1 Thessalonians 5:15: the ban on retaliation reaches outside the church too
15See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone. Instead, always pursue whatever is good, with one another and with all.
The verse this page is about.
Short answer
1 Thessalonians 5:15 asks the community to make sure nobody repays evil for evil, and to pursue what is good always — with one another and with everyone. That final reach is the decisive detail: the instruction does not stop at the edges of the group.
- Written by
- Maria Luisa Navarro Schmitt
- Reviewed by
- Raphael Navarro Schmitt
- Published on
- Reading time
- 2 min read
Two things usually slip past here. The first is that the order has a collective subject: not do not retaliate, but make sure no one retaliates. The watch is kept by everyone over everyone.
The second is the ending. Paul could have stopped at internal life, which would already be demanding. He adds that it also holds with everyone, including the people causing the trouble.
Where this verse appears
The letter is written to a young community, formed recently and already under local pressure. The final chapter is a rapid run of practical instructions for living together.
In the verses immediately before, Paul asks them to put the disruptive right, steady the faint-hearted, hold up the sick and stay patient with everyone. Today’s verse follows that list, and the next one tells them to rejoice always.
What it says
The sentence has two halves and they are not the same move. The first is a prohibition: no returning. The second is a prescription: pursue what is good, with an adverb that hardens the demand — always.
The prohibition is not against reacting but against repaying. The text is not dealing with justice, reporting or protection; it deals with the impulse to make the other person pay. That is a narrower target than passive readings assume, and therefore a more usable one.
The closing phrase is what stops the instruction becoming an internal code. If it held only among believers it would be a rule of religious etiquette. Because it holds with everyone, it is a stance toward the world, including toward people who will not return the kindness.
What to do with it today
The most direct application is about the immediate response. The message you drafted and did not send, the sharp remark saved for the next meeting, the silence calculated to hurt: that is where this verse does its work.
The second half is harder and more interesting. Not retaliating is not enough; the text says go after the good. That might be as small as replying on time to someone who ignored you, or as large as recommending someone who spoke against you.
What the passages say
17Render to no one harm for harm. Provide good things, not only in the sight of God, but also in the sight of all men.
The same prohibition in another letter, with a practical addition: providing good things visibly, before God and before everyone. Christian conduct here has an audience, and that is deliberate.
21Do not allow evil to prevail, instead prevail over evil by means of goodness.
The most compact statement of the logic: evil is not neutralised by resistance but prevailed over by goodness. It explains why the second half of today’s verse is not optional.
A prayer to carry with you
Lord, I know exactly how I would retaliate, and sometimes I have already rehearsed it. Take the wish to settle scores out of me. And show me one concrete good to do right there today. Amen.