Therefore if your enemy hungers, feed him; if he thirsts, give him drink: for in so doing you shall heap coals of fire on his head.
All Commentaries on Romans 12:20 Go To Romans 12
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
This may seem to many people to contradict what the Lord teaches, that we should love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, or the apostle’s own statements [in verses and ] above. For how can it be love to feed and nourish someone just in order to heap coals of fire on his head, assuming that “coals of fire” means some serious punishment? Therefore we must understand that this means that we should provoke whoever does us harm to repentance by doing him a good turn. For the coals of fire serve to burn, i.e., to bring anguish to his spirit, which is like the head of the soul, in which all malice is burnt out when one is changed for the better through repentance. These coals of fire are mentioned in the Psalms: “What should be given to you or what appointed to you, for your deceitful tongue? Sharp arrows of the warrior with devouring burning coals.”
