Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. This is not the perspective of a pietistic retreat but of confidence in God s government and victory . As much as you lieth means that we are to observe God s requirement with our well being. We are emphatically not told to be passive towards sin but that, faced with evil, we are not to give back evil but rather God s grace and justice.
Civil government exists to give back that justice for evil.
It is no doubt, as we have each experienced at sometime or another, difficult not to respond to the vicious threats of our enemies in kind. It is nevertheless our responsibility to respond in love, with the proper respect for what is right. When we have done our earnest best to bring about resolution, but the other party is still unwilling to resolve matters peacefully, we are told to give place to wrath. Certainly, this refers to the wrath of God. We must then accept the fact that judgment does and will come from God, whether through His instituted earthly authorities or through His own divine intervention.