Matthew Poole and continuators on Romans 12:21

21. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good .

This Verse is a divine Aphorisme: therein the Apostle Anticipates an objection. Some might be ready to say, if we should follow this Advice we should be counted Cowards and Dastards, &c. To this he Answers, That tis the ready way to be Triumphers and Conquerors. By evil, here, he means, the wrongs and injuries of men; and to be overcome of evil, is to be mov'd and provoked thereby to Impatience or Malice. When tis thus with a Man, he is overcome, or conquered: in revenge of injuries, he is a loser that gets the better. Therefore he Exhorts us, rather to overcome evil with good, that is a Noble Victory indeed: This is the way not to be Even with him that wrongs us, but to be Above him. Thus David overcame Saul, and Elisha the Bands of Syria. This is the way to overcome our selves, and our Adversaries too; Our selves, in denying our lusts that egge us on to Revenge; our Adversaries, in winning them to relent and acknowledge their miscarriages.