By nature, men are wired to infringe on one another with little regard for the feelings of the injured party. This penchant for causing injury and pain to one another is ingrained in man irrespective of status, class or creed due to the operation of the original sin of Adam. The emergence of law and order, the judicial system and government is a consequence of the need to tame the wild side of man described by Thomas Hobbes, an English philosopher, as nasty and brutish. In fact, his thesis on the nature of man in his basest element is of life being “nasty, brutish and short”. In this state, retribution and revenge are a common place feature of everyday life.
Christianity has grappled with curtailing the vile nature of man since the time of the Patriarchs of the faith. In the Pentateuch, the laws of our fathers were laid down, especially in the books of Exodus, Deuteronomy and Leviticus. Most of these laws dealt with relational matters with the aim of checking the arbitrary, nasty and unpredictable nature of man in his elements. The operation of the laws appear stringent but given the beginnings of man as a community, the wickedness that pervaded the entire structure of his behaviour and the obvious direction of communal life at that early stage of human community evolution, the need for measures to check excesses of behaviour in the most draconian ways was an imperative.
And so, retributory action of necessity became an integral need of mankind. To what use and how men began to apply these laws became a contentious matter. In so far as application is left to the wiles of men laws became subjective. For Christianity, however, there is no room for subjectivity or bias in the practical application of the laws of our fathers. Using the laws as a tool of vengeance is frowned at by Christianity. The problem has always been how to distinguish between retributory action and vengefulness as well as how to apply forgiveness and pardon. The margins in meaning, definition and scope of retribution and revenge are so fine as to be difficult to make the correct distinction but the distinctions are there and must be made by the Christian who is faithfully observing the tenets of his faith.
RETRIBUTION
There are two words that are coterminous in nature and meaning but not entirely in action: Retribution and Revenge. The two words mean rewarding some action that impacts on one in either a painful or pleasant way by another. Whereas retribution can cut both ways, revenge is a one way street with only one end: exacting painful reproach on the offender. Taking painful retaliatory action is the purpose of revenge but retribution has the essence of paying back in like fashion as a consequence of what is done to one either good or bad.
At the apogee of the Roman empire, it ruled a vast region of the known historical world. The laws of the Empire were the standard in its realm. One of such laws is the Law of Retaliation/Retribution (Lex Tallonis). This law has its corrollary in the Scriptures at Exodus 21:23-25; Leviticus 24:19-20; Matthew 5:38 and is refered to as the “an eye for an eye” principle. Most readers of these verses conclude erroneously that they equate to taking revenge. In fact, some quote copiously from them to justify their vengeful actions. Retribution is essentially a two way street which stands for receiving recompense for actions taken and not necessarily meaning punishment for some act that causes injury. It could be a punishment for wrongdoing, retaliation for an injury to one and as well reward for a good deed.
According to the Biblical Training blog, the idea of retribution in the Scriptures is expressed in reference to the wrath of God, vengeance, punishment and judgement when God “will give to each person according to what he has done” Rom 2:6. This is aptly captured in the story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11. Retribution is, therefore, a repayment for moral guilt or virtue. As also seen in the events between David, Nabal and Abigail in I Sam 25:2-42, the judgement of retribution is both for moral guilt and virtue. Nabal, a morally degenerate man received God’s punishment for his treatment of David and his men whereas Abigail received reward for her virtue.
This brings us to the concept of divine retribution. Divine Retribution describes the supernatural judgement of a person, a group of people or everyone by God in response to some action. The Scriptures is replete with examples of divine retribution arising from personal, clan, group and national guilt or acts of penance that leads to the victory of God’s people. From this, we can deduce types of divine retribution to be either collective punishment for individual fault or guilt and collective reward for individual righteousness. Examples of collective punishment for individual fault include the fall of man (Gen 3), Simeon and Levi’s killing of the men of Shechem for the defiling of their sister Dinah (Gen 34), the obliteration of the clan of Achan for his thievery (Jos 7:10-26). Collective rewards for individual righteousness in the Scriptures include the salvation of Rahab’s family at the fall of Jericho (Jos2:17-18) and Jesus’ death on the cross which made salvation available to all men (Isa 53).
The foregoing highlights the different types of retributory justice. It further buttresses the fact that retribution is dual facetted depending on which side of the path one falls, either the side of evil or that of good.
REVENGE
Revenge is an action that is not encouraged by the Scriptures. Where retribution is freely in action all over Scripture, revenge is less in play. The reason for this is not far fetched. Revenge has only one end, to exact painful payback for a wrong done to one. It has only one reward mechanism: payback evil for evil. Christians are however not encouraged to seek revenge. This may not be unconnected with its tendency to be cyclical. Revenge begets revenge and more revenge.
The Scriptures look at revenge from the prism that it should be left to God to decide punishment for certain offences. There are however pockets of scriptures that back revenge as a means of justice. Exodus 21:23-25 is one such scripture. Again, in Leviticus 24:19-20, the “fracture for fracture, eye for eye” principle is given as canonical law. This is in tandem with the Law of Just Retribution of the Roman empire. This principle, as encapsulated in the Old Testament, seems harsh but the reality is it was meant to check arbitrariness in a time when man was still trying to master his elements and be right with his Creator. Proverbs 22:22-23 helps us understand better why the need for the seemingly draconian laws of Exodus and Leviticus. Wickedness towards the weak needed to be checked.
Jesus, our perfect example, gives us a template of how our relationship with perceived enemies should be. Love them, do not seek revenge, pray for them. Luke 6:35b makes it clear that doing good to our enemies brings with it reward even when we are not doing it to be rewarded. James 3:18 puts the gloss on it: righteousness can only grow where peace dwells.
All of these do not vitiate the fact that vengeance will be exacted. The admonition is to leave to God the decision to take revenge. One given fact is that no sin will go unpunished no matter how seemingly trivial. In spite of the denial of the wrath of God by some supposedly Christian denominations, it is a real fact of the Christian experience that there will be punishment for sinful living and bad behaviour. The love of God, as the love of a parent to a child, includes and involves punitive measures to keep His children in line so that they don’t go wrong. The whole essence of Christianity is to seek to be in right standing with God at all times. According to Walter Railston Martin in The Kingdom of the Cults, Christian sects that deny the reality of the wrath of God are essentially deceiving their adherents and condemning them to eternal damnation. For those sects Rev 20:11-15 bursts their bubble. God will be unforgiving at the great White Throne Judgement.
As Paul stated in Rom 12:19 revenge must be left to God. It must however be understood that God’s vengeance takes different forms. He could do it directly or use a person as athe object of his vengeance. Deut. 19:11-13 shows God giving room for justice to prevail against an offender. So, the instrumentality of God’s vengeance varies. This is also depicted in I Sam 24:12. However, the expectation of God is not that man should seek revenge of his own accord as I Pet 3:9 admonishes. It is the whole duty of man to his saviour Jesus to live in love and harmony with all men and for this to be, forgiveness is key.
FORGIVENESS
According to Debbie Roes, forgiveness is a deliberate decision to release feelings of anger, resentment, or vengeance toward someone who has hurt you. Forgiveness is the ideal consequential reaction to injury done to one. Along with obedience and faith, it is the fulcrum on which Christianity stands. Scripture says the just shall live by faith and faith is a consequence of obedience. Irrespective of how one feels about an offence, forgiveness is a must for a Christian. The person who is unable to forgive a wrong is yet to come to the true knowledge of his Saviour. I John 1:9 makes it clear that until we confess and leave our unrighteousness we do not qualify for forgiveness. One deep seated area of unrighteousness is unforgiveness.
Jesus, in Matthew 6:14, reveals to us that if we forgive others we become qualified for God’s forgiveness. This highlights the fact that Jesus’ ministry is that of forgiveness and redemption. It is utterly imperative for Christians to forgive if we are to be followers of Christ in the true sense.
Debbie Roes outlines three levels of forgiveness:
i) EXONERATION which means to wipe the slate clean as if the offence never occured i.e to forgive and forget;
ii) FORBEARANCE which is to stop dwelling on offence, release grudges and forget about revenge; and
iii) RELEASE which means to let go of bad feelings when the offender fails to take responsibility for offending but one may also choose to discontinue the relationship. Rebecca Olds, writing in Deseret News, points out two levels of forgiveness:
i) Forgiving Others (Eph 4:31-32; Col 3:12-13); and
ii) Forgiving Yourself (Phlps 3:12-13; Ps 138:7-8; Isa 43:18-19).
CONCLUSION
Christianity abhors revenge but maintains the need for taking responsibility for ones behaviour. Causing hurt to a fellow human is what leads to punishment which is the reason for the laws. However, taking revenge is not encouraged because of the bad consequences of such an action. What the Bible teaches is forgiveness and leaving vengeful action to God. God alone should be the dispenser of vengeance and His vengefulness only comes about due to the recalcitrance of the offender. The laws as given by God is to serve as deterrence and is only ever supposed to be applied as punishment and not for vengefulness on the part of men. The only judgement of God that has no reprieve is that of the Great White Throne of which every person must strive to miss. If we allow unforgiveness in our hearts, no matter how pious we may be, that is our destination. So, the admonition is to embrace forgiveness as a virtue, allow retribution to take its course where necessary and never seek revenge to assuage anger as vengeance is only for God to dispense.
