Rules Of Etiquette

Romans – A Treatise
Chapter Twelve
RULES OF CHRISTIAN ETIQUETTE

Scripture Reading: verses 16-19 (Darby translation)

HAVE THE SAME RESPECT ONE FOR ANOTHER, NOT MINDING HIGH THINGS, BUT GOING ALONG WITH THE LOWLY: BE NOT WISE IN YOUR OWN EYES: RECOMPENSING TO NO ONE EVIL FOR EVIL: PROVIDING THINGS HONEST BEFORE ALL MEN: IF POSSIBLE, AS FOR AS DEPENDS ON YOU, LIVING IN PEACE WITH ALL MEN; NOT AVENGING YOURSELVES, BELOVED, BUT GIVE PLACE TO WRATH; FOR IT IS WRITTEN, VENGEANCE [BELONGS] TO ME, I WILL RECOMPENSE, SAITH THE LORD.

We have dwelt at some length on the beauty and practical excellence of the expression at the end of verse 16, “going along with the lowly,” or “Be carried away with the lowly.”¹ The Authorized Version does not provide the true sense of this expression. There it is translated, “condescend to men of low estate.” Actually, there should be no such thing as condescension on the part of a Christian. To condescend to anyone means that there is in us a recognition that they are inferior; that we are to bend low in order to come to an equality with them in a kind of patronizing way. John Darby’s translation makes it clear enough: “going along with the lowly.”

Then verse 17 says, “recompensing to no one evil for evil.”² By nature we all have an impelling tendency to get back at anyone who does evil toward us. As we go through these teachings, keep in mind they are not easy to perform. Christianity was never presented to men as an easy way through life. Christianity is always a great practical adventure and calls for devotion, self-sacrifice, and loyalty to the Lord. The person who can overcome evil with good is truly a victor. The great example in all this is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself who never reviled against His enemies and when He suffered, He threatened not, but committed Himself unto Him that judgeth righteously. In order to put these teachings into practical effect in our lives we must always keep in mind that our Lord is on the throne, His eye is on us and He is supervising every part of the Christian pathway. It makes us sad at heart to realize we still have that evil nature within us; an evil nature that often comes to the front in a tendency to do evil toward others. The truth in Romans twelve is, “I will recompense, saith the Lord.”

Verse 17 goes on: “providing things honest before all men.” The need for maintaining a deportment by men appears for the first time in this chapter. A close parallel is found in 2 Corinthians 8:21: “We take thought for things honorable not only in the sight of the Lord but also in the sight of men.” Such a decent respect to the opinions of mankind was frequently noted by Paul, who commended himself to “every conscience of men” (2 Cor. 4:2), and who required that a Christian elder “must have a good report of those who are without” (1 Tim. 3:7).

We are here presented with a restriction of Christian conduct to exclude anything held to be disreputable, dishonorable, reprehensible, or detestable by human opinion in society as a whole, or as officially expressed through the regulations imposed by government. Illegal activity is forbidden, being here condemned and proscribed, whether or not the law may be based on absolute truth, the mere fact of a thing being illegal under the laws of government being sufficient disqualification to deny it as permissible for a Christian.

Honesty is the basic principle of the Christian faith. It is the first steppingstone on which we must place our feet as we move forward on the Christian path. A dishonest Christian is an incongruity. We need not profess eternal salvation unless we show basic honesty before men. Justification before God depends entirely on faith, but justification before men depends on our works. This is the truth that is insisted upon in James’ Epistle; it is a sterling truth that must never be forgotten. Downright honesty is the first obligation of a Christian. The Scripture says, “owe no man anything, but to love one another.” The only debt that is warranted in this world is the debt of love toward other believers. Reducing this to its practical elements, one might say it would be a tragedy to see a father failing to provide properly for his wife and children, yet going forth to preach the Gospel, expecting the Lord to honor his ministry. His first obligation is to “provide things honest.” If, as a servant of Christ, the Lord does not liberally provide enough for his own family, then he is under obligation to go to work and earn a living. In the same way no Christian woman should neglect her home, allowing it to be untidy and dirty while spending her time reading the Bible or testifying to neighbors. Our first obligation is to put our lives in order on a righteous basis, and having done that, we are then under the further obligation to bear testimony of our faith in the Lord.

Paul then says in verse 18, “If possible, as far as depends on you, living in peace with all men.” To be at peace with all people is conditioned upon the possibility of being so. The subjective impossibility of the Christian being unable to restrain himself, or some such thing, is not under consideration in this verse. The impossibility allowed by Paul as a negation of this precept would lie only in the kind of a situation where truth and sacred duty would require resistance. Under some circumstances, it is impossible to have peace with certain people without sacrificing sacred honor and duty – that is not here enjoined. An apostle said: “The wisdom which is from above is first pure, then peaceable” (James 3:17).

But, while allowing those situations where peace can not be honorably maintained, we should strictly heed the principle of avoiding discord. Christ taught that people should give the cloak also, go the second mile, turn the other cheek, and avoid conflict by any honorable means. What a shameful contrast is the conduct of some people, even alleged Christians, who seem to set their minds on strife, and who, far from avoiding it, actually seek out and enjoy confrontations that lead to bitterness and contention.

Paul’s exhortation is certainly needed today. Too many of us are extremists in our behavior. The Christian camp is largely divided into two groups. On one hand are those who believe in peace at any price, and on the other hand those who are constantly stirring up trouble. This is a verse that emblazons on our hearts: “If possible” – the Spirit of God knows it is not always possible – but “if possible, as far as depends on you, living in peace with all men.” The Christian should be a lover of peace, always careful that nothing he does personally will contribute to turmoil, disagreement and/or controversy. On the other hand, our love of peace should not be promoted by the desire to have an easy path, escaping problems leading to an honorable solution, no matter how difficult the pathway may be.

Then Paul says, “Not avenging yourselves, beloved, but give place to wrath; for it is written, Vengeance [belongs] to me, I will recompense, saith the Lord.” Vengeance is not a Christian prerogative, this being true for a number of reasons, such as: (1) God has forbidden it; (2) it is illegal in any civilized state; and (3) it is contrary to the Christian principle of overcoming evil with good, the latter being the master strategy against evil. The punishment of evil-doers is a prerogative of God and may not be usurped by His children. The quotation here is from Deuteronomy 32:35: “To me belongeth vengeance and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.”

Significantly, Paul did not use the exact words of Deuteronomy, but stated the thought in a form found nowhere else in Holy Scripture except in Hebrews 10:30, where the appearance of exactly the same words strongly suggests Pauline authorship of Hebrews. Of all the people of that generation, who but Paul could have paraphrased a portion of Deuteronomy in exactly the same words? There also seems to be a different meaning from that of Moses, as similarly in other passages of Romans (10:6-8), thus still further tying the peculiar arrangement of these words to Paul. In Deuteronomy, the emphasis is on the occurrence of some disaster, accident, or calamity to check the evil-doer, with the implication that God’s agency might cause such to occur; but here Paul’s thought pointed to the function of the magistrate and the legal system as the agency through which God will execute vengeance upon wrongdoing, which is exactly the subject Paul was about to take up (Rom. 13).³

Whatever is the full meaning of this question, i.e., God taking vengeance upon wicked men, the use of constituted authorities is surely one way it is accomplished; but we believe that God may, for sufficient reason, bring disaster upon a sinner, as implied in the Deuteronomic passage cited above. Also, the final judgment is another theater of God’s vengeance upon the wicked. The fact that God is going to take vengeance is here revealed, as in the Old Testament; and at least three manifestations of that vengeance are visible: (1) in the matter of direct providence (the case of Herod in Acts 12); (2) through legal authorities; and (3) at the final judgment. Also there are possibly other ways in which God executes vengeance which lie totally beyond our human knowledge or understanding. The fact that vengeance will, in fact, be taken is a truth we should hold in humility and awe.

Paul’s teaching in verse 18 is one we should take to heart. Satan is doing his utmost to divide the Lord's people from one another; he is using every occasion to promote his diabolical plans. Never forget that we are living in an age of nervous tension, and perhaps one of Satan’s most cunning devices is to aggravate good people to the point where they will get angry and say things that will dishonor their Lord. No doubt this is one of Satan’s most virulent points of attack, and one requiring the greatest vigilance on our part. Only as true believers in Christ are preserved by the power of God from these pitfalls of the enemy can they maintain a true testimony of the Savior, Jesus Christ.

Yes, there is a day soon coming when everything will be adjusted. The Scripture speaks of it as “the restitution of all things,” and we are encouraged to judge nothing before the time. The Christian must possess patience, not expecting an immediate adjustment of all things that are out of joint and grievously aggravating, but knowing that the Lord’s promise is true: “Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, I will repay.” Evil will not always be on the throne and good on the scaffold as seems to be so often the case in this ungodly world. There will be a judgment, when the deeds done in the body will be appraised and rewards given for good and loss suffered for evil. Yes, there will be a Great White Throne, where the wicked will be judged according to their works. Therefore, may the Lord preserve us from anger in the face of the injustice and wickedness we see around us, remembering that our own hearts are corrupt and we must be constantly preserved by the power of Christ.

Footnotes:
¹ The high things mentioned in this verse are the so-called high things which constitute the difference between the preferred and neglected Christians, things like wealth, privilege, education, social grace, power, office, and position in the world. Not setting the mind on such things means not being influenced by them and not allowing them to be the basis of one’s attitude toward his brothers in Christ. The certainty of this meaning derives from the second clause in which Paul commanded the Christian to associate with the lowly. Instead of being carried away with admiration of the rich and powerful, Paul said, “Be carried away (this the exact meaning in Greek, see margin) with the lowly.”
² The child of God may not set himself to “get even” with another, nor retaliate in kind against any who might slight or wrong him. The one who receives the Lord upon the inner throne of his life and yields to the Divine Will will return good for evil, bless them that curse, and do good to them that despitefully use him. Such reaction to evil is the grand strategy of God who will overcome evil with good; and the announcement of that strategy, to be made at the end of the chapter, had been in Paul’s mind throughout the enumeration of the admonitions listed here. This has no reference at all to the duty of a magistrate commissioned under the law to render the required penalty against an evil doer as the just recompense of a crime. John Murray (The Epistle to the Romans, Vol. II, p. 137) stated that “Misunderstanding of these admonitions arises from a failure to see that they are concerned with our private, individual, personal relations lo one another and not with magisterial and judicial administration. It is noteworthy that the apostle proceeds immediately after these admonitions to deal with the prerogatives and functions of the magistrate and therefore with the civil, judicial, and penal institution. To the magistrate is given the power of the sword to avenge the evil-doer (Rom. 13:4). If he avenges wrongdoing he inflicts the evil of penalty.”
³ R.L. Whiteside (A New Commentary on the Epistle of Paul to Saints in Rome, p. 256) especially understood this to be the case. He said: “To punish evil-doers is God’s prerogative; let him do the punishing in his own appointed way. Paul’s quoting that statement (Deut. 32:35) did not change its meaning nor its application. It does not refer to the vengeance God will take on sinners at the final judgment. Under the law of Moses, God took vengeance upon evil-doers by the agency of chosen authorities. Paul’s quoting that part of the law did not change its application, and the vengeance here mentioned will be taken in the same way. A little later, Paul will show how this is to be done.”