Recently I was asked and at the same time, informed by a younger sister of a good friend, that it is hard for her to consider God because of a difficult issued that she is facing and the injunction of Jesus who said “But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.”
There are two places in the Bible where Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek. The first occurrence is in Matthew 5:38-39 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.” The second is found in Luke 6:29a “To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also.”
What do these verses mean, both for Jesus’ audience in His days, and for us, in the world today?
At first glance, Matthew 5:39 can be perplexing. Does this Scripture verse teach that no matter what someone does to us, we are to look the other way, or suggesting that Jesus wants His followers to be doormats, allowing others to beat them up? Is this a call to compliant and weak surrender to aggressors? (Bearing in mind too that God says in Psalm 94: 15-16: “But judgment will return to righteousness, And all the upright in heart will follow it. Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?” We should let Scripture interprets Scripture as there is harmony in God’s Word.) Christians to be pushovers Pacifism? This is not the meaning Jesus put forward in His sermon.
When Jesus told the people they should turn the other cheek, He was preaching at the well-known Sermon on the Mount, referred to as the Beatitudes; a declaration of blessedness. It is a call to moral living for all that hear Him. Many people and some Christians alike get it incorrect about this Verse? Most give Jesus’ words a literal translation and interpretation and that is where one missed the point Jesus was trying to render or make.
Jesus is not telling us to let people do whatever they please to us. He is not saying we are to stand by and do nothing when ourselves or others are being hurt. We are called to respond when we or others are hurting – especially standing up for others that are hurting. “Retaliation” but not revenge, is needed at times. Christians can question those who wrong them. We should practice self-protection without a desire for personal revenge. Romans 12:19 “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.”
If Matthew 5:38-48 were taken literally at all times, we would have to let everyone take advantage of us. Turning the other cheek would become an encouragement for evil. This isn’t what Jesus had in mind or to convey. His dramatic examples, illustrate to His disciples the need to give up any sense of entitlement or motivation to personal vengeance. By asking them to turn the other cheek, Jesus meant that His disciples should be motivated by love and a desire for the redemption and forgiveness of offenders—even when opposing their actions. This verse is not saying that we are to let people do whatever they want to us. Rather, it is saying that God will handle it.
After all, Jesus censured the Pharisees who attacked Him in Matthew 23. In John 18:22-23, Jesus objected when He was struck in the face by an official of the high priest. His response was to question why he was struck in the face. He asked the official to tell him what he said that was an untruth. Further, He advised His disciples to take measures to defend themselves, videlicet, Matthew 10:16 “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” What Jesus asks of His followers is not passivity, but surrender of the right to personal revenge.
Looking back into the Old Testament, we see David sparing Saul’s life again and again. 1 Samuel 26:9-11 tells us that David left the punishment of Saul to the Lord.
What this verse tells us is that we are not to get revenge and let God do with them what He will. God has the sole power to punish people who sin.
This verse is not addressing what Christians should do when we are wronged. It is addressing the act of revenge that our sinful nature will want. Christians are to stand up for what we believe in. We are not to plan an act of revenge. Do not say, “I will recompense evil”; Wait for the Lord, and He will save you. Proverbs 20:22 says “Do not say, I’ll pay you back for this wrong! Wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you.”
In Genesis 37 we read the account of Joseph who was sold into slavery by his own brothers. They were extremely jealous of him and wanted him gone. Joseph spent many years in Egypt where he was enslaved and imprisoned, but he also experienced God’s protection, grace and great favour. When a famine hit the land, when Joseph was Second-in-Command (after Pharaoh) of all Egypt, he was reunited with his brothers. He could have had them imprisoned or killed, but his response was neither. Genesis 50:19-21 “Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.”
In 1 and 2 Samuel, we read the account of David as he experiences the wrath of Saul. David’s life was in danger and he could have killed Saul, but he chose not to. The experiences of Joseph and David tell us that there is a time to fight and there is a time to turn the other cheek.
We must be careful that when we confront evil, so that we do not harbour a desire for personal vengeance. When we are wronged, we are to use the word of God to retaliate – we are to confront, correct and rebuke evil with His word. We “do not retaliate against violence with violence” against the one who is evil.”
Jesus did not say we were to stand aside and do nothing. The Bible gives us a good example of how we should act when we are wronged. Paul is before the Sanhedrin explaining his duty to God when the high priest Ananias strikes him on the mouth. Paul’s response was to inform Ananias that God would strike him. (Notice, he didn’t literally turn his other cheek to be slapped again). Acts 23:1-3: Then Paul, looking earnestly at the council, said, “Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.” And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?”
In the ancient Jewish culture, the right hand was clean, while the left was reserved for unclean tasks. If someone struck your cheek, they would have used their right hand to do so. And Jesus specifies that, in this case, someone is striking your right cheek. It’s a backhanded slap — an insult. It’s the sort of slap you give when you’re not expecting anyone to resist.
But what Jesus teaches here is a radical kind of resistance. We need to look at Jesus’ actual words. “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,’” he says. “But I say to you, Do not resist an evil-doer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.” (Matthew 5:38-41). Thus, turning one’s left cheek is an act of defiance. To backhand them again would require the left hand, an unspoken admission of the uncleanliness of one’s actions. Turning the left cheek, in this context, is to do far, far more than roll over and accept injustice. It’s to defy the violence of the world, but to do so from a place of active resistance, responding with humility and courage in the fear of God.
The Old Testament law placed limitations on vengeance (Exodus 21:23-25). Although, the “eye for an eye” provision of the Mosaic law has often been misunderstood as requiring vengeance, its actual purpose was to place limitations on it. The law prescribed that punishment must fit the crime. The law wouldn’t permit taking a life in revenge for an insult or a minor injury. If an eye were put out, only an eye could be taken; if a tooth, only a tooth.
Jesus went much further than the law, making it clear that He wasn’t merely calling for more limitations on vengeance. In Matthew 5:38-48, He implied that we must give up personal vengeance altogether. But as illustrated above in the Bible, there is a difference between confronting evil and seeking personal revenge. In other words, it’s true that Jesus’ call is a call to nonviolence. But it is not a call to passivity. Instead, Jesus was telling his followers to stand against the way of violence not with violence, but with a different kind of power. We can see it in the life Jesus modelled, all the way to the cross and beyond.
