Romans 12:17-21

The context

After eleven chapters of argument, Paul turns to exhortation. The section begins with bodies offered as living sacrifices and a renewed mind, then moves through humility, gifts, hospitality, and the treatment of enemies. Verses seventeen to twenty-one close that sequence with a refusal of retaliation.

What it establishes

It establishes personal non-retaliation and the transfer of vengeance to God, together with a qualified commitment to peace: as far as it depends on you. The command to feed a hungry enemy is the concrete form the refusal takes.

What it does not establish

It does not settle the state's use of force. Paul addresses the conduct of believers toward those who wrong them, and he treats governing authority separately in the next chapter. Nor does it forbid seeking lawful remedy for injustice; the passage is about personal revenge, which it names and removes.

Short note, first pass, October 2026. Corrections welcome.

Cited in these answers

• How would you respond to Victor Stenger's assertion that religious argument leads universally to dismal failure and untold suffering?

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