I wanted to let you know that I have added a couple of “pages” to the Blog site in the last few days. These are expositions of the last part of Romans 12, trying to pull out the fundamental truths of the commands Paul gives in that passage and considering how to apply these commands to our lives. The first exposition is called “No Retaliation, No Revenge” (Romans 12:17-19) and talks about the evangelistic tactic of refusing to seek revenge or refusing to consider retaliation when evil is done against you. Why would you refuse to retaliate, when everything inside you wants to pay the other person back? The believer would do this because revenge and retaliation have no gospel value and instead obscure God’s mercy, but refusing these responses may very well open a door to the gospel and lead to a person being reconciled to God. The second exposition is called “If Your Enemy Is Hungry, Feed Him” and covers Romans 12:20-21. Again Paul is urging his readers to consider above all things the priority of the gospel and teaches these Roman believers (and us) that we are to actively seek ways to be kind to those who hate us and who persecute us so that we can have a better platform from which to proclaim the gospel. In other words, as God has gone to radical extremes to reconcile His enemies to Himself, so we who follow Jesus are to go to radical lengths to reconcile man to God through the gospel. The radical means presented in these two verses is that of doing good and being kind to those who are our enemies so that we can present the gospel.
I think you will find the exposition interesting and challenging. Let me know what you think. RMB