Vengeance
Pastor Joseph Holstege examines the biblical doctrine of vengeance, addressing the apparent tension between God's character as a God of vengeance and Christian ethics that forbid personal revenge. Through careful exegesis of Old Testament passages and the Heidelberg Catechism, Holstege argues that Christians must understand vengeance not as a human prerogative but as a necessary and righteous attribute of God's justice and sovereignty.
Vengeance is a scary word. We are inclined to shy away from it, knowing as we do that "desire of revenge" is a sin serious enough that God "accounts" it "as murder" (Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 106). Our mothers were right when they taught us not to throw back the rocks at those who first cast them at us. Part of what makes vengeance so scary is just how intense it can be. Long before any novel or ballad put words to the inferno that ignites in the heart of a person who catches his spouse in the...
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