In his “First Words” editorial in the March 2025 issue of The Christian Century, Peter W. Marty asks a challenging question about the politics of revenge. “The desire for revenge is sweeping our nation. How can Christians counter this?” (Marty 2025).
Do you recall what the Bible says on this topic? Vengeance belongs to God alone (Romans 12:9). In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is quite firm.
‘You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile (Matthew 5:38-41).
On the 7th Sunday after Epiphany, my pastor, Tom Gable at Marin Lutheran Church, must’ve said at least three times in his sermon that we should love and even forgive our enemies.
During the coffee Klatch following worship, some of our fussing and fuming friends exclaimed, “What!? Forgive Trump!? Not on your life!”
If you’re passionate about justice, it’s very difficult to forgive injustice. That’s why we exact retributive justice. The ideal of justice requires that we reap retribution on the unjust. That is, we take revenge. How dare the Bible forbid us from reaping justice against those who have….? Is the Bible treating us unjustly!
The Politics of Revenge in America Today
“I for one,” continues Marty, “never imagined fantasies of retribution being displayed so aggressively by public officials and political influencers bearing grievance and resentment” (Marty 2025). Then Marty reminds us of the 2024 campaign rhetoric of the 47th U.S. President:
“I am your justice….For those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.”
This is the climate within which we live today. How I wish we could say that the politics of vengeance is not climate but only weather, only a storm that will momentarily blow over.
Self-Justification and Justice
In this Patheos series on the good ol’ fashioned doctrine of sin, I have frequently illustrated our human penchant to be right, to be just, to exact justice against those who are unjust. It feels so good to be righteously angry against those who are evil, especially those who have performed evil against either us or those whom we defend.
Anton LaVey’s The Satanic Bible, published by the now defunct Church of Satan, placed on the top of the hedonist’s list of pleasures – not wealth! not popularity! not sex! – but revenge. Satan smiles giddily when we fill ourselves to the ears with the nectar of righteous anger and begin to plot retribution.
Yet, we are in a dilemma. Washington’s politics of revenge is cruel. It is reaping havoc on our institutions, ruining the lives of civil servants, and risking international conflict. We have a responsibility to rise up in anger and re-direct our political life toward the common good, right? Yes, this is right.
How can Christians counter the politics of revenge?
Marty asks: How can Christians counter the politics of revenge? Any answer we offer must be inescapably complex. Why? Because it’s healthy to feel righteous anger when defending the victims of injustice. It’s healthy to want to rebalance the scales of justice. It’s healthy to pick up the downtrodden and make recompense to those cheated, excluded, or bombed into oblivion.
What about the situation when we ourselves are the victim of injustice? Now, it is getting still more complicated. Regardless of the complications, Jesus takes no prisoners. No revenge!
Conclusion
The MAGA Moscow wing of the Republican Party now in power has two agendas: (1) revenge on behalf of the president and (2) repaying the 0.1% of America’s wealthiest for their campaign support. Regarding the second, UCC pastor Jeffrey Franz articulates a Christian strategy: “As Christians and as Americans, lifting up the common good is our hill to die on. It is where we take our stand that God’s purposes might be realized both in us and through us.”
What, then, is the antidote to the politics of revenge? Peter Marty tells us to “turn more attentively to the kind of life scripture proposes for us” (Marty 2025). Yes indeed. But I still ask: what next?
Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971) was a long-time friend of The Christian Century. Sometimes, Niebuhr ruminated, ardent love requires that we exact justice even if force is required. Not selfish love as might be implied in the word, revenge. Rather disinterested love aimed at righting wrongs, rescuing the endangered, and protecting the weak against the strong. “Resistance to government is as important a principle of justice as maintenance of government” (Niebuhr 1941, 2:195). Does Luther’s idea, sin boldly, come to mind? (Peters 2015)
Might Niebuhr offer a clue to interpret what “scripture proposes for us” now?
Patheos ST 2168 SIN 18. Politics of Revenge
SIN 7 The true story of Satanic Panic
SIN 8 How can Satan cast out Satan?
SIN 9 Ted’s Tips on Satan and Demons
SIN 11 Sin-Talk and Grace-Talk
SIN 13 Trump, Unity, and the Scapegoat
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For Patheos, Ted Peters posts articles and notices in the field of Public Theology. He is a Lutheran pastor and emeritus professor at the Graduate Theological Union. He co-edits the journal, Theology and Science, with Robert John Russell on behalf of the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, in Berkeley, California, USA. His single volume systematic theology, God—The World’s Future, is now in the 3rd edition. He has also authored God as Trinity plus Sin: Radical Evil in Soul and Society as well as Sin Boldly: Justifying Faith for Fragile and Broken Souls. More recently, The Voice of Public Theology, has been published by ATF Press. See his website: TedsTimelyTake.com.
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References
Marty, Peter. 2025. “A dish best not served.” The Christian Century, March.
Niebuhr, Reinhold. 1941. The Nature and Destiny of Man, 2 Volumes. New York: Scribners.
Peters, Ted. 2015. Sin Boldly! Minneapolis MN: Fortress Press.
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