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Gospel of Matthew - Chapter 5 - Nonresistance

by Paul George  
3/26/2008 / Bible Studies

Matthew 5:38-42

"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' But I tell you, don't resist him who is evil; but whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. If anyone sues you to take away your coat, let him have your cloak also. Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. Give to him who asks you, and don't turn away him who desires to borrow from you'" (WEB).

These verses have been described by many in the following ways; the hard sayings of Jesus; the most difficult verses in the Bible; exaggeration and impossible; commands for another world. However, Jesus' teaching here is confronting the popular misuse and abuse of the Old Testament law, known as the law of retaliation.

Jesus' instructions in this passage raise several questions for us to consider.

First, what is the relationship between Jesus' teaching and the Old Testament law of an eye for an eye?

Second, what is the contrast between His teaching and that of the Jewish leadership and populace? Jesus stated earlier that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you would not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Third, what does Jesus require of His disciples? Does the teaching go beyond what we as Christians are able to realistically do? Does it push us to our ethical limits? Does it take us to the "edge of the possible"?

The law of retaliation is stated three times in the Old Testament. First, in Exodus 21:22-25, it is cited in a way that protected a pregnant woman and her child from death or injury that might occur if two men were in a fight.

Second, in Leviticus 24:17-22, it is applied generally to any case where a crime of murder or intentional maiming occurred.

Third, in Deuteronomy 19:15-21, it occurs in a passage to prevent perjury and using the court to execute or punish an otherwise innocent individual.

Let us now go to Jesus' teaching in Matthew 5:38; Jesus is contrasting His teaching with the teaching of the scribes and Pharisees. Note, if you well, unlike the three Old Testament passages, the first part of the formula, "life for life" is not cited; rather "eye for eye" is the first element. The Jewish discussion had separated the clause related to capital punishment to focus on the issue of the maiming penalty. These maiming clauses then became for some the justification for personal revenge. In this passage, Jesus is not dealing with life-threatening crimes or crimes of bodily maiming. Rather, they are issues of insult, offense, and inconvenience.
In verse 39 Jesus said, "don't resist him who is evil; but whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also."

What does Jesus mean? Who is the evil person? The following four examples clarify this. The evil person is the person who: 1) slaps you on the cheek; 2) sues you for your clothes; 3) forces you to go a mile; 4) asks you for money.

What should the disciple do? Do not resist or retaliate? Yes, but Jesus' call to discipleship goes beyond a passive response. He further calls us to take a positive action: 1) turn the other cheek; 2) give your cloak as well as your tunic; 3) go the extra mile; and 4) give or lend to the person who asks you.

The first example; "Whoever slaps you on the right cheek." If you are right-handed, and you slap someone on the right cheek, what have you done? You have given them a backhanded slap. The Jews considered a backhanded slap twice as insulting as a slap with the palm of the hand.

Now suppose this happens to you. One day you are going about your business and someone you know walks up to you and unjustly insult you by giving you a backhanded slap across the face. Your first instinct may be to strike back. The Jewish Rabbis had a law based on oral tradition that said you could seek restitution in court. Therefore, in that culture, you could take him to court and sue him for insult. However, remember that Jesus is contrasting His system of righteousness with that of the scribes and Pharisees. What did Jesus say you are to do, "turn the other to him also?" In other words, do not strike back, take the person to court or even ask, "Why did you do that?" Jesus teaches none of these. However, He does say to actively and voluntarily turn the other cheek, exposing it to another slap.

Second example; "If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt." Now why would anyone want to sue someone for a piece of clothing? It is hard to understand this one without some Old Testament background, so let us look at two passages.

The first is Exodus 22:25-27, which reads; "If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, you are not to act as a creditor to him; you shall not charge him interest. If you ever take your neighbor's clock as a pledge, you are to return it to him before the sunsets, for that is his only covering; it is his clock for his body. What else shall he sleep in? And it shall come about that when he cries out to Me, I will hear him, for I am gracious."

The second is Deuteronomy 24:10-13, "When you make your neighbor a loan of any sort, you shall not enter his house to take his pledge. You shall remain outside, and the man to whom you make the loan shall bring the pledge out to you. If he is a poor man, you shall not sleep with his pledge. When the sun goes down you surely shall return the pledge to him, that he may sleep in his clock and bless you; and it will be righteousness for you before the Lord your God."
Under the Old Testament borrowing laws, a poor person who borrowed money could provide a garment as a pledge or collateral to help ensure that he would pay the loan back. Normal practice at the time would be that people would wear a lighter inner tunic and also a heavier outer garment or cloak to be used in colder conditions. So why would a person give such a piece of clothing for collateral? Well, if he was poor, that may be all that he had. But it gets awfully cold at night sometimes even in the desert depending on the time of year, so the Old Testament had a provision that required that the garment be returned to the poor person every night for warmth. So let us say that the poor person took out a 30-day loan. No interest would be charged and the pledge, the garment, would have to exchange hands between borrower and lender every day twice a day for 30 days.

What if one of the parties violated one of these provisions? What if the lender came, stood outside the house, and asked for the garment and the borrower refused? What if the poor person felt rightly that the loan was already paid off and the exchange of garment was no longer required? This is where a lawsuit and court injunction might come into play, and the Pharisees had detailed rules for using the court system as the tool for dealing with the problem.

Jesus, however, has a bold and radical approach, "If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also" (Matthew 5:40). He does not say sue him back; He does not say use the courts to prove you are correct; He does not even say just go ahead rightly or wrongly and give him the garment. After all, Deuteronomy said if the one garment was returned according to the law that was enough. However, Jesus says give him both garments. Jesus here is not only setting a standard of righteousness different from that of the scribes and Pharisees, but He is also going beyond the specific standard set forth in the Mosaic Law.

Third example; "Whoever forces you to go one mile; go with him two" (Matthew 5:41).

The historical background to this situation is the Roman law that required an individual from a conquered country to carry a load or pack up to one mile on foot if asked by a Roman. It was compulsory service. It was not popular; it was hated; it was done grudgingly. The scribes and the Pharisees particularly despised these laws being used by the ruling powers.

Now suppose a Roman soldier comes along and says carry my pack for a mile. What should you do? Should you verbally deny the request, and run? Should you comply with the request, meet the legal requirement, and go with him the mile, no more and no less? Maybe you mumble and complain the whole way. Jesus said, do not deny the request, comply with the request, meet the legal requirement, and go with him another mile.

Fourth example; "Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you" (Matthew 5:42).

The Old Testament has a strong ethic of promoting loans and gifts to those in need. The scribes and Pharisees also did, but much of it was enveloped in a system of regulations and rules predicated on ensuring repayment. However, going to Jesus' teaching on this subject cited in Luke gives a little more information.

Luke 6:34-35 "If you lend to those from who you expect to receive what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men."

The key phrase is, "expecting nothing in return." In other words, make the loan to the person in need, but expect nothing in return; if he cannot or does not repay, consider it a gift.

So what should we do? Go broke and comply with every request?

Let us say you know someone in the church who has lost his or her job. They ask you for a loan. What should we do? We could say "No." We could say "Okay" but draw up a contract that has stiff penalties for late repayment or nonpayment that may put the brother further and further in debt. On the other hand, we could say "Yes," let the brother repay it, but if he cannot, our attitude as Jesus says is to expect nothing in return.

What should we do when we are confronted with situations like this, when we are offended, when we are insulted, we have two choices: we can escalate the conflict with retaliation, or we can be a peacemaker. We are peacemakers when we de-escalate these situations of conflict and extend a blessing instead.

The difficult part of applying Jesus' teaching is determining what a disciple of Jesus should do when personally confronted with these types of situations.

Retired pastor,Church of the Nazarene

Author of web site Exploring God's Word

www.thewordofgodonline.net

New American Standard Bible

King James Version

The World English Bible

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