ACC ~ Romans 12 v19

DEALING WITH ANGER. ORIGEN: There are two ways of dealing with the anger which comes when we are offended. The first is to hold back and let it pass, for once the fury of rage has subsided it will not return, and we can learn to swallow it. The second way is to give it to God and store up the wrath against the day of judgment, when God will reward each person according to his works. For if we avenge ourselves, there is not much we can do apart from demanding an eye for an eye or a tooth for a tooth, or else insulting others as they have insulted us. But if we reserve these things to the vengeance of God, he will without doubt punish them far more severely than we ever could. COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

LEAVE IT TO THE WRATH OF GOD. DIODORE: Paul uses the word wrath to describe God’s punishment, not because it is some kind of passion in God but because men would find it difficult to understand God’s judgment if they did not hear it compared to wrath. For since men respond to those who sin against them in wrath and anger, Scripture uses the same words to describe God’s reaction, because then the average person can hear and understand it. PAULINE COMMENTARY FROMTHE GREEK CHURCH.

DO NOT LET ANOTHER’S WRATH DRAW YOU INTO SIN. AMBROSE: This is written lest an-other’s wrath draw you into sin when you want to offer resistance, when you want to be avenged. You can take the fault from him and from yourself if you decide to yield to the other. LETTER 59.

NEVER AVENGE YOURSELVES. AMBROSIASTER: Paul warns us to avoid anger, especially because so often anger is the chief cause of sin. Some-one who is motivated by wrath will demand more than the cause of the sin merits or will put himself out to do more harm while seeking revenge. … In the end he will destroy someone when he could have corrected and restored him instead.

Paul forbids us to seek revenge not only from those under us but also from those who are our equals or superiors. … We are not to seek to avenge ourselves against brethren who may have sinned against us but rather to commit everything to God’s judgment, so that an enemy will find no way of promoting or advancing what is against our interest while we are too angry to notice what is happening.

Paul quotes Proverbs [25:22] to back up his point. If we do not do what God teaches, he will show us contempt. But if we give revenge over to God it benefits us in two ways: it overcomes our anger and tends toward our perfection and justification in God’s sight. COMMENTARY ON PAUL’S EPISTLES.

VENGEANCE IS MINE. CHRYSOSTOM: What the injured man most desires to see is revenge, and God will give it to him in full measure, provided that he does not try to avenge himself. Leave it to God to follow up the wrongs done to you. HOMILIES ON ROMANS 22.

PELAGIUS: I will avenge the wrong, says the Lord, as my own, not as yours. PELAGIUS’S COMMENTARY ON ROMANS.

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