra this sentence is inscribed: Look attentively at my elegance, and thou wilt reap the advantage of a commentary on decoration. The variety, loveliness, and harmony of the architecture of that chamber are themselves a commentary on decoration and render literary criticism and description superfluous. In like manner the fine character and blameless doing of the Christian are a commentary on nobleness, rendering argument and expostulation unnecessary. Offending neighbours see how awful goodness is, and virtue in her shape how lovely, and words can add nothing to this incarnation of the true and beautiful.1 [Note: W. L. Watkinson.]

On his first entry upon the field of responsible life, he had formed a serious and solemn engagement with a friendI suppose it was Hope-Scottthat each would devote himself to active service in some branch of religious work. He could not, without treason to his gifts, go forth like Selwyn or Patteson to Melanesia to convert the savages. He sought a missionary-field at home, and he found it among the unfortunate ministers to the great sin of great cities. In these humane efforts at reclamation he persevered all through his life, fearless of misconstruction, fearless of the levity or baseness of mens tongues, regardless almost of the possible mischiefs to the public policies that depended on him. Greville tells the story how in 1853 a man made an attempt one night to extort money from Mr. Gladstone, then in office as Chancellor of the Exchequer, by threats of exposure; and how he instantly gave the offender into custody, and met the case at the police office. Greville could not complete the story. The man was committed for trial. Mr. Gladstone directed his solicitors to see the accused was properly defended. He was convicted and sent to prison. By and by Mr. Gladstone inquired from the governor of the prison how the delinquent was conducting himself. The report being satisfactory, he next wrote to Lord Palmerston, then at the Home Office, asking that the prisoner should be let out. There was no worldly wisdom in it, we all know. But then, what are people Christians for?1 [Note: Morley, Life of Gladstone, iii. 419.]

Nothing more entices charity than to be first in the exercise of it. Dost thou desire to be loved? Love then.2 [Note: Augustine, De Catech. Rud.]

I have read a story of a certain Chinese Emperor, that he was informed that his enemies had raised an insurrection in one of his distant provinces. On hearing this he said to his officers, Come, follow me, and we will quickly destroy them. He marched forward, and the rebels submitted upon his approach. All now thought that he would take his revenge, but were surprised to see the captives treated with mildness and humanity. How, cried the first minister, is this the manner in which you fulfil your promise? Your royal word was given that your enemies should be destroyed; and, behold! you have pardoned them all, and even caressed some of them. I promised, replied the Emperor, to destroy my enemies. I have fulfilled my word; for see, they are enemies no longer; I have made friends of them.3 [Note: F. H. Robarts.]

There is a power for victory in the simple might of goodness. It was with this power that Dr. Arnold overcame lying at Rugby. It is no use, they said, telling a lie to the Doctor, he always believes you.

Old books tell us of a place in Arabia where roses grow so thickly that when the wind blows over them it gets so full of the sweet smells as to kill the lions in the desert beyond. Of course that is not true as a fact. There is no such place in Arabia. But it is true as a parable. You can kill lions with roses.4 [Note: J. M. Gibbon.]

Be good at the depths of you, and you will discover that those who surround you will be good even to the same depths. Nothing responds more infallibly to the secret cry of goodness than the secret cry of goodness that is near. While you are actively good in the invisible, all those who approach you will unconsciously do things that they could not do by the side of any other man. Therein lies a force that has no name; a spiritual rivalry that knows no resistance. It is as though this were the actual place where is the sensitive spot of our soul; for there are souls that seem to have forgotten their existence, and to have renounced everything that enables them to rise; but, once touched here, they all draw themselves erect; and in the Divine plains of the secret goodness the most humble souls cannot endure defeat.1 [Note: Maurice Maeterlinck.]

3. The effectual way to subdue public evil is the strategy of the text.

(1) We do not really overcome evil by substituting one evil for another, or by setting one evil to drive out another. Scientists neutralize one kind of microbe by introducing another, and sometimes, it would seem, they introduce one disease to expel another; but manuvres have little place in the moral world. Statesmen will attempt to end an evil practice or institution by introducing it in a different shape, as the Siamese are said to domesticate spiders to drive out cockroaches; the profit of such devices, however, is generally dubious. Whatever the endless shifts and compromises of politics may be worth, they do not belong to the invincible strategy whenever they propose to vanquish evil by evil. Christianity implies a profounder process.

Your fire will not put out your companions fire; rather will they combine, and make a bigger and hotter blaze. Good arguments are best pressed home by soft words, and a righteous cause will be better pleaded with meekness than with passion. You remember how Jephthahs roughness to the Ephraimites, who were angry because they were not asked to help in the battle against their countrys enemies, exasperated them further, and led to a terrible strife between brethren, in which thousands of lives were lost. And, on the other hand, you remember how the wise Gideon treated the same Ephraimites on a similar occasion; how he spoke gently to them, and made flattering excuses, and so pacified them that they gladly gave their help against the common foe.2 [Note: H. Macmillan.]

The African is now appreciating the fact that there is industrial work for him to do, that he is needed for the work, and able to do it. The missionaries had lately to refuse over one hundred and twenty who wished to be trained as carpenters. We are told that in Ngoniland education is to-day as much prized as in Great Britain. The Ngoni lived as wolves among sheep till they were tamed by the messengers of Jesus Christ. Give me a Gospel for an assegai, one of them said to the missionary, as the love of war has been taken out of my heart.1 [Note: James Wells, Stewart of Lovedale, 145.]

(2) We shall not overcome evil by the representation of it. Ghastly things are represented in art on the plea that they will disgust. The stark expression of naturalism in literature is excused on the ground that its loathsomeness is discredited by being described. And the drama pictures vice and violence with moral design. No mistake can be greater. Wickedness at once repels and fascinates, too often in the end proving contagious and destructive. It is infectious to represent evil, often dangerous to talk of it, and even an injustice to ourselves to figure it in fancy. The morbid element in life must be dealt with in art and literature; but it ought to be described, delineated, and dramatized with utmost reticence.

To make our idea of morality centre on forbidden acts is to defile the imagination and to introduce into our judgments of our fellow-men a secret element of gusto. If a thing is wrong for us, we should not dwell upon the thought of it; or we shall soon dwell upon it with inverted pleasure.2 [Note: R. L. Stevenson, A Christmas Sermon.]

The fabled basilisk was said to perish if it saw itself in a mirror; it could not survive the sight of its own hideousness. Evil is not killed in this way. It feeds on the vision. With regard to the spirit of terrible cruelty which marked the Renaissance in Italy, Symonds traces it to the influence of the fiendish atrocities of the tyrant Ezzelino. In vain was the humanity of the race revolted by the hideous spectacle. It laid a deep hold upon the Italian imagination, and by the glamour of loathing that has strength to fascinate, proved in the end contagious.3 [Note: W. L. Watkinson.]

An artist one day visited a friend of his, an undergraduate at Oxford. As he looked round upon the walls of his young friends rooms, and saw the gross and sordid prints and photographs, the artists heart went out in eager longing to purify the thought and sanctify the passion of his young friend. A day or so afterwards, a beautiful picture came addressed to the Oxford undergraduate with a little note enclosed from his artist friend: Hang this up in your room, it will banish the chorus girls and the jockeys. And it did!1 [Note: W. S. Kelynack, in The Young Man, March 1911.]

(3) Evil is not overcome by denunciation. It is surprising how much efficacy is supposed to go with denunciation. Real, constructive, aggressive good is of far greater significance than eloquent invective; such invective has its place, but it must be accompanied by active practical effort, or it effects little more than summer lightning.

Carlyle, in his review of Elliott, the Corn-Law Rhymer, has a most instructive passage. We could truly wish to see such a mind as his engaged rather in considering what, in his own sphere, could be done, than what, in his own or other spheres, ought to be destroyed; rather in producing or preserving the True, than in mangling and slashing asunder the False. But denunciatory rhetoric is so much easier and cheaper than good works, and proves a popular temptation. Yet it is far better to light the candle than to curse the darkness.2 [Note: W. L. Watkinson.]

The Polemics of Christianity

Literature

Aitchison (J.), The Childrens Own, 154.

Cronshaw (H. P.), in Sermons for the People, New Ser., ii. 59.

Farrar (F. W.), In the Days of thy Youth, 139.

Gibbon (J. M.), In the Days of Youth, 82.

Greer (D. H.), From Things to God, 82.

Knight (W.), Things New and Old, 183.

Learmount (J.), Fifty-Two Sundays with the Children, 230.

Liddon (H. P.), Christmastide in St. Pauls, 387.

Liddon (H. P.), Forty Sermons Selected from the Penny Pulpit, i. 504.

Maclaren (A.), Expositions: Romans, 300.

Macmillan (H.), The Daisies of Nazareth, 170.

Robarts (F. H.), Sunday Morning Talks, 70.

Sauter (B.), The Sunday Epistles, 70.

Stanley (A. P.), Canterbury Sermons, 275.

Watkinson (W. L.), The Supreme Conquest, 218.

West (R. A.), The Greatest Things in the World, 18.

Wilberforce (B.), Following on to Know the Lord, 99.

Christian World Pulpit, liv. 116 (Welldon); lxx. 86 (Watkinson); lxxvii. 28 (Scholes).

Contemporary Pulpit, 1st Ser., v. 50 (Hutton).

Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible

Pro 16:32, Luk 6:27-30, 1Pe 3:9

Reciprocal: Gen 50:21 – I will nourish Num 12:13 – General Num 16:47 – and ran 1Sa 24:17 – thou hast 1Sa 25:21 – he hath requited 1Sa 30:11 – gave him 2Sa 19:43 – the words 1Ki 13:6 – besought 2Ki 6:22 – set bread 2Ch 28:10 – not with 2Ch 28:15 – gave them Pro 25:21 – General Isa 58:7 – to deal Mat 5:44 – General Mat 18:15 – thou hast Mat 18:22 – but Luk 9:56 – And Luk 22:51 – And he Joh 5:34 – that Rom 12:14 – General Eph 4:32 – forgiving

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

:21

Rom 12:21. In the conflict between evil and good, let the disciple of Christ so conduct himself that he will be the conqueror and win the battle for the good. This is virtually the same thought as that in the preceding verse.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Rom 12:21. Be not overcome by evil, i.e., injury done you, but overcome evil with good. This sums up the entire matter respecting the treatment of adversaries: When we requite evil for evil, we are overcome, when we return good for evil, we overcome it. So Christ did on the cross. When we do this, we achieve the greatest victory of love: we win by yielding; we gain by giving; we avenge by forgiving; we conquer by forgetting ourselves so as to return good for evil. Men whose minds can withstand argument, and whose hearts rebel against threats, are not proof against the persuasive influence of unfeigned love; there is, therefore, no more important collateral reason for being good, than that it increases our power to do good. (Hodge.)

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Learn hence, That every Christian should not only take heed that he be not overcome of evil; but also labour and endeavour what in him lieth to overcome evil with good.

Question What are we to understand here by evil?

Answer Any unkind or injurious dealings from others, any mischief or ill turn which our neighbour has done us.

Question What is it to be overcome of evil?

Answer 1. When we dwell in our thoughts too much, too often, and too long, upon the injuries and unkindnesses we have met with. This is, as if a man that was to take down a bitter pill should be continually chomping of it, and rolling it under his tongue.

2. We are overcome of evil, when we are brought over to commit the same evil, by studying to make spiteful returns by way of revenge for the injuries we have received.

Question Wherein consists the duty and excellency of overcoming evil with good?

Answer It renders us like to God, who does good to us daily, though we do evil against him continually, hereby we imitate God in one of the choicest perfections of his divine nature; hereby we overcome ourselves; hereby we overcome our enemies; and make them become our friends.

Question How should we overcome evil with good?

Answer By doing good for evil, by returning courtesies for injuries, speaking well of others, although they speak hardly, yea, very ill of us.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Rom 12:21. Be not overcome of evil As all are who avenge themselves; but Even if you see no present fruit, yet persevere; and overcome evil with good Conquer your enemies with kindness and patience, which is the most glorious victory, and a victory which may certainly be obtained, if you have the courage to adhere to that which, being good, is always in its own nature, on the whole, invincible, to whatever present disadvantage it may seem obnoxious. Blackwall, after having praised the language in which this precept is delivered, adds, This is a noble strain of Christian courage, prudence, and goodness, that nothing in Epictetus, Plutarch, or Antonine, can vie with. The moralists and heroes of paganism could not write and act to the height of this.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Vv. 21. To render evil for evil, is to let evil have the victory; to confine oneself to not rendering evil is, if it may be so said, neither to be conqueror nor conquered, though in reality this also is to be conquered. The true victory over evil consists in transforming a hostile relation into one of love by the magnanimity of the benefits bestowed. Thereby it is that good has the last word, that evil itself serves it as an instrument: such is the masterpiece of love.

Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)

Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. [Evil is the weak weapon of the sinner; goodness, the puissant, all-conquering blade of the saint. What shame, then, if the saint lose in the unequal conflict! “Thus David overcame Saul” (Trapp). “In revenge,” says Basil, “he is the loser who is the victor.” When evil leads us to do evil, then are we overcome of evil. When we meet evil with good, we have at least overcome the evil in ourselves, if not in our enemy.]

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

21. Be not overcome of evil, but conquer evil with good. Your enemy has nothing but an old wooden sword that would break if he were to hit you with it; while you have a Jerusalem blade of shining steel, sharp as lightning and potent as dynamite. So you have nothing to do but use your own weapon, Gods blessed word, truth, grace, love and philanthropy, and you knock your enemy into smithereens, and transform him into a friend ready to die for you. I have seen this wonderfully verified a thousand times.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Paul again concluded with a summary. Being overcome by evil means giving in to the temptation to pay back evil for evil. When people do wrong, they expect to receive evil from those they have wronged. When they receive kindness instead, their hard hearts often become softer. The best way to get rid of an enemy is to turn him or her into a friend. [Note: Bruce, p. 218.]

There is a progression in Rom 12:9-21. Paul moved from the Christian’s duty to his fellow believers to action that would affect non-Christians as well. However all that Paul wrote in Rom 12:3-21 is directly applicable to life within the body of Christ. The believer may encounter enemies there as well as in the world.

The general nature of the commands in this pericope illustrates the essentially gracious character of the new covenant Law of Christ (Gal 6:2) under which Christians now live. Compare this with the legal nature of the commands in the Mosaic Law (cf. Rom 10:4). God gave the Israelites many explicit commands about how they were to behave in a multitude of specific situations. The commands in Rom 12:9-21, as well as in all the New Testament, are much more general and are similar to principles. This is one reason the New Testament writers said the Israelites lived under "law" and we live under "grace."

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)