Thread: Romans 12:19-20

Romans 12:19-20 ESV
19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”

What do you think is meant by "heap burning coals on his head"?

Originally Posted by DD2009

Romans 12:19-20 ESV
19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.”

What do you think is meant by "heap burning coals on his head"?

IMHO, the phrase "burning coals" can either mean that in our doing good and showing kindness to our enemies, we will shame them. On the other hand, the phrase is used in the OT for punishment (e.g., 2 Sam. 22:13; Ps. 11:6; 18:8, 12-13; 140:10), so it could point back to v. 19. In other words, we are to show kindness to our enemies and not retaliate when they treat us badly. By doing so, we leave room for God's vengeance upon the wicked.

When we don't take vengeance ourselves, we leave room for God's vengeance...which would be the burning coals.

The AV version "coals of fire" became proverbial, and well beyond the narrower community of the Church itself. I think it's generally understood as meaning that forbearance will in the long run cause the other party to feel bad in a way that no amount of retaliation could.
There's a lot of psychological truth in that, though whether it's exactly what Paul had in mind I don't know. I guess it could be?

I was wondering because my understanding of the passage has always been one of the vengence of God as well. However, a missionary to the middle east recently visited our church and said that the bedoin over there told him that placing coals of fire on one's head was a good thing, and is an old saying in the desert.

When a person has no way of lighting a fire in the desert they borrow coals from a neighboring encampment and they carry them in a container that is placed on their head resting on a padding of some sort, so heaping coals of fire upon your enemies head is doing a kind thing to him by keeping his fire lit so he won't starve or freeze....

Has anyone ever heard this before?

I've heard that, David, but not sure if I believe it. At any rate, we can understand the first part of the instruction, right?

Originally Posted by Brad

I've heard that, David, but not sure if I believe it. At any rate, we can understand the first part of the instruction, right?

Right. The first part of the instruction is quite clear.

It seems to me that it supports the missionary's interpretation of the second part. If one were to do good to their enemies in hopes of directing God's vengence upon their enemy then that would be avenging themselves by using God as a tool to output the vengence, which would then contradict the clear teachings of the first part. It seems to me that with the missionary's interpretation this passage teaches a consistant message of genuine care for your enemies as opposed to deceitful care that results in wrath.

To me the saying conveys something like:

It is not your part to avenge wrongs, so leave it to the Lord, whose part it is: your business is to treat your enemy with love, just as you should everyone....and by the way, that course of action will actually in the long run make him feel worse than your retaliation would have (but since it is of the Lord, it will be in a way much more likely to turn to his good)