Colossians 3:25

He that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done.

I. Punishment threatened.

1. To masters.

(1) Imperious masters wrong their servants.

(a) By defrauding them of their clothing, food, or wages.

(b) By imposing labours beyond their strength.

(c) By afflicting them with reproaches and unjust stripes, for all of which see Exodus 5:1.

(2) For these wrongs servants are not to rise against their masters in anger, nor leave their tasks through idleness: God will see due punishment done as He did to the Egyptian oppressors.

2. To servants.

(1) Contumacious servants wrong their masters as far as they do not pay them due obedience and reverence; and deceitful and slothful servants because they do not yield due submission, or do so without sincerity.

(2) These shall be punished for their dishonesty by God the Avenger and Judge (2 Kings 5:1.).

3. Instructions to both.

(1) In all sin it is determined by God that punishment shall be inflicted. What, then, can it profit to have avoided the avenging hand of men, and to fall into the hands of the living God?

(2) Earthly masters, however powerful, cannot with impunity trample on their dependants, for they are subject to God, and must render an account before His tribunal.

(3) Those who are wronged must not revenge, but leave that to God.

II. An objection anticipated.

1. Masters might object, Who shall call us to account? Slaves were accounted as nothing. According to the lawyers no wrong could be done to them. But in case of arraignment, by power and bribery it was easy to secure acquittal. The apostle affirmed that in the final court there was a judge who recognized the rights of slaves and who was not to be terrified by power, nor turned aside by favour or bribes (Job 34:19).

2. Servants might object, If we neglect the duties of our wretched bondage surely the merciful God will not punish us. Paul denies that God can favour the poor more than the rich (Exodus 23:3; Leviticus 19:15).

3. Instructions.

(1) Not only the wrongs done to the great, but those to the small have God alike for their avenger.

(2) It behoves those who act for God on earth to imitate this Divine justice. A judge should be a sanctuary for all impartially. (Bishop Davenant.)

Retribution in this life

Herod the Great, the slayer of the innocents, and first persecutor of Christianity, was overwhelmed with agonizing physical disease; and his numerous family was extinct in a hundred years. Pilate, who condemned Christ, was soon after expelled from office and committed suicide. Nero, after slaying thousands of Christians, attempted to take his own life; but failing through cowardice, called others to his aid. The persecutor Domitian was murdered by his own people. So it was with Caius, Severus, and Heliogabalus. Scarcely one of the prominent persecutors of the Church escaped signal retribution. Claudius was eaten of worms. Decius, Gallus, Aurelian, Maximin all died violent deaths. Maximinius put out the eyes of thousands of subjects, and himself died of a fearful disease of the eyes. Valens, who caused fourscore presbyters to be sent to sea in a ship and burnt alive, was himself defeated by the Goths, fled to a cottage which was fired, and he perished in the flames. (E. Foster.)

The certainty of future retribution

As you stood some stormy day upon a sea cliff, and marked the giant billow rise from the deep to rush on with foaming crest, and throw itself thundering on the trembling shore, did you ever fancy that you could stay its course, and hurl it back into the depths of the ocean? Did you ever stand beneath the leaden, lowering cloud, and mark the lightning’s leap as it shot and flashed, dazzling athwart the gloom, and think that you could grasp the bolt, and change its path? Still more vain and foolish his thought, who fancies that he can arrest or turn aside the purpose of God. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)

The Divine justice

Justice in general is the giving every one their due. In God it is that attribute whereby He disposeth all things according to the rule of equity (Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalms 11:5), and rendereth to every man according to his works without respect of persons (Psalms 62:12; Job 34:11; Job 34:19; Song of Solomon 6:6). God is positively or affirmatively just (Zephaniah 3:5); He is eminently the Just One (Acts 7:52); He is superlatively most just (Job 34:17). Wilt thou condemn Him who is most just? or, as some read it, justice--justice without the least tincture, mixture, or shadow of injustice. He giveth to all their due, without fear of evil. He standeth in awe of none for their power or greatness. His day of vengeance is against the cedars of Lebanon and the oaks of Bashan, and all the high mountains (Isaiah 2:13), without hope of gain. Men are unjust for bribes (Hosea 4:14); but riches prevail not in the day of His wrath (Proverbs 11:4; Ezekiel 7:19). He is no taker of gifts (2 Chronicles 19:7), and without respect to any in their honours or outward excellencies (Jeremiah 22:24). He will not pluck the signet from His hand in the day of His justice. Israel were a people near to Him (Deuteronomy 4:7; Psalms 148:14), yet He doth not spare them when they rebel against Him (Psalms 74:1; Psalms 44:10; Jeremiah 7:12). Adam and the angels were great and excellent beings, yet when they sinned He made them suffer. He accepteth not the persons of princes nor regardeth the rich more than the poor (Job 34:19). Men may do justly, God must do justly. (G. Swinnock.)

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Wrongdoing returns upon the sinner

Do you remember that poem of Southey’s about Sir Ralph the Rover? On the east of Scotland, near Arbroath, in the old days, a good man had placed a float with a bell attached on the dangerous Inchcape Rock, so that the mariners hearing it might keep away. This Sir Ralph the Rover, in a moment of devilry, cut away both float and bell. It was a cruel thing to do. Years passed. Sir Ralph roamed over many parts of the world. In the end he returned to Scotland. As he neared the coast a storm arose. Where was he? Where was the ship drifting? Oh that he knew where he was! Oh that he could hear the bell on the Inchcape Rock! But years ago, in his sinful folly, he, with his own hands, had cut it away. Hark! to that grating sound heard amid the storm, felt amid the breakers; the ship is struck; the rock penetrates her, she goes to pieces, and with curses of rage and despair, the sinner’s sin has found him out; he sinks to rise no more until the great day of judgment. (G. Litting, LL. B.)