Guest post from Arthur Yavelberg: Vengeance, Justice, Forgiveness, and Love
Romans 12:19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “Vengeance is mine, thus saith the Lord." I see a lot of memes and comments to the effect that "God is love" and, while the OT is all about retributive justice, the NT is about forgiveness and loving our enemies. Biblical verses to the contrary are dismissed as "metaphors" or primitive human interjections. At first I have my usual reactions. "How is it that Hell as a place of eternal punishment for sin appears many times in the NT but not at all in the OT?" There is also the typical "Isn't it awfully convenient for Scriptures we like to be taken literally while those we don't like should not?" Then there is the philosophical question of justice. "Shall not the Creator of all the world do justly?" (Gen. 18:26) Exactly what happens to justice in such forgiveness and love scenarios? Today I did have a different thought, tho...