Verse 21
Paul again concluded with a summary. Being overcome by evil means giving in to the temptation to pay back evil for evil. When people do wrong, they expect to receive evil from those they have wronged. When they receive kindness instead, their hard hearts often become softer. The best way to get rid of an enemy is to turn him or her into a friend. [Note: Bruce, p. 218.]
There is a progression in Romans 12:9-21. Paul moved from the Christian’s duty to his fellow believers to action that would affect non-Christians as well. However all that Paul wrote in Romans 12:3-21 is directly applicable to life within the body of Christ. The believer may encounter enemies there as well as in the world.
The general nature of the commands in this pericope illustrates the essentially gracious character of the new covenant Law of Christ (Galatians 6:2) under which Christians now live. Compare this with the legal nature of the commands in the Mosaic Law (cf. Romans 10:4). God gave the Israelites many explicit commands about how they were to behave in a multitude of specific situations. The commands in Romans 12:9-21, as well as in all the New Testament, are much more general and are similar to principles. This is one reason the New Testament writers said the Israelites lived under "law" and we live under "grace."
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