In Matthew 5, in addition to the Beatitudes, Jesus uses six antitheses to talk about the law in an internalized way.  This past Sunday (10/22) we looked at the 4th and the 5th during the Sunday Sunday sermon; His discussion about oaths and His discussion about retaliation.  I concluded that God calls us to live honest lives of service to others, and I stand by that, but I regret that I left some things unsaid regarding turning the other cheek and its relation to self-defense.

Levitical law* puts a limit on how much a plaintiff can ask for (or take) in a civil case.  “Take” because the Jews in Jesus’ time didn’t have access to courts and the temptation was to take “justice” into their own hands.  Jesus famously said, “You have heard it said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also..’”  In a right-handed world, a slap on the right cheek is most likely a back-hand, meaning an insult more than a deadly attack.  So not resisting is putting up with the sting of humiliation rather than the risk of life (as I made it out to be from the pulpit).  On Sunday I was envisioning a life or death encounter and shared one third of my own personal conviction (Romans 14:5b).

1. If someone is threatening my life and I have the ability to “return fire”, it occurs to me that even though I have the right to self defense in the USA and even though the Bible doesn’t prohibit self-defense, both the thrust of the Sermon on the Mount and the logic that I have a guaranteed home in heaven and my enemy might not, is enough to stay my hand.
2. If someone is attacking my family it is MY job to stop them; up to and including deadly force, if absolutely needed.
3. I believe that law enforcement and the military were ordained by God and carry “the sword” to avenge evil  (Romans 13:1-7).  It’s my conviction that a Christian ought to be able to serve in either. 

Conclusion:  “Turn the other cheek” could justifiably apply only to insults and those only of a spiritual nature, all the way through to conscientious objection to all forms of violence.   My personal stand is simply against personal self-defense and that’s not a stand that really gets tested.  I think in my world and yours, “turning the other cheek”  is more about not responding in, or holding bitterness against, those who step on our feelings!  That said, convictions about home defense and about carrying arms in public service ought to be based on Scripture and personal conviction.  Just like eating meat from a pagan market, or which holidays you honor, your conviction is not my concern as long as you are standing rightly before God and mine isn’t yours as long as I’m also square with God!   “Whatever is not from faith, is sin” (Romans 14:23b).

Pastor Scott 

*Leviticus 24:19-21 NASB 1995

“ If a man injures his neighbor, just as he has done, so it shall be done to him:  fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; just as he has injured a man, so it shall be inflicted on him.  Thus the one who kills an animal shall make it good, but the one who kills a man shall be put to death.”

But I can certainly live each day as if it isn’t! Shame on me, if I do! ~Pastor Scott

On Sunday I preached the third message in a sermon series on the Sermon on the Mount.  We covered the first of Jesus’ six antitheses:

“You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.” (Matthew 5:21-22)

In the aisle and in the Fellowship Hall, after the service, I was asked about God’s anger, about Christ in overturning tables in the temple, and about us calling people or things foolish, that God calls foolish. 

All good questions; with compound answers.

1. Human (fleshly) anger serves no good purpose.  It hurts us, it destroys our homes, it ruins our testimony, etc.  The verse list is long, but please search “anger” in your favorite Bible program if you aren’t convinced.
2. God’s anger is holy and always directed at sin and sinfulness.
   1. The phrase “righteous indignation” has been coined to represent humans who are angry at sin on God’s behalf.
   2. I’m certain Moses felt righteously indignant when he struck the rock at Meribah that resulted in his dying outside the Promised Land.
   3. I too feel pretty incensed at things like abortion and other flagrant injustice, but do I have the standing to “burn with anger?”
      1. In John 8 Jesus welcomes whoever is without sin to cast the first stone
      2. In Matthew 7 Jesus tells us to first remove the log from our own eye..
      3. Perhaps I had better look at my own heart before I verbally cut out someone else’s!
   4. Paul seems to acknowledge that anger arises outside of our control, but we can control how long it burns (Eph 4:26). 
   5. And James says we don’t have the standing to judge (condemn) anyone as that right is reserved for God alone. (4:11-12)

Please be berean.  Yes, the Bible is full of godly men and women who sometimes get angry.  It is also full of proverbial warnings about the folly of anger;  epistolary warnings about the dangers of anger; and, here we have our Savior saying, it’s no different than murder.  

If Moses wasn’t allowed, then I suspect I’m not allowed either.  I doubt any of us will ever experience the kind of temporal consequences he experienced and praise God Jesus already suffered our eternal consequence! 

Pastor Scott

“Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)