Vengeance

We should obey laws without question, right?

When the question comes up as to what should be done about unjust government and unjust law, and abuses of authority, invariably some kind soul will point us to the 13th chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans, which says:

Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.

Romans 13:1-2 (KJV, of course)

This is then interpreted to mean that …

• We should carefully follow all laws and every regulation made by government and their agents, officials, agencies and brokers (these being the “higher powers”, you see – higher than us, and therefore the subject of this verse.)
• That if we disobey a law, fail to fulfil a regulation, or so much as squeak a word of objection against some odious provision, God himself will destroy us (that’s the “damnation”, you see)

This is hogwash. Hogwash is what you get when you wash a pig: the water washes over a pig, and this teaching to obey the government in all things is what comes off.

Let’s take a step back, and read the context: this is not a free-standing discussion of the topic of bad government, but it is a part of a larger discussion of something different.

Personal vengeance must defer to government vengeance

The fuller context of this quote is a discussion of personal vengeance: taking revenge for some wrong — sorting things out for yourself, by striking at your adversary, either as an individual, or as a group. This context is not completely obvious, because the chapter break is in the middle of the topic:

Here’s the full passage, with the bits referring to vengeance highlighted:

¹⁷ 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.
^13:1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.
² Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.
³ For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
⁴ For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
⁵ Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
⁶ For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.

Romans 12:17-13:6

This is a lesson about living as a Christian, and not being wise in your own conceits (your own dumb ideas that don’t relate to the real world). Verse by verse it says:

• 12:17 Don’t lash out at someone that wrongs you
• 12:19 Don’t take revenge against someone that wrongs you
• 12:19 Taking vengeance is not for us, but for the Lord
• 13:3 It is not you, but rulers that must terrorise evildoers
• 13:4 The task of rulers is to take revenge for God, and execute wrath on evildoers
• 13:6 The task of rulers is funded by taxes, and it is their only job (taking revenge on evildoers)

So what about Romans 13:1?

• “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.” That means that we must leave off our own wrath and vengeance in subjection to the properly appointed powers that should handle wrath and vengeance: the rulers, who are God’s agents. God is the highest power, and he has delegated his power for vengeance to rulers.
• “For there is no power but of God:” This means that no man can get into a position where he is to execute wrath and vengeance on evildoers apart from the will of God.
• “the powers that be are ordained of God.” This means that you can observe what powers currently exist to dispense wrath and vengeance, and know that these are the properly appointed powers that God has put in place. He has chosen the existence of rulers for this purpose.

This passage then tells us that if a Christian is inclined to take revenge, he should rather rely on human rulers (the higher powers) to lawfully protect him by taking revenge on his behalf. This means that unjust vengeance is not permitted to Christians, such as Lamech’s violence against a young man that hurt him. This means that even when we have just cause for vengeance, the execution of this vengeance falls upon the power that God has ordained: rulers that are a terror to evildoers. As Christians, we expect and require from our rulers that they take vengeance against evildoers on our behalf.

What government should do

Some examples of how rulers should be a terror to workers of evil:

• If someone has committed unlawful mischief against me, a ruler must execute wrath upon the evildoer, covering his back with stripes corresponding with the severity of his misdeed. The evildoer is in terror of the pain that he will suffer.
• If my goods have been stolen, the ruler must return them to me at the thief’s expense, with some compensation. The evildoer is in terror of losing his ill gotten gains, and even his hard-won work.
• If a capital crime has been committed – a murder, a kidnapping, a rape, adultery, or some abomination has been done – the rulers must execute wrath on the doer of the evil, taking away his life from the face of the earth. The evildoer is in terror of death and hell, and every evildoer that considers doing likewise is in the same terror.

Much as the rulers are obligated to God to do the work for which they are appointed, they are not obligated to me. I am not in a position to command them: they are not my servants, but the servants of God (his ministers), and they attend to the punishment of evildoers according to God’s ordinance, not mine. I plead for justice, but God requires them to do justice. I have full confidence that they will do their work as ordained by God. If they will not, then they can expect to deal with God that appointed them. If they will not, then that’s also the modern day.

What of evil rulers?

It is common cause that in modern times that rulers have no interest in the task that God has ordained them to do. They absolutely refuse to be a terror to evildoers Instead it is common to find rulers that protect evildoers, while terrorising good works. Lately they also terrorise all that reprove evil. This is a great evil: they are ordained to restrain wickedness by God, but they instead let wickedness run freely, and boldly promote wrongdoing. They hold the position, but they refuse to do the work.

In addition, modern rulers energetically punish any person that will do the work of justice instead of them, for “taking the law into his own hands” — because that is a great evil: taking the task of being a terror to the evil out of the hands of the lazy slobs that refuse to do it. They are actually correct that people should not do this — this is the message of Romans 12 to 13 — but they are wrong when they suppose that they are innocent while they fail to do their work. They neither do justice, and they prevent those that would do justice.

Each member of the ruling party, each judge, and each police and prisons offer should consider that he is occupying a position that God has ordained for the terror of evildoers, and that he will be held to account for his performance of this task. Currently the task is being done so poorly that this accounting must necessarily be unpleasant for every single person involved. Almost every single person in these seats is unqualified to do the job, and if qualified, then the job is being done without fidelity. If there are exceptions, good for them.

Punishment replaced by prevention and regulation

In South Africa, we supposedly have the following systems for punishing evildoers:

• The police: supposedly they catch evildoers, and deliver them to the courts. Actually, they catch only regular citizens, and the lowest class of criminal. Sober criminals can do as they please for a long time. And that’s before we consider corruption.
• The courts: supposedly they will decide on the appropriate punishment for evildoers, but in practice, they simply don’t. Rich evildoers can game the system almost indefinitely. Some that do actual crimes are actually selected for punishment after an insanely long time, but this does not help at all. Those that commit petty crimes are not flogged or made to pay restitution, but instead are subject to the most cruel and degrading form of punishment imaginable:
• The prisons: supposedly they will rehabilitate evildoers, but actually they provide lifetime protection for those that have done capital crimes (murderers, sodomites, rapists, kidnappers), and then allow those evil doers to commit unspeakable evils on all that pass through their doors.
• Parliament: supposedly they make laws that will restrain the hand of evil in our country. They do no such thing: instead they decree unjust laws and endless regulations about how free men should behave: a licence for every single that does not require a licence, and the freedom for every low official to shape his own law to his liking.

The modern trend in law is not that the law sets a punishment for an evil, but rather that the law sets out a list of regulations about how things should be done, by which they hope to provide an environment in which evil works don’t happen. Generally these regulations provide means for the confiscation of all of the goods of a good citizen and the destruction of his livelihood, but do not at all deter the criminal class from their misdeeds.

• Instead of punishing murders, regulations limit the distribution of useful weapons. The result is that only people with nothing to lose commit murders.
• Instead of punishing killers in automobiles, there is a dizzying set of regulations for road safety, and violators of these regulations are punished, without anyone actually being harmed.
• Instead of thieves being punished, citizens are made to pay insurance to have some semblance of security in their posessions.
• Instead of the punishment of evildoers, they have prisons for the supposed “rehabilitation” of evildoers: no wrath is executed, but the evildoer is temporarily put in confinement with the very worst that humanity can produce in order to teach him the error of his ways. The result is that people with nothing to lose learn more and more dangerous and evil ways.

Vengeance on wicked government

The old testament bears ample witness that God raises up men to punish evil rulers, and nations to punish errant nations. He sets up kings and removes them, and he uproots nations for their wickedness. If a nation under an evil ruler seeks his face, he will often deliver them from the evil rulers, by providing them a saviour: and the saviour generally goes about and slays the evil rulers as his first official act.

Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt, and Pharoah perished with his army and his nation was destroyed. Ehud slew Eglon king of Moab, and set the people free from the wicked law that they were under. Jehu killed Ahab’s family, and friends, and all the prophets of Baal. The wicked nation of Israel was carried away by the Assyrians. The wicked nation of Judah was carried away by the king of Babylon, and he executed justice on the wicked king Zechariah:

So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him. And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon.

2 Kings 25:6-7

Just as God has ordained rulers to do wrath on those that do evil, if those rulers do evil, and make wicked laws, God will ordain someone to do wrath on them. They may hold themselves innocent, but they are not. They may claim that they have the mandate of heaven, but they do not. They may claim that wrath on them is against law, against regulations, against coventants, against constitutions, against treaties — and it may be — but it will be too late, and the new ruler will make new laws.

So what do we do?

Doing justice is not our problem. This is the government’s problem. We get to cry to God for justice, and he will not make us wait long. We are not about to suffer wrath and vengeance. God is going to bring justice to his own when they ask him.

As we are here at the end of the world, we are faced with judges and rulers that have no fear of God, and no regard for man. We are routinely deprived of our right, and we can even be punished for seeking justice from rulers. We should always pray and not faint, as Jesus told in a parable:

¹ And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
² Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:
³ And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
⁴ And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;
⁵ Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
⁶ And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.
⁷ And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
⁸ I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

Luke 18:1-8

We should not dwell on the oppression of regular people by wicked rulers, nor on the gifts that are given to wicked rulers by which they pervert the task to which they are ordained:

Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad; and a gift destroyeth the heart.

Ecclesiastes 7:7

God will bring them to justice. It will be swift. It will be final. It will likely be bloody. It will be just.

governments.

The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.

Psalm 58:10