Ye have heard that it has been said, Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.
The words "an eye for an eye" come from Israel's law books. Why does Jesus begin with a rule God Himself gave — and what does He do with it?
The saying was not advice for a bruised individual deciding how to get even. It belonged to the courtroom, and the Old Testament passages that state it name the judges who were to apply it.
Once that rule leaves the bench and enters private hands, it stops being justice at all.
In verse 38 the Lord quotes from Exodus 21:24. "An eye for an eye" is fully righteous recompense, expressing the firm inflexibility of the law. Of course the sentence must be passed by a judge, not by the offended party. If one takes the law into his own hands, he will practically in every case inflict worse treatment than he received.
Modern ears hear this rule as savage. Set beside what an injured man really wants, it works the other way round.
Under the old economy we find that the law laid down the principle, in righteousness, "An eye for an eye" (Ex. 21:24), thereby restraining the wrath of man. Otherwise he would have demanded two eyes for one, in vengeance.
Jesus does not sharpen this rule or improve it. He names it so that what comes next will stand out against it.
This is not a stricter law. It is a different principle, and it rests on what the hearer has already received.
The law demands an exact equivalent — no more, and no less. But grace can cancel every claim. God has dealt with us in grace and cancelled our whole debt, so we must act on the same principle towards one another. But never forget that righteousness is the deep foundation of grace itself. That is why grace reigns through righteousness (Rom. 5:21), on a basis that is everlasting and unchanging.
Giving up personal payback is not the same as abolishing courts and rulers. Commentators keep the two apart.
Here the Lord instructs His disciples in their own personal path, not in their dealings with rulers. He sets their calling to walk in grace — in what they do and in what they bear — against that of the Jews, who were called to act in the righteousness of the law. It is absurd to apply such a passage to a government or a court of this world. If it did apply, it would prove that magistrates ought to pamper and reward every criminal instead of punishing any.
One writer says the people of that day were misusing the rule: "It was not for them to avenge themselves, but it was given as instruction to the judges" (The Bible Treasury). Another writer disagrees.
The principle "an eye for an eye" was valid only before the judges in Israel. We see this too in that the Jew was not allowed to take vengeance: "You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Lev. 19:18). It is not correct to suppose the Lord Jesus was referring to it because the Pharisees might have allowed it.
Jesus did not only teach this yielding. He lived it.
He presented far more than the other cheek, for they spat in His face, and beat Him, and struck Him with the palms of their hands with the utmost contempt. No! the Lord yielded to wrong instead of resisting it; and such is the true calling of the Christian.
- Measured — the law asked for an exact equal, no more and no less: a ceiling on revenge, not a licence for it.
- Judicial — God gave the rule to Israel's judges, not to the injured party. Left to the injured man, it always overpays.
- Quoted — Jesus names the rule and then leaves it behind.
- Grace — people whose own debt is cancelled release claims instead of collecting them. And grace itself stands on righteousness.
- Limited — the surrender is personal. Courts and rulers still carry out justice. Christ Himself is the pattern of the yielding.
But *I* say unto you, not to resist evil; but whoever shall strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other;
Jesus has just quoted the old rule of "an eye for an eye." Now He tells His disciples to meet a personal insult with the other cheek. Two questions follow at once: is He overturning justice itself, and did He mean this literally?
The words Jesus repeats come from Israel's law. They belonged in a courtroom, not in a private quarrel.
This law contained moral directions for the life of each Israelite. It contained ceremonial directions too — the laws of the offerings, so that the children of Israel could serve God. And it contained legal directions to regulate the daily life of the people. The principle of "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth" belongs to the last group. It is not a principle for one person's conscience. It is a legal direction for the authorities and judges of Israel. This is clear from Exodus 21:22 and Deuteronomy 19:18, where the judges are expressly mentioned. The direction rested on absolute fairness in repaying the deed. It was also meant to warn the people and hold them back (Deut. 19:20).
So Jesus is not calling the old measure unfair. He is asking for something the law never asked.
It is not that it is wrong for a man to punish according to the injury that has been inflicted on another. "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth" is perfectly righteous. But our Lord shows that we ought to be much more than righteous. We ought to be gracious… It is clear the Lord has no reference here to what governments have to do… He is speaking of personal injury. The evil done may be ever so undeserved, but it has to be overcome with good. Show that you are willing to take even more for Christ's sake.
The detail of which cheek is struck is not decoration. It marks the blow as an insult rather than an injury.
At that time a slap in the face was a deep insult. It was even more humiliating when it came with the back of the hand and so landed on the right cheek. According to the Jewish Talmud this offence "weighed double" compared to an ordinary slap. The disciples of the Lord Jesus ought not to look for reparation before men, but to suffer offences (compare 1 Peter 2:20). It reminds us of what Isaiah foretold about our Lord: "I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting" (Isa. 50:6).
The command has a boundary, and the wording draws it — every case Jesus lists happens to you.
There is no supposition that the law or its penalties are abolished. The government of the world is not in question. What is in question is the path of disciples in it… We may still turn the left cheek to the man who strikes the right. We may let the man who sues us have the cloak as well as the coat he took by fraud. That is clearly within our rights. If the cause were someone else's, we would have no such right. We may not help men escape justice or make light of it. The Lord could never lay down a general rule that His people should allow lawlessness, or shrug at the rights of others. He speaks only of what is personal to oneself — "slaps you," "sues you," "forces you."
Many soften the saying by pointing to Jesus' own reply when a servant struck Him at His trial. Kelly answers that objection:
Some pare down and whittle away His words. They are not ashamed to argue that He did not mean them literally. Their reason: when He was struck on the face for His answer to the high priest, He protested calmly while bowing to the insult. Was this paying evil back in its own coin? On the contrary. This was One who did no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth. When He was reviled, He did not revile in return. When He suffered, He did not threaten. In fact He presented far more than the other cheek. They spat in His face, beat Him, and struck Him with their hands in utmost contempt.
This life is not a stricter rule to try harder at. It is a different path altogether.
The saint is given a path through this world which has nothing to do with the world, but which displays the character of Christ in it. … This would not be righteousness, but Christ displayed.
- Law — "an eye for an eye" was a fair rule handed to Israel's judges, never a licence for the injured man to settle his own score.
- Grace — Jesus does not call that rule unjust. He calls His disciples past justice into grace, ready to bear more wrong instead of repaying it.
- Christ — the standard is His own face, given to those who struck and spat. The disciple follows a Master who took far more than one blow.
- Limits — the wording keeps it personal: he slaps you, sues you, forces you. It gives no cover to lawlessness and no right to give away what belongs to someone else.
- Life — this path is not law kept better but Christ displayed: a way through the world that has nothing to do with the world.