Question on Romans 12:20

[Pressing-On]

Originally Posted by houston

Isn’t that what people feel, though. When offending or doing something against someone and they bless you... I know, I know. Y’all are saints.

Well, bless your heart.

And, Yes, that is an example of the negative side of Romans 12:20.

[votivesoul]

I don't see an issue with the idea of bringing someone to shame over their bad behavior.

It's all in the motive. If someone reads Romans 12:20 and thinks in his or her heart, "I'm going to be really nice to this person so I can make them feel humiliated for their bad behavior toward me..." when then, that person has their reward.

But for the saint who justly and kindly refuses to reciprocate bad behavior out of a genuine motive of love and Christian ethics, eventually causes the person to feel bad about how they've treated the saint, and so, the "coals of fire" leads to remorse, then it's a good thing, I think.

[votivesoul]

This is from Robertson’s Word Pictures of the New Testament Bible by A. T. Robertson, the premier Koine Greek scholar of the late 19th and early 20th century.

His comments regarding Romans 12:20 are as follows (copied and pasted directly from e-sword):

Romans 12:20

- Feed him (psōmize auton). Quotation from lxx text of Proverbs 25:21f. Present active imperative of verb from psōmos, a morsel, and so to feed crumbs to babies, then to feed in general. In N.T. only here and 1Co_13:3.

- Thou shalt heap (sōreuseis). Future active of old verb sōreuō from sōros, a heap. In N.T. only here and 2Ti_3:6.

- Coals of fire (anthrakas puros). That is, burning or live coals.
Anthrax (our “anthracite”) is an old word, only here in N.T. It is a metaphor for keen anguish.

[votivesoul]

In the Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary of the Bible, their entry for Romans 12:20 looks like this:

Romans 12:20

- if thine enemy hunger, etc. — This is taken from Pro_25:21, Pro_25:22, which without doubt supplied the basis of those lofty precepts on that subject which form the culminating point of the Sermon on the Mount.

- in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head — As the heaping of “coals of fire” is in the Old Testament the figurative expression of divine vengeance (Psa_140:10; Psa_11:6, etc.), the true sense of these words seems to be, “That will be the most effectual vengeance - a vengeance under which he will be fain to bend” (So Alford, Hodge, etc.). Rom_12:21 confirms this.

[Ferd]

I really like this thread not sure I have much to add, but this is really good stuff!