Proverbs 24:29. Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me; I will pay the man back for what he has done.”
Pay back. Getting even. Revenge. When someone hits you, what do you do? Hit them back. Harder. When someone disrespects you, what do you do? You give that disrespect right back. Harder. Gossiped about? Gossip back. Insulted? Insult back? Silent treatment? Two can play at that game.
Pay back is our natural response when we believe that we’ve been hurt by someone else. But Solomon (and the rest of the Bible) will teach us that pay back is foolish. It is simply not wise. Why not? Because it never actually makes our hearts feel better. And it definitely doesn’t solve the problem. It only perpetuates a cycle of revenge where both people keep getting even until things get much, much worse and you end up doing something you will forever regret.
Think about Samson’s never ending cycle of revenge that landed him chained to pillars in a pagan temple. Or the sons of Jacob avenging the dishonoring of their sister, Dinah, by Shechem, without trusting the Lord for justice. And what of Joab, Absalom, Jezebel? Each perpetuated a cycle of violence that ended in death and chaos.
But to forsake payback is never to forsake justice. We must learn to trust God for vengeance and God’s institutions for justice. God has ordained levels of authority on earth. Governments are a gift from God to punish evil and promote the good. The church is where Christians bring their offenses to seek reconciliation. The family must be a place of fair discipline for each child. What if these institutions fail? Then we must find peace in knowing that there will be a final judgment day where all wrongs will be made right.
Jesus took this principle even further. The law and wisdom tell us to forsake revenge. But Christ tells us to seek the good of our enemy. Pay back? No. Do good to them that abuse you. Pray for those that despitefully use you. Do to others what you would want done unto you. Overcome evil with good.
Obviously such a radical ethic is only possible in Christ. Why should we forsake revenge? Well, the world might caution against revenge because a cycle of payback will actually only bring harm to yourself. Revenge will take you to a dark place. It will never actually satisfy. And yes, all of this is true. But this is not Christ’s reasoning. If it were he would have left things where proverbs did – no pay back. The end.
But by taking us into the next step, doing good for our enemy, loving our enemy, praying for our enemy, Jesus is not just using self-protection as the reason to reject revenge. He is calling on us to invoke a supernatural power from inside of us. The power of the indwelling life of Christ. The indwelling love of God. The indwelling reality that nothing that Jesus gives to you can be taken away by someone else. Especially the intangibles. The unconditional love of Christ, the peace and joy that comes with it, these can never be stolen by our enemy. In fact, in a very real way, no enemy has any power over the person in Christ.
So pay back? Pay back for what? What you stole was never mine to hold on to, or it was never truly taken from me in the first place. It is Christ’s or it is still mine in Christ.
You: Do you look to pay people back for the wrongs they’ve done to you?
You in Christ: How does knowing that you are united to Christ allow you to forsake vengeance?
Christ in you: How can you replace vengeance with the love of Christ today? Be specific.
Pray: Father, what you have given to me in Christ no one can take away. I don’t need pay back, I need you. Help me to give forgiveness and kindness instead of revenge. Amen.
To Live is Christ 