<p>12:19 <i>Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God; for it is written: Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord</i>- The desire for vengeance may well refer to conflicts within the church. For &quot;the wrath of God&quot; would be the punishment of those who had done wrong, and this wrath will be poured out at the last day upon those who are responsible to the Lord. The comfort that the Lord's wrath would be upon those who have wronged us is therefore only appropriate to those who are responsible to judgment- largely those within the church.</p><p>We must remember that &ldquo;Vengeance is <i>mine</i> not ours, not the state&rsquo;s, and requital&quot; (Dt. 32:35). That taking of vengeance, that requital, was worked out by God on the cross. There the Lord Jesus was clothed with the &lsquo;garments of vengeance&rsquo; (Is. 59:17); the day of the crucifixion was &ldquo;the day of vengeance&quot; (Is. 63:4). This is one reason why God doesn&rsquo;t operate a tit-for-tat requital of our sins upon our heads- because He dealt with sin and His vengeance for it in the cross, not by any other way. Hence David calls Yahweh the &ldquo;God of revenge&quot;, the one <i>alone</i> to whom vengeance belongs (Ps. 94:1,3). Our response to all this is to believe that truly vengeance is God and therefore we will <i>not </i>avenge ourselves (Rom. 12:19). I take this to apply to all the micro-level &lsquo;takings of vengeance&rsquo; which we so easily do in our words, body language, attitudes etc., in response to the hurt received from others. The cross alone enables us to break the cycle.</p>