On the contrary, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
20. If therefore, etc. He now shows how we may really fulfill the precepts of not revenging and of not repaying evil, even when we not only abstain from doing injury but when we also do good to those who have done wrong to us; for it is a kind of an indirect retaliation when we turn aside our kindness from those by whom we have been injured.
We may observe here, according to the scheme mentioned in the contents, the apostle's exhortations, I. Concerning our duty to God, We see what is godliness. 1. It is to surrender ourselves to God, and so to lay a good foundation. We must first give our own selves unto the Lord, Co2 8:5. This is here pressed as the spring of all duty and obedience, Rom 12:1, Rom 12:2.
Commenting on Romans 12:1-21
Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him,.... These words are taken from Pro 25:21, and to be understood, as a Jewish (o) writer observes, according to "their literal sense"; though some of the Rabbins explain them in an allegorical way, of the corruption of nature.