Bible Study

Have children look up and read the Bible verses aloud. Lead a discussion with the questions below.

Romans 12:19–21:

¹⁹ Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord. ²⁰ Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.” ²¹ Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

• According to the Apostle Paul, when can we take revenge? Never.
• Who must we trust to handle our situation? God.
• What do you think righteous anger is? It is anger without sin. It is anger because of sin and injustice, not directed at a person, instead at the sin or evil. Only God knows the depth of a situation and the root cause. We can’t know all the details. We need to trust God to handle the situation in the proper way.
• According to verse 20, what must we do instead of looking for revenge? Show love and mercy to our enemies. In general, whatever the need is, try to meet it.
• What do you think it means to heap burning coals of shame on their heads? By being kind and merciful, the hope is that they will be convicted of their evil deeds and they will feel ashamed and it will bring them to repentance and to find God through our love shown.
• In verse 21, how do we conquer evil? With good.
• Have you ever chosen to show mercy and love to someone who has mistreated you? Can you share the result?
• Have you ever been shown love and mercy when you mistreated someone? Can you share what happened?
• How did David model the Bible passage we just discussed? He showed honor, love and respect to Saul even when Saul tried to kill him multiple times. He refused to take vengeance when he had the opportunity to kill Saul. David gave judgment and punishment over to God and did not take it into his own hands. Saul wept and called David more righteous than he was as a result of David’s kindness and mercy.(See 1 Samuel 24:16–17.)

1 Peter 3:9:

Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and He will grant you His blessing.

• What is the first thing we normally want to do when we are hurt or insulted? Retaliate, give an insult back!>
• Instead of paying back evil with evil, what does this verse tell us to do? Pay them back with a blessing! >
• Why is this hard to do? It is not what comes naturally to us. We typically want to strike back and even the score. We may feel that we let them get away with something if we bless them or treat them kindly. Also, like David’s men who encouraged him to take vengeance, we feel pressure from others to retaliate when we are hurt or embarrassed.
• What benefit is there from obeying God? He will bless us. Our love and mercy and “taking the high road” may result in them finding and serving God, too.

1 Peter 2:21–23:

²¹ For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in His steps. ²² He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone. ²³ He did not retaliate when He was insulted, nor threaten revenge when He suffered. He left His case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.

• Who is our ultimate, perfect example to follow? Christ.
• According to verse 21, do we still need to do good things even if we might suffer for it? Yes, Christ suffered and died for us. He was misunderstood and mocked on the earth. He continued to do good even while being persecuted and falsely accused.
• Why should we follow Christ over any other? He never sinned. He obeyed God completely. We are told to follow in His steps.
• What did Jesus do when He was insulted and suffered? He did not retaliate or seek revenge when He could have easily done so! He left everything in God’s hands to judge!

Conclusion: It is not easy to show mercy when we are insulted or mistreated. However, God calls us to show love and mercy instead of paying back evil for evil. Jesus is our perfect example to follow. He left everything in God’s hands to judge righteously. That is what we learned from David as well. Can you trust God to handle things any way He chooses?