Albert Barnes Commentary Romans 12:14

"Bless them that persecute you; bless, and curse not." — Romans 12:14 (ASV)

Bless them, etc. (See Barnes on Matthew 5:44).

Compare to Luke 6:28.

Bless, and curse not. Bless only; or continue to bless, however long or aggravated the injury may be. Do not be provoked to anger, or to cursing, by any injury, persecution, or reviling. This is one of the most severe and difficult duties of the Christian religion; and it is a duty that nothing else but religion will enable people to perform.

To curse denotes, properly, to devote to destruction. Where there is power to do it, it implies the destruction of the object. Thus the fig tree that was cursed by the Savior soon withered away (Mark 11:21). Thus those whom God curses will be certainly destroyed (Matthew 25:41). Where there is not power to do it, to curse implies invoking the aid of God to devote to destruction.

Hence it means to imprecate; to implore a curse from God to rest on others; or to pray that God would destroy them. In a larger sense still, it means to abuse by reproachful words; to calumniate; or to express oneself in a violent, profane, and outrageous manner. In this passage, it seems to have special reference to this.