Jesus taught that we are one body as well as to treat each other the way we want to be treated. He taught that our thoughts matter, that hate was equal to murder. He said to pray for our enemies. So in Romans, Paul is continuing to teach what Jesus taught.

Vengence destroys the person who seeks it, whether it finds the intended target or not. When we hold on to offenses, it is us who we are hurting ourselves. The more we hold on to and focus on the negative thoughts and emotions, the bigger they get. When we are feeling anger, vengence, hate, these bring our vibration down. That means that we feel bad, and we are putting negative vibrations out into the collective consciousness 2x. The first time it goes out intended for another, but we don't let go of the poison arrow, so it hits us, amplifying our negativity about this. Then we are sending our own bad vibrations out there, because that is what we are projecting. So, when we forgive others, we set ourselves free. If we remove the anger and resentment, and negative thoughts and emotions that we hold toward others, then we have peace, and a higher vibration. The higher vibration we put out into the collective consciousness, the better we all are for it. Darkness does not cast out darkness. Light casts out darkness.

When someone does you a bad turn and you repay them in kind than you are no better than the person that started it. What you should do is repay them with kindnes for just maybe they might learn something. What Paul ment was do not be evil to those that are evil towards you. That way the evil stops right there and does not get pased on backwards and forwards and maybe spreads as would happen should you repay with evil. It is much better to walk away from evil than to repay in kind.

In todays world this is very dificult sometimes not only with us ordinary humanity but look at our politicians and what is caused by repaying evil with evil. War and more war and till someonne somewhere learns not to retaliate but walk away war will carrry on regardles.

Walking away from evil if you can will make you a true hero even though the majority will think you weak. Only the very strong walk away from evil or repay with kindness instead.

The Old Testament Way of doing things was rather straightforward-an eye for an eye! I believe that this is still practiced in other religions to this day. I just read of a news story about a man who had thrown sulfuric acid into the face of his girlfriend because she had turned him down, which disfigured and blinded her horribly. His punishment was set- drops of acid were to be placed into his eyes to blind him- literally, an eye for an eye. You can actually read about this story here. At the last moment, just as they were getting ready to put the acid into his eyes, the woman rushed to the scene, and begged the judges not to blind her old boyfriend.

He was spared!

When Jesus came, He literally had the huge job of persuading the Old Testament folks into a new and radical change-Forgiveness and mercy, even when you have been wronged! Think about this. To some of the people, Jesus sounded like a total "wuss"! Not get revenge??? Turn the other cheek??? But He kept preaching, explaining about the fact that evil only begets more evil, as "dog begets dog" (to quote Esther from the movie Ben-Hur (which, btw, is a real study about forgiveness and the effects of revenge...)

So Paul carries the theme forward in time after the Death of Christ, and explains in depth about the power of forgiveness and love...which perhaps culminates best in his famous writing about Love (Charity in some Bibles) in I Corinthians:13 (which gets read at weddings a LOT :o)! Consult this passage if you want to see just how hugely Christ changed the Old Way- more and more people were living The New Way, and seeing the sense of it- actually putting The LOA and Manifestation into practice, if you think about it...you get what you give!

That is the message of the quoted verse. "Repay no one evil for evil."

Please read that link, and you will see just how powerful forgiveness can be.

Blessings, Jaianniah

People can moralize all they want, but the simple fact is that it just doesnt work to hurt anyone in return. It doesnt get you the results you want. When people are hurt they become victims. They gain sympathy, and they dont usually believe they deserved it, or reflect on why someone would want to hurt them. They end up feeling self righteous about being wronged instead of reflecting on how they offended the attacker. Because the attacker usually feels like a victim lashing out. So the hate/fear/anger generated is simply perpetuated indefinitely and noone benefits. So its ultimately a wasted effort to retaliate.