September 16, 2026
Paul tells Christians not to repay evil with evil. As far as it depends on them, they should live at peace with others and leave vengeance to God. Evil is not overcome by more evil, but by good.
Devotional
There is a moment after we have been hurt when retaliation can feel almost reasonable. We may not be planning anything dramatic. We may simply want the other person to feel what we felt. We want them to understand the embarrassment, the disappointment, the betrayal, or the loss. Somewhere inside us, we want the scales balanced.
Paul understands that impulse, but he tells believers not to repay evil with evil. Notice that he still calls it evil. He does not ask Christians to rename wrongdoing or pretend it did not matter. What he refuses is the idea that another person’s sin gives us permission to become shaped by the same spirit.
That is one of the hardest parts of forgiveness. We want justice, and sometimes we start believing that our peace depends on being the ones who make justice happen. Paul tells us to leave vengeance with God.
That does not mean justice is unimportant. In fact, surrendering vengeance assumes that God cares about justice more deeply and sees more clearly than we do. We are not saying, “Nothing happened.” We are saying, “I will not make myself the final judge.”
There is freedom in that decision. As long as our peace depends on seeing another person pay, our peace remains tied to what happens to them. If they never apologize, never understand, or never face the consequences we think they deserve, then we remain stuck waiting.
When judgment belongs to God, our future no longer has to depend on someone else changing.
Paul ends by telling us to overcome evil with good. That does not mean becoming passive. It means refusing to allow evil to reproduce itself in us. Another person’s cruelty does not have to become our cruelty. Their bitterness does not have to become ours.
Grace gives us another way to live.
Action
Notice where you are still hoping to even the score. Name that desire honestly before God and consciously place judgment back into His hands.
Prayer
Righteous and merciful God, You see every wrong more clearly than I do. You know what was said, what was lost, and what was never made right. Help me trust You with judgment. Keep me from returning evil for evil or allowing another person’s actions to shape my character. Give me courage to pursue what is right without becoming consumed by vengeance, and teach me to overcome evil with the goodness of Christ. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Thought for the Day
I can release vengeance because justice ultimately belongs to God.
Romans 12 does not tell us to call evil good. It tells us not to become what hurt us. We can pursue what is right while leaving personal vengeance in God’s hands.
