Verse 14  "Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not."

 

The Greek word for bless means to "invoke a benediction upon." In other words it means that we should pray for them that persecute us. This is consistent with what the Lord taught in Matt. 5:38=48 "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.

 

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."

While there are others who hate our beliefs and hate our practices and hate the fact that our beliefs and practices conflict with their religious or governmental systems, yet we are not to curse those who curse us nor are we to persecute those who persecute us. The Lord set an example for us. When he was persecuted and beaten at the cross, he prayed for his persecutors. When false accusations were laid against him, he opened not his mouth. Similarly, we are to pray for our persecutors and return not evil for evil. We are to overcome evil with good.

 

Verses 15, 16   5 "Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. 16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits."

"Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep." As children of God we have mixtures of joy and sorrow as we pass through the realm of this life. This is true of all of us. As a natural brother cares for the conditions of his natural family, rejoices with them during their seasons of joy, and sorrows with them during their seasons of sorrow, so it should be in the church family of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. Especially is this true as they are members of the same body. When a member of our natural body hurts, the whole body feels the pain. Likewise, when a member of the church body hurts, so all the church body should feel the pain. Similarly, when a member of the church body rejoices, the whole body can rejoice with that member.

"Be of the same mind one toward another." To be of a same mind indicates a unity. Unity comes to us through the leadership of the Spirit of God and through the teachings of God's word. We are not to be unified in an error. We are to be unified with the truth. Having a mind towards another also indicates having a feeling toward that individual. Love is the feeling that we should have towards the children of God and especially towards the children of God in our local church. This feeling and care for one another should also be expressed "toward" one another by our actions and words. To tell someone we love them is good, but to show that love by our actions is even better. This unity of Spirit, truth, and love should be manifest by all of the members of the body towards all the members of the body.

"Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits." The phrase "high things" comes from the Greek word, "hupselos." This word means to be exalted, lofty, eminent, distinguished. The lesson is that we are not to set our mind to seek to be exalted, lofty, eminent, etc. The word, condescend, comes from the Greek word, "sunapago." Sunapago means to take off together with. The lessons is that we should take off together with the humble and meek in companionship and fellowship.

"Be not wise in your own conceits." We can have an exalted view of ourselves for many reasons. One of the more common reasons that people exalt themselves is that they think themselves to be more knowledgeable and wise than other people. True wisdom comes from God. We should seek to increase in the knowledge of God's word. This is to our benefit to do so. But we should not be exalted in ourselves and think ourselves more knowledgeable and wiser than others. The scriptures teach that God resist the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

Verses 17-21  "Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. 18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. 20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."

In Lev. 24 we read, 19 "And if a man cause a blemish in his neighbour; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him; 20 Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again. 21 And he that killeth a beast, he shall restore it: and he that killeth a man, he shall be put to death." Some have taken this and similar passages of scripture as giving them license to get even for the wrongs that are done to them. However, the context in which this passage is given indicates that it applies to the national government of Israel. Furthermore, we read where God is the judge of all the earth. Also, several times the scriptures teach us that God is just.

God takes care of the judgment of individuals for their trespasses. He has not left this in our hands. We are not the judge of all the earth. We are not the lawgiver and we are not the executioner of justice.

The mentality of getting even is fostered in most cultures and tribes of people. However, this is not the way for a child of God in God's kingdom. We are not to bear grudges. We are to forgive one another their trespasses as God for Christ's sake has forgiven us. We are not to render evil for evil.

There are many who will persecute us when we stand for what is truth and walk uprightly before God and man. There are many who will do evil towards us. But how is this different than the evil we did and expressed towards God in the former walks of our lives? Did God show us mercy or did he exact revenge upon us? He showed us mercy. Likewise, we are to be merciful to others who do us evil.

"Provide things honest in the sight of all men." The word, honest, comes from the Greek word, kalos, which means good, honest, worthy, or well. While we may have people be evil towards us and we have people who are dishonest in their dealings with us or will cheat us or speak evil against us, yet we are not to respond in kind. We are to live our lives as though we are living them for the Lord and presenting our bodies a living sacrifice unto God. We are to do good and be honest in our dealings with others. We are to do good to others, regardless of how they treat us. Furthermore, this is to be the case in the "sight of all men." Sometimes people will behave one way before the preacher and then behave another way when the preacher is not around. Or they may be diligent in their work when the boss is around, yet be lazy and slothful when the boss is not around. We, as the disciples of Christ, are to behave ourselves in the same manner regardless of who is around.

"If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." Sometimes some people will not allow us to live peaceably with them. Yet we are to behave ourselves in such a way, but we are to strive with all of our ability to live peaceably with them. Then when they will not allow us to be peaceable with them, it is not our fault for we have done everything that we can honestly do to live peaceably with them.

"Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." This is written in the Old Testament:

1. Deu 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."

2. Psa 94:1 "O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, show thyself."

Furthermore, we read in the Old Testament that we are not to avenge ourselves: Lev 19:18 "Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD."

David is a good example of someone who refused to avenge himself. Saul had sought to kill David even though David had only done good to Saul and the kingdom. When David had the opportunity to kill Saul, yet he refused to do so for he knew that God would avenge the wrong that Saul had done unto him. Likewise, we should leave vengeance in the hands of the Lord.

"Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." The way the Lord has established that we may overcome evil is to overcome evil with good. Rather than seeking vengeance or repaying evil, we should take every opportunity to good for our enemies. We read this same principle in Prov. 25:21, 22, "If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink: For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward thee." Coals of fire are very hot. The lessons seems to be that in doing good to our enemy that we will strongly convict the conscience of that person to see that his course of action is wrong.