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MATTHEW 5:39 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Matt 5:38Matt 5:40
“But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.”
But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. The do not resist that Jesus commands is not passive acceptance of all injustice but the refusal to meet violence with violence on the personal level. The right cheek slap was a specific insult in the ancient world — striking someone on the right cheek with the right hand required a backhand, which was the gesture of humiliating someone of lower social standing. Turning the other cheek is not masochism but a defiant refusal to play by the humiliator's rules — it refuses the options of submission or retaliation and creates a third way that disarms the power dynamic. Romans 12:21 says do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Church Fathers on Matthew 5:39

The Lord having taught that we are not to offer injury to our neighbour, or irreverence to the Lord, now proceeds to shew how the Christian should demean himself to those that injure him.

Gloss (Glossa Ordinaria) · medieval compilation · non occ.

This law, 'Eye for eye, tooth for tooth,' was enacted to repress the flames of mutual hate, and to be a check on their undisciplined spirits. For who when he would take revenge, was ever content to return just so much harm as he had received? Do we not see men who have suffered some trifling hurt, straightway plot murder, thirst for blood, and hardly find evil enough that they can do to their enemies for the satisfying their rage?

Augustine · 4th century · cont. Faust., xix, 25

For without this command, the commands of the Law could not stand. For if according to the Law we begin all of us to render evil for evil, we shall all become evil, since they that do hurt abound. But if according to Christ we resist not evil, though they that are evil be not amended, yet they that are good remain good.

Pseudo-Chrysostom · 5th century
Read all 28 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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Matthew 5:39 — Community Reflections | HolyStudy