To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless; and we toil, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; when we are slandered, we try to conciliate; we have become as the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now. (1.Cor 4:11-13)What Paul is describing here is the application of a proverb that he also quotes in his letter to the Romans. Proverbs 25:21-22 says:
If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; For you will heap burning coals on his head, And the LORD will reward you.Jesus commanded this in the sermon on the mount, when he said
You have heard that it was said, 'AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.' But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you. You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matt 5:38-45)This is not optional behavior for particularly spiritual people. But it is a command, founded in who our Father in heaven is. We are saved today, because God is a God who blesses his enemies. We were enemies, and he blessed us to become his children. Now as children we are to be imitators of him. We are to bear his image in this world, and when we return evil for evil we are presenting an incorrect image of our Father.
Not only that but we make ourselves servants of evil. When we return evil for evil, what is the common thread? Evil! What wins? Evil. What’s missing? Good.
Our Father does good to everyone, and it is not in his nature to do evil. Some times when someone does something evil to us we might feel justified to return the disfavor with a similar evil. This is not of the Holy Spirit. Some times when we’re in a difficult situation we might feel like we have the right to try to solve it in a sinful manner. This does not come from the nature of Christ in us.
Evil is always evil, no matter how justified we might feel in it, and the fact that this is such a strange and foreign concept to us just serves to testify about how much evil still remains in our hearts even after God has redeemed us.
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