gospel. The second caution is, — that courteousness should not degenerate into compliance, so as
to lead us to flatter the vices of men for the sake of preserving peace. Since then it cannot always
be, that we can have peace with all men, he has annexed two particulars by way of exception, If it
be possible, and, as far as you can. But we are to conclude from what piety and love require, that
we are not to violate peace, except when constrained by either of these two things. For we ought,
for the sake of cherishing peace, to bear many things, to pardon offenses, and kindly to remit the
full rigor of the law; and yet in such a way, that we may be prepared, whenever necessity requires,
to fight courageously: for it is impossible that the soldiers of Christ should have perpetual peace
with the world, whose prince is Satan.
- Avenge not yourselves, etc. The evil which he corrects here, as we have reminded you, is
more grievous than the preceding, which he has just stated; and yet both of them arise from the
same fountain, even from an inordinate love of self and innate pride, which makes us very indulgent
to our own faults and inexorable to those of others. As then this disease begets almost in all men a
furious passion for revenge, whenever they are in the least degree touched, he commands here, that
however grievously we may be injured, we are not to seek revenge, but to commit it to the Lord.
And inasmuch as they do not easily admit the bridle, who are once seized with this wild passion,
he lays, as it were, his hand upon us to restrain us, by kindly addressing us as beloved
The precept; then is, — that we are not to revenge nor seek to revenge injuries done to us. The
manner is added, a place is to be given to wrath. To give place to wrath, is to commit to the Lord
the right of judging, which they take away from him who attempt revenge. Hence, as it is not lawful
to usurp the office of God, it is not lawful to revenge; for we thus anticipate the judgment of God,
who will have this office reserved for himself. He at the same time intimates, that they shall have
God as their defender, who patiently wait for his help; but that those who anticipate him leave no
place for the help of God.^397
But he prohibits here, not only that we are not to execute revenge with our own hands, but that
our hearts also are not to be influenced by a desire of this kind: it is therefore superfluous to make
a distinction here between public and private revenge; for he who, with a malevolent mind and
desirous of revenge, seeks the help of a magistrate, has no more excuse than when he devises means
for self-revenge. Nay, revenge, as we shall presently see, is not indeed at all times to be sought
from God: for if our petitions arise from a private feeling, and not from pure zeal produced by the
Spirit, we do not make God so much our judge as the executioner of our depraved passion.
Hence, we do not otherwise give place to wrath, than when with quiet minds we wait for the
seasonable time of deliverance, praying at the same time, that they who are now our adversaries,
may by repentance become our friends.
For it is written, etc. He brings proof, taken from the song of Moses, Deuteronomy 32:35, where
the Lord declares that he will be the avenger of his enemies; and God’s enemies are all who without
(^397) Many have been the advocates of this exposition, Chrysostom, Theophylact, Luther, Beza, Hammond, Macknight, Stuart,
etc. But there is no instance of the expression, “to give place,” having this meaning. In the two places where it occurs, it means
to give way, to yield. See Luke 14:9; Ephesians 4:27. Then to give place to wrath, is to yield to and patiently to endure the wrath
of the man who does the wrong. Some have maintained that the meaning is, that the injured man is to give place to his own
wrath, that is, allow it time to cool: but this view comports not with the passage. The subject is, that a Christian is not to retaliate,
or to return wrath for wrath, but to endure the wrath of his enemy, and to leave the matter in the hand of God. With this sense
the quotation accords as much as with that given by Calvin. Not a few have taken this view, Basil, Ambrose, Drusius, Mede,
Doddridge, Scott, etc. — Ed.