“ ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord’ (Romans 12:19). Vengeance is perfect and righteous judgment, which only God is capable of carrying out.” (Orthodox Study Bible, Romans 12:19-21)
“For the faithful, there are no grounds for seeking revenge and taking the law into one’s own hands. Rather, Christ our God reveals the more perfect approach of the Kingdom of Heaven: non-resistance to evil. We are to turn the other cheek, surrendering our goods, and go the extra mile…Is such a radical approach even possible? Yes! The Lord is the living Way and calls us, by example, to follow Him – even if His way seems contrary to our human nature.” (Dynamis 6/13/2014)
“…the life of the apostle – a word that means “one who is sent forth” – is a life that rises above the instinct of retaliation. Among the regrettable consequences of the Fall in the Garden is our lust for blood: literal and figurative. When we are wronged, is not our instinct to wrong in return? When we are hurt, is not our instinct to hurt back? But, here is this challenging text before us: Is it calling us to a higher standard? Are we to respond to our enemies as Christ responded to His – without slander or hatred or a thirst for revenge? When reviled, He blessed; when persecuted, He endured; when insulted, He forgave. That is radical stuff; difficult, too. But, it may be the only way out of the brutality that increasingly fills our headlines and defines our world…” (Fr. John Oliver)
“Throughout the New Testament, the right relation of one man to another is stressed and guided not only in its external function but especially from within the heart and mind of the Christian. Any degree of hostility, any hidden thought of envy would be the great separator between the believer and God. The Christian should learn that with the grace of God he should build more bridges of communication with his neighbor, rather than construct fences of protection. A Christian is not expected to be a saint without mar of sin, but he is one who is struggling with himself to avoid the violations of God's Will and striving to overflow with the quality of Christian love which is attainable by sacrifice of pleasures, pride and riches. The Christian has no enemies; does not seek revenge; does not stop praying for people whose hearts are not yet cultivated and watered by the grace of God.” (Rev. George Mastrantonis)
“For each of us as Christians, this means that no human person is our enemy. No matter how much a person or group may hate us, no matter what violence they may do to us, no matter what slander they may level against us, they are not the enemy. They are, rather, our fellow soldiers who have fallen in battle to the enemy. They are our fellow soldiers who have become prisoners of war. Our anger and pain from whatever they might do or say to us is not rightly directed at them, but at the sin that has captured them, the evil that has come to reign over their hearts and minds. Victory, for us, comes not when we achieve some sort of revenge, trade evil for evil, or see those who have hurt us suffer themselves. Victory comes when those who formerly hated us and harmed us and spitefully used us are set free and embrace us as brothers and sisters once again. Victory comes for all of us, together, when the world is saved through the rule of Jesus Christ as King.” (Father Stephen De Young)