Leaving Vengeance to God: examination of Roman 12:19 within context

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to understand the concept of' leaving vengeance to God' as stipulated by Paul in Rom. 12:19. This purpose consisted in a threefold endeavor: (1) to examine why vengeance--which is in fact a negative act--stands prohibited for the believer but accepted if God is the one who executes it; (2) due to the fact that Paul infers his words from Deut. 32:35, it has been necessary to examine the concept of 'leaving vengeance to God' in the Old Testament, but also in other contexts that are deemed to have had a certain influence on Paul, i.e., the Near Eastern culture, Judaism, and the Greco-Roman culture; (3) to draw the theological teaching that Paul is making in commanding the believer to leave vengeance to God. The approach used in the study comprised syntactical analysis, relative word study, and socio-historical use of the concept. The study was a literary research. Thus the method adopted has fostered an interaction of the writer and library resources, i.e., books and articles of joumals. The study has revealed that all the contexts examined have a tendency to take for granted the punishing of evil deeds, and that God (god) is the primary avenger. This fact that vengeance is the prerogative of God is especially emphasized in the biblical account. In the Old Testament, the God of Israel is a personality who avenges himself, avenges his people and mandates his servants to exercise vengeance. God appears as the source of any legitimate vengeance. As a God approved practice, vengeance in the Hebrew Bible had a noble purpose. Education was its primary aim. Because of this educational aim, vengeance was then enacted publicly. Private vengeance was strongly prohibited. It was the civil organs that had God's mandate to punish those who had wronged the right and dignity of other people. It is noted that the Old Testament shares most of these traits on vengeange with other cultures that had a historical connection with the Bible. Therefore, in Rom. 12:19 Paul perpetuated a concept of divine vengeance that was already rooted in the cultures that influenced his life. But ajoint study of Deut. 32:35 and Rom. 12:19 showed that the apostle draws a specific theological teaching. His point is that God stands as the avenger of the believer because all evil is primarily against God, even if it is done against the believer. He perceives an identification between the believer and God: persecuting a believer equals persecuting his/her Lord (Acts 9:4). But beyond this identification, the context of Rom. 12:19 gives to non-vengeance a kerygmatic importance. Paul places abstinence from vengeance at the heart of the fight between good and evil. Non-vengeance stands as a weapon for overcoming evil and bringing evildoers to God. In Paul's thought, repaying good for evil is a powerful act that can stir in the evildoer a painful feeling of shame that can bring him l her to repentance. But abstaining from avenging one's right is not an easy attitude. From the context of Rom. 12 and Romans in general, the apostle gives the foundation on which non vengeance stands: The power of repaying good for evil resides in the fact that it is a self-giving act (Rom. 12:1) done to one's enemy, which exemplifies the self-giving love of Jesus (Rom. 5:8, 10). So it requires a special relationship with God. For, only a person transformed by God (Rom. 12:2) and endowed with his strength can put in action Paul's injunction of leaving vengeance to God.