Romans 12:21 Study Bible: Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

◄ Romans 12:21 ►

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Do not be overcome by evil
This phrase serves as a powerful exhortation to Christians, urging them to resist the influence and power of evil. The Greek word for "overcome" is "nikaō," which means to conquer or prevail. In the context of the Roman Empire, where Christians often faced persecution, this command was both a spiritual and practical directive. The early church was surrounded by a culture that was often hostile to their beliefs, and this phrase reminds believers that succumbing to evil is not an option. Instead, they are called to stand firm in their faith, drawing strength from God to resist the temptations and pressures of the world.

but overcome evil with good
The word "overcome" here is the same Greek word "nikaō," emphasizing the active role Christians must take in their spiritual battles. The phrase "with good" is crucial, as it highlights the method by which believers are to conquer evil. The Greek word for "good" is "agathos," which refers to that which is inherently good, beneficial, and morally excellent. This aligns with the teachings of Jesus, who instructed His followers to love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them (Matthew 5:44). Historically, this approach was revolutionary, as it called for a response of love and goodness in the face of hostility and injustice. The early Christians, by living out this principle, often won over their oppressors and demonstrated the transformative power of the Gospel. This verse challenges modern believers to actively engage in acts of kindness and righteousness, trusting that such actions have the power to change hearts and overcome the darkness in the world.

Persons / Places / Events

1. Paul the Apostle
The author of the Book of Romans, Paul was a key figure in the early Christian church, known for his missionary journeys and theological teachings.

2. The Roman Church
The recipients of the letter, the early Christian community in Rome, which was diverse and included both Jewish and Gentile believers.

3. The City of Rome
The capital of the Roman Empire, a place of significant cultural, political, and religious influence during the time of Paul's writing.

Teaching Points

Understanding Overcome
The Greek word for "overcome" is "nikao," which means to conquer or prevail. Christians are called to conquer evil not by force, but through the power of good.

The Nature of Good and Evil
Evil is not to be fought with evil, as it perpetuates a cycle of sin. Instead, good, which is rooted in God's character, has the power to transform and redeem.

Practical Goodness
Overcoming evil with good involves practical acts of kindness, forgiveness, and love, reflecting Christ's example.

Spiritual Warfare
This verse highlights the spiritual battle Christians face, where the weapons are not physical but spiritual, rooted in righteousness and love.

Living Sacrifices
As Paul discusses earlier in Romans 12, believers are to present themselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which includes overcoming evil with good.

Bible Study Questions

1. How does the concept of overcoming evil with good challenge your natural inclinations when faced with wrongdoing?

2. In what ways can you apply the principle of Romans 12:21 in your daily interactions with others, especially those who may oppose or mistreat you?

3. How does the teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5) complement Paul's instruction in Romans 12:21?

4. Reflect on a time when you witnessed or experienced evil being overcome by good. What impact did it have on you or others involved?

5. How can the church collectively embody the principle of overcoming evil with good in its community and outreach efforts?

Connections to Other Scriptures

Matthew 5:44
Jesus teaches to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, which aligns with the principle of overcoming evil with good.

1 Peter 3:9
Peter advises not to repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, reinforcing the message of Romans 12:21.

Proverbs 25:21-22
This Old Testament passage speaks of feeding your enemy if he is hungry, which Paul references earlier in Romans 12, providing a foundation for overcoming evil with good.

Sermons

The Christian's Assurance and the Christian's Duty	C.H. Irwin	Romans 12:21
Victory that Blesses Both the Conqueror and the Conquered	S.R. Aldridge	Romans 12:21
Christian Love	T.F. Lockyer	Romans 12:9-21
Christian Socialism	R.M. Edgar	Romans 12:9-21
The Christian's Duty to His Fellow-Men	C.H. Irwin	Romans 12:9-21
Avenge not Yourselves	R. Wardlaw, D.D.	Romans 12:19-21
Avenge not Yourselves	Bp. Heber.	Romans 12:19-21
Charity and Kind Offices, the Best Conquest Over an Enemy	D. Waterland, D.D.	Romans 12:19-21
Evil Overcome		Romans 12:19-21
How to Conquer Evil	G. H. James.	Romans 12:19-21
How to Overcome an Enemy	W. Tyson., J. B. Owen.	Romans 12:19-21
Kindness to an Enemy Is	J. Lyth	Romans 12:19-21
On Conduct Under Wrongs	J. Grant, M.A., J. Lyth, D.D.	Romans 12:19-21
On Revenge	J. Smedley, M.A.	Romans 12:19-21
Overcome Evil with Good	C. H. Spurgeon.	Romans 12:19-21
Overcoming Evil with Good	J. Lyth, D.D.	Romans 12:19-21
Overcoming Evil with Good		Romans 12:19-21
Revenge, a Noble	J. Trapp.	Romans 12:19-21
Revenge, Punishment Of	Bp. Taylor.	Romans 12:19-21
The Best Warfare	R. Newton, D.D.	Romans 12:19-21
The Christian and His Adversaries	J. G. Rogers, B.A.	Romans 12:19-21
The Christian's Conduct Under Injury	J. Lyth, D.D.	Romans 12:19-21
The Great Conflict	W. Jenkins, M.A.	Romans 12:19-21
The Power of Good Over Evil	Bp. Boyd Carpenter.	Romans 12:19-21
The Rule of the Christian Warfare	Harry Jones, M.A.	Romans 12:19-21
The Sinfulness of Private Revenge		Romans 12:19-21
The Triumph of Christian Love	J. Lyth, D. D.	Romans 12:19-21
True Moral Conquests	D. Thomas, D.D.	Romans 12:19-21
Value of Indirect Efforts	Herbert Spencer.	Romans 12:19-21
Vengeance Belongs to God	Clerical Library	Romans 12:19-21
Wrath Conquered by Love	D. A. Clark.	Romans 12:19-21

People

Paul, Romans

Places

Rome

Topics

Evil, Goodness, Overcome

Dictionary of Bible Themes

Romans 12:21

5290 defeat

Romans 12:9-21

6690 mercy, response to God's

Romans 12:17-21

     4318   coal
     5495   revenge, and retaliation
     8765   grudge

Romans 12:18-21

6718 reconciliation, believers

Romans 12:19-21

5931 resistance
8828 spite

Romans 12:20-21

8730 enemies, of believers

Library

A Reasonable Service
TEXT: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."--Romans 12:1. There is perhaps no chapter in the New Testament, certainly none in this epistle, with which we are more familiar than this one which is introduced by the text; and yet, however familiar we may be with the statements, if we read them carefully and study them honestly they must always come to us not only in the …
J. Wilbur Chapman—And Judas Iscariot

January 16. "Prove what is that Good, and Acceptable and Perfect Will of God" (Rom. xii. 2).
"Prove what is that good, and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Rom. xii. 2). There are three conditions in which the water in that engine may be. First, the boiler may be full and the water clean and clear; or, secondly, the boiler may not only be full but the water may be hot, very hot, hot enough to scald you, almost boiling; thirdly, it may be just one degree hotter and at the boiling point, giving forth its vapor in clouds of steam, pressing through the valves and driving the mighty piston …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

July 22. "He that Ministereth Let us Wait on Our Ministering" (Rom. xii. 7).
"He that ministereth let us wait on our ministering" (Rom. xii. 7). Beloved, are you ministering to Christ? Are you doing it with your hands? Are you doing it with your substance and with what you have? Is He getting the best of what is most real to you? Has He a place at your table? And when He does not come to fill the chair, is it free to His representative, His poor and humble children? Your words and wishes are cheap if they do not find expression in your actual gifts. Even Mary did not put …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

April 6. "As we have Many Members in one Body, So we Being Many are one Body in Christ" (Rom. xii. 4, 5).
"As we have many members in one body, so we being many are one body in Christ" (Rom. xii. 4, 5). Sometimes our communion with God is cut off, or interrupted because of something wrong with a brother, or some lack of unity in the body of Christ. We try to get at the Lord, but we cannot, because we are separated from some member of the Lord's body, or because there is not the freedom of His love flowing through every organic part. It does not need a blow upon the head to paralyze the brain; a blow …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

First Sunday after Epiphany
Text: Romans 12, 1-6. 1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. 2 And be not fashioned according to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. 3 For I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

Second Sunday after Epiphany
Text: Romans 12, 6-16. 6 And having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of our faith; 7 or ministry, let us give ourselves to our ministry; or he that teacheth, to his teaching; 8 or he that exhorteth, to his exhorting; he that giveth, let him do it with liberality; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness. 9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

Third Sunday after Epiphany
Text: Romans 12, 16-21. 16 Be not wise in your own conceits. 17 Render to no man evil for evil. Take thought for things honorable in the sight of all men. 18 If it be possible, as much as in you lieth, be at peace with all men. 19 Avenge not yourselves, beloved, but give place unto the wrath of God: for it is written, Vengeance belongeth unto me; I will recompense, saith the Lord. 20 But if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him to drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

Sunday Before Lent
Text: First Corinthians 13. 1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing. 4 Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II

November the Twenty-Eighth How to Fight Evil
"Overcome evil with good." --ROMANS xii. 9-21. For how else can we cast out evil? Satan cannot cast out Satan. No one can clean a room with a filthy duster. The surgeon cannot cut out the disease if his instruments are defiled. While he removed one ill-growth he would sow the seed of another. It must be health which fights disease. It will demand a good temper to overcome the bad temper in my brother. And therefore I must cultivate a virtue if I would eradicate a vice. That applies to the state …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

The Sacrifice of the Body
'I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.'--ROMANS xii. 1. In the former part of this letter the Apostle has been building up a massive fabric of doctrine, which has stood the waste of centuries, and the assaults of enemies, and has been the home of devout souls. He now passes to speak of practice, and he binds the two halves of his letter indissolubly together by that significant …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

A Triplet of Graces
'Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.'--ROMANS xii. 11. Paul believed that Christian doctrine was meant to influence Christian practice; and therefore, after the fundamental and profound exhibition of the central truths of Christianity which occupies the earlier portion of this great Epistle, he tacks on, with a 'therefore' to his theological exposition, a series of plain, practical teachings. The place where conduct comes in the letter is profoundly significant, and, if …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

Another Triplet of Graces
'Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer.'--ROMANS xii. 12. These three closely connected clauses occur, as you all know, in the midst of that outline of the Christian life with which the Apostle begins the practical part of this Epistle. Now, what he omits in this sketch of Christian duty seems to me quite as significant as what he inserts. It is very remarkable that in the twenty verses devoted to this subject, this is the only one which refers to the inner secrets …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

Still Another Triplet
'Be of the same mind one toward another. Set not your mind on high things, but condescend to things that are lowly. Be not wise in your own conceits.'--Romans xii. 16 (R.V.). We have here again the same triple arrangement which has prevailed through a considerable portion of the context. These three exhortations are linked together by a verbal resemblance which can scarcely be preserved in translation. In the two former the same verb is employed: and in the third the word for 'wise' is cognate with …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

Transfiguration
'Be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.'--ROMANS xii. 2. I had occasion to point out, in a sermon on the preceding verse, that the Apostle is, in this context, making the transition from the doctrinal to the practical part of his letter, and that he lays down broad principles, of which all his subsequent injunctions and exhortations are simply the filling up of the details. …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

Sober Thinking
'For I say, through the grace that is given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.'--ROMANS xii. 3. It is hard to give advice without seeming to assume superiority; it is hard to take it, unless the giver identifies himself with the receiver, and shows that his counsel to others is a law for himself. Paul does so here, led by the delicate perception which …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

Still Another Triplet
'Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. 14. Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. 15. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.'--ROMANS xii. 13-15. In these verses we pass from the innermost region of communion with God into the wide field of duties in relation to men. The solitary secrecies of rejoicing hope, endurance, and prayer unbroken, are exchanged for the publicities of benevolence and sympathy. In the former verses the Christian …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

Many and One
'For we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: 5. So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.'--ROMANS xii. 4, 5. To Paul there was the closest and most vital connection between the profoundest experiences of the Christian life and its plainest and most superficial duties. Here he lays one of his most mystical conceptions as the very foundation on which to rear the great structure of Christian conduct, and links on to one of …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

Grace and Graces
'Having then gifts, differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; 7. Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering; or he that teacheth, on teaching; 8. Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation; he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness.'--ROMANS xii. 6-8. The Apostle here proceeds to build upon the great thought of the unity of believers in the …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

Love that Can Hate
'Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. 10. In love of the brethren be tenderly affectioned one to another; in honour preferring one another.'--ROMANS xii. 9-10 (R.V.). Thus far the Apostle has been laying down very general precepts and principles of Christian morals. Starting with the one all-comprehensive thought of self-sacrifice as the very foundation of all goodness, of transformation as its method, and of the clear knowledge of our several powers …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

"Members one of Another. "
"So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another."--ROMANS xii. 5. There are some moral and spiritual truths which it seems to be almost impossible to impress upon the practical life of the world, although they meet with a sort of universal acceptance. Men agree with them, they re-echo them, they applaud them; they do everything, in fact, but exhibit them as the moving, inspiring, and guiding truths of their daily practice. And among these I fear we must still class …
John Percival—Sermons at Rugby

Constant, Instant, Expectant
Prayer is to be exercised in all things, for from its position in the present context we are taught that it is not without prayer that we proceed to "distribute to the necessities of the saints." Because we have prayed for them we are ready to befriend them by deeds of love. If we have not been accustomed to pray for the brethren, we shall not be "given to hospitality"; much less shall we "bless them which persecute us." prayer is the life-blood of duty, the secret sap of holiness, the fountain of …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 25: 1879

Jowett -- Apostolic Optimism
John Henry Jowett, Congregational divine, was born at Barnard Castle, Durham, in 1864, and educated at Edinburgh and Oxford universities. In 1889 he was ordained to St. James's Congregational Church, Newcastle-on-Tyne, and in 1895 was called to his present pastorate of Carr's Lane Congregational Church, Birmingham, where he has taken rank among the leading preachers of Great Britain. He is the author of several important books. JOWETT Born in 1864 APOSTOLIC OPTIMISM[1] [Footnote 1: Reprinted by permission …
Various—The World's Great Sermons, Volume 10

The True Nonconformist.
A Communion Sermon, Delivered Sept. 16, 1866, In The First Presbyterian Church, Troy, N. Y. Rom. xii, 2. "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." By itself, this command is ambiguous. Common sense testifies that, in very many things, every Christian must, more or less, conform to the world. Many of the world's customs are not only harmless, but salutary, beautiful, …
Rev. Marvin R. Vincent.—Amusement: A Force in Christian Training

Second Address.
I beseech yon therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.--ROM. xii. 1,2. I have been thinking about the word in the text, "that"--"that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable, and perfect will of God." This advance in …
Catherine Booth—Godliness

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