Turning the other cheek

Charles Spurgeon, et al.

(Be sure to LISTEN to the Audio, as you READ the text below.)

Matthew 5:38–39, "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you: Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also."

The commands of Christ to forbear wrongs and refuse retaliation, stab at the very heart of sinful human nature. From birth, we are quick to defend our pride, and eager to repay harm with harm. The unsaved man lives by the creed, "Get even!" echoing the world's distortion of justice, "Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth." But this earthly maxim, when severed from the holiness of God's Word, degenerates into self-centered vengeance. It feeds on the pride that exalts SELF, rather than submitting to the righteous Judge who says, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay" (Romans 12:19).

Christ's teaching in the Sermon on the Mount radically reverses this sinful instinct. He commands not retaliation, but restraint; not pride, but humility; not bitterness, but forgiveness. His words are not a denial of justice, but a call to entrust justice to God. The believer's response to wrongs is not born from weakness, but from strength--the strength of the Spirit. To "turn the other cheek" and to "bless those who persecute you" (Romans 12:14) is to reflect the character of our Savior, who "when He was reviled, did not revile in return… but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly" (1 Peter 2:23).

Such forbearance is exclusively a Christian virtue. It cannot arise from the unregenerate heart, for fallen humanity is enslaved to self-interest. The world's system extols pride and self-assertion; Christ's kingdom magnifies humility and self-denial. Non-retaliation is the fruit of regeneration--the Spirit's transforming work in a true believer. Only those who have received mercy, can extend mercy. Therefore, the believer's refusal to retaliate is not cowardice, but strength. It displays the cross-shaped life of one who is dying to self, and living for the glory of God.

Humility, forbearance, non-retaliation, forgiveness, meekness, and mercy--are uniquely Christian virtues. The unsaved world frowns on these virtues as weakness and cowardliness. Jesus commands these virtues, as foundational for Christian character.

"If we would be like Jesus, we must be willing to be wronged, rather than retaliate. He who is most like Jesus, will be most ready to forgive. The nearer we live to the cross, the less we will think of vindicating ourselves. The meek Christian is the strong Christian."

"A Christian man is a sheep among wolves, and yet he must not grow a wolf's nature. Let the ungodly howl and bite--but he must still be a sheep."

"Revenge is a weed that grows in human nature, but forgiveness is a rare flower that blooms only where Jesus has been planted."

"Our Master's kingdom was not built by the sword, but by the preaching of Christ crucified."

"True strength lies not in striking back, but in suffering wrongs without a spirit of revenge. Meekness is the strength of a man who has mastered himself. The world calls it weakness; Jesus calls it blessedness."

"To suffer wrongfully and bear it patiently, is what Jesus practiced. To endure reproach and forgive it for Jesus' sake, is one of the highest attainments of Christian virtue."