“Bless those who persecute you; bless and curse not….Never pay back evil for evil to anyone…..Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written,  ” ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. ‘ But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.’ ” Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good.

Romans 12: 14, 17, 19-21

Jesus makes it very clear that we, as God’s children, are to be like and imitate our perfect Father in heaven.  God wants to manifest Himself in us and show His character through us.  He never tells US to behave in a way that He does not behave.  So when Jesus commands us to “love our enemies, and pray for those who persecute us”, as Paul echoes in Romans, He is telling us that HE loves His enemies, unconditionally, without fail or end, keeping no record of wrongs done against Him. 

So then, how is it that God can put people into hell-eternal torture-for the wrongs against Him? I would say that eternal torture is repaying evil for the evil of man’s sins.  How can WE be commanded to bless and not curse, and overcome evil with good, if God is not doing the same?  This is surely not the imitation Jesus instructed. 

No, God has every intention of repaying, and overcoming, the evil of man with His good, ie, His love, which is the strongest force in the universe.  When Paul says “in so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head”, he is not saying that in a sick, sinister way, as though this passive aggressive behavior of giving to those who are hungry and thirsty really “gives them what they deserve.”  No, what he meant was that your kindness to them will be the good that overcomes their evil:  In that day in time, when someone was poor, they often needed to be given coals to start their own fire to cook with, keep warm, etc.  And the poor man or woman would carry these coals in a basket on his/her head, back to their own home.  It was an act of generousity to give your own coals to someone in need. 

So what about the “wrath” “revenge” and “vengeance” of God?  First of all, the word wrath simply means “passion,” literally “passionate snorting.”  Imagine someone that really loves you watching you do something very harmful to yourself.  They are intensely disturbed by your behavior and might say something like “Oh no, come on! Don’t do that!”  Their displeasure is due to the harm you are doing to yourself, not to them.  They are passionate about your wellbeing and want you to stop behaving in this harmful way, and will take drastic measures to get you back in line.

This is God’s behavior towards those in sin.  His displeasure arises from the harm we are doing to ourselves, not to Him, and He is adamant that we change.  His love for us compels Him to action.  But does His love move Him to torture His enemies?  No, He overcomes his enemies with his love.  “It is the kindness of God that leads to repentence.”  You see, God is the enemy of no one-He has no malice toward any human being, only love.  However, HE has plenty of enemies-plenty of people that hate him, deny Him, and/or ignore Him.  So his “revenge” and His “vengeance” are surely not eternal torture.  Paul IMMEDIATELY explains, after telling us to leave room for GOD to judge people, that in the meantime, we are to show them kindness beyond human terms-to give to them, to go the extra mile with them, in order to show them just how kind our God is.

So when God says to bless and not curse, He does the same.  We do as He does, so that we may be like Him. Jesus said “Be perfect, therefore, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  Indeed, His love is perfect, and never fails.

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