I Thessalonians 5:15 – “Living Grace”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁵See [that] no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but pursue the good always into each other and into everyone.

This is a very interesting verse to me. I barely remember a time in my life when I didn’t know we believers are supposed to “return good for evil,” that “revenge” is an unchristian response, that our guiding principle is supposed to be “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom 12:19,20 & Prov 25:21,22).

I see now however, that I have always missed the point. My whole life I have viewed the matter legalistically. For whatever it’s worth, when it comes to this, I don’t think I’m any different than practically anyone else. I think we all tend to read this legalistically. We see this as a rule we must follow. Someone does me wrong and I’d like to skewer them on a spit and slow-broil them over an open fire – but I can’t, because I’m a Christian. I’m supposed to “return good for evil.” So, while I’d really, really like to punch them in the face, I restrain myself, because, well, I just shouldn’t do that.

Certainly, if that is the best we can do, at least we can say the whole world would be a better place if everybody did. But even as I have been reading and studying this verse, I’ve realized that what Jesus has called us to is something so much greater, so much more noble than grand restraint. He is genuinely calling us to be like Him. “When they hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats … He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree …”(I Pet 2:23,24).

But why? Why did He not retaliate?

Because He loved.

It was not because He had some “rule” to follow.

I may sound like a broken record, but what are the two great commands? Love God, love people. No matter the situation, to love is to succeed, to not love is to fail. We’re told in Eph 5:1,2: “Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

In the verse before us we’re told not to return evil for evil but always to pursue the good with each other and with everyone. As Eph 5 reminded us, we are “dearly loved children.” God loves us for Jesus’ sake. Our mission all day every day in this world is to do good, to love, and that, not because it’s a rule, but because we live ourselves in this wonder of grace, loved by the God of the Universe, with our hearts and lives (and eternities!) surrounded by the arms of our Savior Jesus. As we sit securely in His lap, wrapped in His great strong arms, feeling His kisses on our (very) undeserving heads, as we walk along our way amazed that I am forgiven, that I’m being carried and have been all my days, we look out at a world no different than us, except that perhaps they haven’t (yet) entered into the wonder of this beautiful relationship offered to everyone in Christ.

As long as I remember that is who I am, I don’t want to harm anyone. They did me wrong? It only reminds me how grievously I have failed Jesus my whole life, and yet He loves me anyway. I wish so much that person could know the love and forgiveness I enjoy. They’re a slave just like me. I have hurt so many people in so many ways. In fact, grace is for me my only shelter of sanity against the mountains of regret that would otherwise overwhelm me. Their “sin” against me really has nothing to do with me. I just happened to get caught in the cross-fire of their miseries and their endless attempts to somehow protect themselves and make life work. How awful it is to face life, to face pain and trouble and fears … without a God to trust. Why shouldn’t I love them and return good for their evil? When do I ever not want to “do good?”

Such is grace.

It sadly took me most of my adult life to learn to live grace, not law. Law just gives me rules to follow. Grace changes my heart so I actually want to do right. What a horrible, petty form of Christianity it is to think love is a rule I have to follow. Real Christianity knows love is a Person. It is Jesus. And when He fills my heart, the rules are not something to follow but rather a sort of markers along the way to remind me who I want to be anyway.

I suppose I need to inject here that I am not a pacifist. There is a time when love means defending your own. Jesus’ command to “turn the other cheek” was over frivolous matters like someone giving you a back-handed slap (the only way a normally right-handed person could strike you on your right cheek), or someone actually suing you to get your shirt (in which case, He says to just give them your coat and be done with it). When a soldier or a policeman (or a dad for that matter) points his gun at an enemy and pulls the trigger, it is (or should be) an expression of love – not to the person in his sights, of course, but to the people he is supposed to love and protect. There was never a greater expression of love in this world than when our young men formed that human wall that kept WW II outside the borders of our country. A whole nation of women and children and elderly people slept securely in their beds every night and never heard a single gunshot precisely because of the love of “the best generation.” I read once of a dad whose daughter screamed in the night. He charged into her room to find a naked man with a knife and duct tape standing over her. The dad threw him to the floor and held him down so tightly that, when the police arrived, they found he had actually suffocated the man to death. Does anyone question whether or not that daughter felt loved? You bet she did. Again, I am not a pacifist. I believe love includes protecting our own – just so I make that clear. Love is not whatever we want to call it. Once we decide to love, we then need to make sure we let God define what it means. The two great commands are to love God and people and the entire rest of the Bible is how to love wisely.

But back to our passage, once again, grace means living a life of love. When our Lord directs us to follow after the good with each other and with everyone, He’s just asking us to live grace.

May the grace we all enjoy so fill our hearts and minds and lives that we find this verse just a marker along the way – something to remind us of Jesus.