<p>12:17 <i>Render to no one evil for evil. Take thought to do things honourably in the sight of all men- </i>The spirit of grace received from God is that we received good for our evil; to render evil for evil, when we received good for evil, is therefore a denial of the grace we received. 1 Thess. 5:15 also teaches us not to render evil for evil, but on the basis that we should be consumed with always following after what is good. And it is with this thought that this section concludes in :21- we should overcome evil with good, and not with more evil. For this, in the bigger picture, is God's way of triumphing over evil through His grace in Christ. &quot;Honourably&quot; is literally 'good'; the idea is not that Paul inserts here a random injunction to give no bad appearances to people. Instead of rewarding evil with evil, we instead should plan to do <i>good </i>'do things honourably', NEV before men. For this is the summary conclusion of :21, that evil is to be overcome by good.</p>