by Troy Kearns
If I told you to start heaping coals of fire on someone’s head, you would probably recoil with shock and look at me with a very concerned expression on your face at the thought of a such a despicable and callous act. But did you know this is a directive recorded for us in Scripture? However, before you jump to any conclusions on what is meant by this statement, we need to look at this instruction in its proper context. What we will discover is that it is actually promoting quite the opposite of what it sounds like on first inspection. It can teach us some valuable lessons about how to treat others – particularly those who don’t treat us the way we would like to be treated.
Let’s examine the verse in Romans 12:20: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing so you will heap coals of fire on his head” (cf. Proverbs 25:21-22)
Just prior to Romans 12:9, in my Bible, there is a heading of “Behave like a Christian”. That is the essence of what this section of Scripture is talking about. It emphasises how we should conduct ourselves by manifesting Christian virtues such as love, kindness and compassion.
Verse 17 reads: “Repay no one evil for evil”. Verse 18 says: “live peaceably with all men” and verse 19 is: “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.” God is saying we do not need to seek revenge on those who have wronged us. He will fight our battles for us. We have a clear commission to be longsuffering and pursue peace with all people.
Another crucial verse to help understand what heaping coals of fire on someone’s head means, is Romans 12:21: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Reading all of the verses surrounding a scripture, like we have done, gives us the proper context to help understand what God means. Clearly, heaping coals of fire on someone’s head is a metaphor and not to be taken literally. By showing kindness to an enemy or someone who has wronged us or treated us unfairly, we can return good for their evil. That kindness might provoke a sense of shame or guilt in the other person and, on seeing how we are handling the situation, could lead them to change their hostility toward us.
Although this is a tall order, we can look to Jesus Christ who had this very approach in how He lived His life. Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount, “love your enemies, bless those who curse you and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). Jesus taught a way of life that promoted peace, even with those who do not like us, or with whom we do not see eye to eye. We can choose to show kindness despite another person’s behaviour towards us by understanding their perspective, sympathising with their point of view or even by offering to help the person in some way. As I heard many times from my parents when I was growing up with my brother: “Someone has to be the peacemaker!” So why not let that person be you?
As a young person growing up in God’s church (and this applies to the adults in the church too), you can choose to take the higher moral ground and be the one who initiates the peace-making process. By doing this, we will reflect and imitate our Saviour Jesus Christ, Who even when He was being tortured, mocked, and finally crucified, wished nothing but good on His enemies: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34).
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