"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."
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Both the fact that this is Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy
Week, and the fact that  Romans 12 is based on Romans 1-11, incline
me to title this message not just “Overcome Evil With Good” as verse
21 says, but “Christ Overcame Evil With Good—Do the Same.” In other
words, I want to stress that what Jesus Christ did in the last days
of his life on earth (Holy Week), and the way Paul describes it in Romans
1-11 are the foundation and the model for how we overcome evil with
good.

“We Are the Disciples of Him, Who Died for His Enemies”

One way to put it is this (I take it from a great commentary on Proverbs
by Charles Bridges, p. 478): “We are the disciples of him, who died
for his enemies.” Are you a Christian? Then you are the follower of
one who died for his enemies. Are you not a Christian? Then
you are being pursued by one who died for his enemies—Jesus Christ.
In fact, your presence here is part of his design to overcome the enmity
between you and him, and bring you to himself.

Paul’s call to us Christians to love our enemies (in Romans 12:20)
and to overcome evil with good (in Romans 12:21) is based on what Christ
did for us. Christ loved his enemies, and (in that way) he overcame
evil with good. Not one of us would be a Christian if Christ had not
loved his enemies and overcome our evil—our insubordination and willfulness
and self-centeredness—with his great good—his death and resurrection.

Romans 5:10 makes this crystal clear: “If while we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that
we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” Once there was enmity
between us and God. It came from both sides, ours and his. Our hearts
were willful and rebellious and insubordinate (Romans 8:7; 5:6, 8),
and his wrath was on us because of our rebellion (Romans 1:18; John
3:36; Ephesians 2:3). He was justifiably angry with us, and we deserved
his eternal punishment.

But then there was that trip to Jerusalem. That plan of God. That
face set like flint to go to the inevitable, God-designed, horrible,
glorious events of Holy Week. Three times Jesus predicted it and explained
to his disciples why he was going to Jerusalem—indeed why he had come
to earth. The third time was in Matthew 20 just before the triumphal
entry in Matthew 21. Here’s what he said to his disciples: “See, we
are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over
to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death
and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified,
and he will be raised on the third day” (Matthew 20:18-19).

Only Christ Can Provide an Infinite Ransom for My Infinite
Sin

But why? What was the point of it all? Jesus answers this question
a few verses later just before the triumphal entry into Holy Week. He
said in Matthew 20:28, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to
serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” The meaning of his
death—the meaning of Holy Week—was ransom. This was no ordinary death.
This death of the Son of Man and the Son of God was ransom!—a
payment made to set people free from the deadly power of sin. Christ
overcame the evil of our sin with the good of his own death and resurrection.
“While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his
Son.” Reconciled by the payment of a ransom.

My debt to God was infinite. I had sinned against the infinitely
holy and just and good God. For me to repay the debt of this offense
would take an eternity in hell. Psalm 49:7-8 says, “Truly no man can
ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom
of their life is costly and can never suffice.” You can’t ransom yourself
from sin, and no man can ransom you. This is the mistake of all the
religions of the world. All of them try to find ways for man to ransom
himself. God says it cannot be done. “Truly no man can ransom another,
or give to God the price of his life.”

But then in verse 15 that Psalm says, “But God will ransom my soul
from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me.” Mere man could never
pay an infinite ransom. But God can. And now we know how God did it.
He did it during Holy Week. He did it by sending his Son, who was man—yes,
to be sure, a man—but Oh so much more than a mere man. He was the God-man.
In him all the fullness of deity dwelled bodily (Colossians 2:9). He
was the God-Man. And therefore he could, and he did, pay the ransom
for all the sins of all the people who would receive him and his forgiveness.

Christ Overcomes Our Evil With His Good in Two Ways

And when Christ died as the ransom for all who believe, he broke
the chains of sin and death that held them captive. He overcame evil
with good. He overcame the evil of sin and rebellion and insubordination
with the good of his death and resurrection. He didn’t overcome evil
with persuasive words. He didn’t talk people out of sinning. He didn’t
persuade people to change. This was not first a moral transformation.
First, it was a legal justification. Because Christ paid what needed
to be paid, the verdict came down from the Judge of the universe: Righteous!
All debts paid. This was a legal transaction between God and the Son
of God which we enjoy by faith.

And then, and only then, when we are declared righteous because of
Christ, does the moral transformation begin. So Christ overcomes our
evil with his good in two ways, and they happen in order and are not
the same. First, he overcame our evil by doing for us what we could
never do for ourselves—he satisfied the demands of God on our behalf.
He paid our ransom. The perfect divine-human life has been lived and
sacrificed. Because of that we are now righteous in God’s eyes. The
debt is paid. The title to heaven is clear. And now—and only now—our
moral transformation begins. This too is Christ’s work. By his Spirit
he comes and on the basis of his blood he begins to liberate us from
the evil of our own bad behaviors and attitudes.

That is the foundation of Romans 12:20-21. It’s
all rooted in what
happened in Holy Week—the climax and the killing of the perfect life
as a ransom for his enemies. “We are the disciples of him who died for
his enemies.” So now God says to his Son’s disciples, “’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.’ (That’s a
quote from Proverbs 25:22.) Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome
evil with good.”

So now we know that this is not a mere call from God to imitate Christ.
It is a call to trust Christ for our own salvation, and then, in the
hope and strength and joy and assurance of that salvation show it to
others by the way we live. Point them to Jesus as the only possible
ransom for their sins—the only one who can pay their debt and overcome
their evil with the good of his own death and resurrection.

“Do Not Be Overcome by Evil, But Overcome Evil With Good”

So what does Paul mean when he says, “Do not be overcome by evil,
but overcome evil with good”? In the context, coming right after saying
be good to your enemy, I think he means “Don’t let your enemy’s hostility
produce hostility in you. But let your love triumph over his hostility.”
Don’t be overcome by evil means. Don’t be overcome by his evil.
Don’t let another person’s evil make you evil. Oh, how crucial that
is.

When you let your adversary make you evil he is the victor. If you
let a person’s sin govern your emotions so that your sinful anger or
your misery or your depression is owing to their evil, then you are
being overcome by evil. And Paul says, You don’t have to be overcome
that way. Paul is addressing here the whole victim mentality of our
day—people who feel or do evil things and then blame it on someone else’s
evil. They let themselves be overcome by someone else’s evil so that
they now do evil also. And then they blame the other person.

But Paul says, Don’t be overcome by evil. Don’t let another person’s
evil provoke you to evil thoughts or evil attitudes or evil deeds. Don’t
give them that kind of power. You don’t have to. Christ is your king.
Christ is your leader, your champion, your treasure. Christ governs
your life, not those who do evil. When someone does evil to you, you
should say, “You are not my Lord. I will not be controlled by you. I
will not have my attitudes and thoughts and actions dictated by your
evil. Christ is my Lord. Christ dictates my attitudes and thoughts and
actions.

Oh how different this is than the way most people react. We let our
emotions and our thoughts and our actions be reflexes to what people
say and do to us. And the corollary is that we can then blame them for
our evil—our anger, our bitterness, our discouragement, our depression,
our vengeance. But Paul says, No. When Christians encounter evil, they
don’t merely respond to evil, they respond to Christ who deals with
the evil. He died for it, or he will punish it in hell. Christ is the
dominant reality in our lives, not other people’s evil. Therefore, do
not be overcome by evil. Do not be governed by it. Do not let your enemy’s
hostility make you hostile.

Rather overcome evil with good. Which, in the context means “let
your love triumph over your enemy’s hostility.” But what does that mean?
Does it mean that, if you give him water when he is thirsty and food
when he is hungry, he will always repent and become your friend? No.
We know Paul doesn’t think that. Jesus’s enemies do not all respond
positively to his love for them. One thief on the cross repented and
the other cursed. Peter repented. Judas hanged himself. The centurion
said, “This was the Son of God.” The Pharisees said good riddance. The
love of Christ does not produce repentance in everyone. And your love
won’t either.

Paul says in verse 18, “If possible, so far as it depends on you,
live peaceably with all.” In other words, you will do everything you
should, and still some will not make peace.

“Overcome Evil With Good”

So what does “overcome evil with good” mean? It means either you
triumph through the repentance of your enemy or you triumph through
the judgment of your enemy. In other words, if you will love your enemy,
and bless those who curse you (v. 14), and not return evil for evil
(v. 17), and not avenge yourselves (v. 19), you will be the overcomer,
the conqueror, the victor no matter how your enemy responds.

We saw this in verse 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’”), and we see it again in verse 20 in the words,
“coals of fire.” “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.”

“You Will Heap Burning Coals on His Head”

What does this mean, “you will heap burning coals on his head”? There
is no evidence that I am aware of that would suggest burning coals heaped
on the head is a symbol of blessing or repentance (which is the way
most people take it). I have heard
people talk about a custom in Bible
times of going to your neighbor when your fire goes out and borrowing
glowing coals and carrying them in a basket on your head back to start
your fire. I can find no evidence of such a practice in Bible times
at all. It seems to me that someone probably made that up to solve this
problem. Nor is there any use of the phrase to refer to remorse or repentance.

On the contrary, every use of terms like “coals of fire” in the Old
Testament and outside the Old Testament is a symbol of divine anger
or punishment or evil passion. The only reason that so many interpreters
give it the meaning of repentance or remorse is because they believe
it fits the context better. So the question is—and you can answer it
as well as a scholar can—is that true?

Verse 14 is clear. Yes, our aim in loving our enemy is to bless him
not curse him. “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse
them.” Our first and most urgent longing for our enemies is that they
be blessed—that they repent and that they trust Christ and that his
ransom pay all their debts and give them salvation. Yes, that is the
goal. It’s the goal of this whole chapter. Live so as to lead people
into an enjoyment of the mercy of God.

But that’s not the whole picture. Because we saw in verse 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.’” This means
that when you love your enemy and they don’t repent and receive the
blessing of your love, evil does not triumph. God’s justice triumphs.
“I will repay says the Lord.” You don’t need to be the judge. God will.
You don’t need to win on earth. God will win for you in the last day.

So when we get to verse 20 and we hear that loving our enemies will
bring “burning coals on their head,” there are two realities in this
context, not just one. One is mercy and blessing if they repent. And
the other is justice and wrath if they don’t. I am saying that “you
will heap burning coals on his head” refers more naturally to the justice
reality, not the mercy reality.

Here is a passage that helps us see the way love works with judgment,
Romans 2:4-5. Watch the effect of God’s love for his enemies when it
is rejected. The result is very much like coals of fire.

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and
patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
⁵ But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath
for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will
be revealed.

This is the way God’s love works for his enemies, and it is the way
our love works for our enemies. Our desire is that they would repent
and come to a knowledge of the truth. But if they don’t, the very love
that we are showing increases the weight of wrath on their head. The
more of God’s mercy that people reject, the more wrath they heap up
upon themselves.

And so it is with you and the enemies you love: the more mercy they
reject, the more coals of fire will be heaped on their head. This not
our desire or our aim. Our aim is in verse 14: Bless and do not curse.
Pray for your enemies. Be like Paul in Romans 10:1, “My heart's desire
and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.”

For this we are willing to lay down our lives—that our enemies will
be saved. Thousands of missionaries have done it. But what verse 20
is saying is this: If it looks like your love has failed, and instead
of converting your enemy, your enemy kills you, be assured, you have
overcome evil. It has not overcome you. God will have the last word.
Not your enemy. You will be vindicated in the resurrection of the just.
For this Christ died and rose again. For this there was Holy Week, Maundy
Thursday, Good Friday, and especially Easter Sunday.

Be strong, Christians. Don’t be overcome by evil. Overcome evil with
good.