Recovering Our Reputations--September 1, 2026

Recovering Our Reputations--September 1, 2026

"Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.' Instead, 'if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink, for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads'." (Romans 12:17-20)

For at least the first several centuries of our history, this was a pretty good summary of what Christians were known for: refusing to answer evil with evil, giving up the right to revenge, seeking the good of all (not just our own little group), and striving to live in peace with all people.  I wonder (or maybe I have a pretty good hunch I'm afraid of confirming it) what we are known for today.

These words which many of us heard this past Sunday in worship continue a reading from Paul's letter to the Romans in which he has been sketching out a picture of "authentic love" (Rom 12:9, which organizes this whole passage).  And right off the bat it is clear in today's verses that the Christian understanding of love is NOT just for people who are in my "in-group" or even people who are neutral toward me.  A Christian understanding of love seeks not only what is good for fellow disciples of Jesus, but also neighbors... and strangers... and even enemies.  And here is the apostle Paul, in the midst of a letter that he is using to make a good first impression with his readers in Rome whom he has not yet met in person, just laying it out there without blushing or apologizing for it: we Christians do not answer evil with more evil, and we do not "get back" or "get even," even with those who have done us great harm.

It seems from the way Paul writes that this is such an obvious and clear element of the Christian life that he doesn't think he has to make a case for why we wouldn't seek revenge or hit back against those who have hit us first (or hit them "pre-emptively" because we are afraid of being hit first).  He doesn't soft-pedal this teaching or have to give a long, drawn-out defense of why this is the Christian position.  It just seems so wholly consistent with the calling to love and the model of Jesus' own kind of love that all Paul has to do is to say it once.  We don't answer evil with evil. We don't seek only our own good, but what all will recognize as being noble and virtuous.  We don't get revenge. And instead, we live in peace with everyone as fully as we are able to.

For what it's worth, this passage is not an exception or an outlier in the New Testament, either, but shows up in multiple places in Paul's letters as well as in First Peter, in the examples of Christians retold in Acts, and of course repeatedly in the Gospels on Jesus' lips (and in his actions).  But not only that, in the first several hundred years of Christian history, we have evidence both from the writings of Christian leaders and those of outside witnesses living in the Empire that the church was known significantly for its refusal to return violence for violence or evil for evil, and instead had a positive reputation for taking care of all, not only their own in-group members.  In the middle of the second century, maybe just fifty years after ink from the latest books of the New Testament had finished drying, Justin Martyr wrote of his fellow Christians, "We used to hate and destroy one another and refused to associate with people of another race or country. Now, because of Christ, we live together with such people and pray for our enemies."  Another early Christian writing from about the same time period, the Didache, literally begins with a quote of Jesus' teaching to bless those who curse you and pray for your enemies in its opening sentences. Even in the fourth century, the Roman Emperor Julian ("the Apostate"), who hated Christians and wanted to restore Rome to a supposed earlier golden age of "greatness" had to admit that we Christians, whom he referred to as "impious Galileans," were known for caring not only for their own poor but for the poor who did not share their faith in Christ. Further examples abound--all of which is to say that in the first few centuries, for whatever other things might have been true about Christians, we did have a reputation for love that included strangers and enemies, rather than just looking out for "Me and My Group First."  That much in indisputable, from both Christian writers and our most severe critics of the time.

So we cannot avoid the question we began with today: what are we Christians known for at this point in history, in our time and place?  I ask it because I have a hunch that many in the watching world do not see the same commitment to love enemies, seek the common good, and to reject fighting evil with more evil.  In our day, plenty of loud religious voices would have us believe that being Christian means only looking out for "Me and My Group First," that it is foolishness to do good to people outside those lines, and weakness to love those who are our enemies. In our time, those talking heads say we look like "losers" if we don't hit back, or even hit first (to show 'em that we mean business!).  The trouble is that the New Testament itself calls us to a different way--one in which we refuse to get even and we actively seek a good bigger than just our own.  That's what love was always supposed to look like for us.  It is, for that matter, what we were known for in those first several centuries, too.  It is only in later days that Christians have become publicly identified with the same meanness, violence, and selfishness as the empires of the day.  It is only in our own time when Respectable Religious Voices could say, "Christians are not obligated to care about outsiders, strangers, foreigners, or enemies" without being laughed off the stage. But here we are.

What would it take for us to be known once again for being people of Christ-like love?  What kinds of changes would you and I have to make in our own lives, our choices, and our actions so that what was said of our older siblings in the late Roman Empire could be said of us?  What would you and I do differently in this day, we wanted to leave the impression that disciples of Jesus seek the good of all, refuse to answer evil with evil, and strive for peace in our communities and world?

I bet the answers to those questions are not difficult to think of.  The only real question is whether we are willing to do them, and to let them become our way of life.