Romans 12:21

Romans 12:21. Be not overcome by evil, i.e., injury done you, but overcome evil with good. This sums up the entire matter respecting the treatment of adversaries: When we requite evil for evil, we are overcome, when we return good for evil, we overcome it. So Christ did on the cross. When we do this, we achieve the greatest victory of love: we win by yielding; we gain by giving; we avenge by forgiving; we conquer by forgetting ourselves so as to return good for evil. ‘Men whose minds can withstand argument, and whose hearts rebel against threats, are not proof against the persuasive influence of unfeigned love; there is, therefore, no more important collateral reason for being good, than that it increases our power to do good.' (Hodge.)