Matthew 5:38-48
This is the last and most demanding of the sermon's six contrasts: replacing measured retaliation with non-retaliation, and replacing love-of-neighbour with love of enemies. Jesus grounds the demand in God's own character, who gives sun and rain without distinguishing the deserving from the undeserving.
38Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: 39But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. 41And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. 42Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. 43Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
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What the labels mean
- ScriptureThe King James Version, public domain, quoted exactly. Never edited, never paraphrased.
- Context / MeaningEditorial background and plain-language explanation written for this app.
- Modern interpretationPsychology, behaviour or science, shown only when it genuinely helps. Never proof of a theological claim.
- ReflectiveSymbolic and personal readings. Ways of thinking with the text, not what the author meant.
- PracticeSomething realistic you might do. An invitation you choose, not a command from God.
Written study
A curated study written for these verses: context, meaning, connections, reflection, alignment and practice.
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The short version
- What is happening
- The sixth and final of the 'ye have heard.
- Why it matters here
- Jesus moves the lex talionis, a legal limit, out of the courtroom and into personal conduct, replacing it with non-retaliation to insult and imposition (a slap, a lawsuit, forced labour).
- One key idea
- This is the last and most demanding of the sermon's six contrasts: replacing measured retaliation with non-retaliation, and replacing love-of-neighbour with love of enemies. Jesus grounds the demand in God's own character, who gives sun and rain without distinguishing the deserving from the undeserving.
- One connection
- Jesus of Nazareth — Person
Where in my life am I currently keeping score, even in small ways?
A summary of what follows. Editorial, not Scripture.
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Answers are drawn from what is written for Matthew 5:38-48, the people and places named in it, and this book's background. No AI service is connected in this build, so nothing here is machine-generated.
UnderstandWhat is happening herePlain language, faithful to the setting — plus who wrote it and why.
Jesus moves the lex talionis, a legal limit, out of the courtroom and into personal conduct, replacing it with non-retaliation to insult and imposition (a slap, a lawsuit, forced labour). He then extends 'love thy neighbour' — which in Leviticus 19:18 concerned fellow Israelites — to include enemies, grounding this in imitating a Father whose common grace, sun and rain, falls on both the evil and the good. Verse 48's call to be 'perfect' most likely means whole or complete in this kind of indiscriminate love, rather than moral flawlessness in every respect.
Where traditions read this differently
Historic peace church traditions (Anabaptist, Mennonite, Quaker)
Read this as binding, literal non-resistance for individual Christians and, for some, as ruling out Christian participation in warfare or violent self-defence altogether.
Just war and much mainstream Christian tradition
Reads this as governing personal relationships, retaliation and enemy-love rather than as a policy for civil government's God-given responsibility to restrain evil (compare Romans 13), leaving room for just use of force in defence of others.
Some pacifist and Sermon-on-the-Mount-centred readings
Hold that the church, distinct from the state, is called to model this ethic visibly regardless of what governments do, as a sign of the kingdom rather than a political programme.
Who wrote this, to whom, and why
Editorial background written for this app. Not Scripture.
New to this? What “context” means here
Every part of the Bible was written by someone, for someone, in a particular time and place. Knowing who wrote it, who first read it and what came just before and after usually settles most questions about what it means.
Where we are not sure, we say so. “Traditional” means a long-standing attribution; “debated” means scholars genuinely disagree.
- Author
- The Gospel according to Matthew; traditionally attributed to Matthew the tax collector. (traditional)
- Audience
- A Jewish audience under Roman occupation, for whom 'an eye for an eye' was familiar legal limitation-language and enemies were not an abstraction.
- Literary setting
- The sixth and final of the 'ye have heard... but I say' contrasts begun in 5:21, closing chapter 5's section on the law with its most searching demand.
- Surrounding argument
- Coming after murder, adultery, divorce and oaths, this contrast escalates further: not only avoiding retaliation but active, indiscriminate love. It closes chapter 5 and sets up chapter 6, which turns from how disciples treat others to how they practise devotion to God — giving, prayer and fasting — 'without being like the hypocrites'.
- Historical background
- 'An eye for an eye' (lex talionis, Exodus 21:24) was originally a limit on revenge, not a licence for it — capping punishment at proportionate response rather than escalation. Roman soldiers could legally compel a subject to carry equipment one mile (the background to verse 41).
What remains uncertain
How literally to apply 'resist not evil' and 'turn the other cheek' — as an absolute personal ethic, as guidance limited to personal insult and enemies rather than a theory of civil justice, or as instruction meant to guide a whole society including its use of force — has divided Christian traditions for centuries, most visibly in debates about violence and war.
References
- Matthew 5:38–48
- Exodus 21:24; Leviticus 24:20 — The lex talionis being addressed.
- Luke 6:27–36 — A parallel version of the enemy-love teaching.
- Romans 12:17–21 — Paul's own application of similar non-retaliation teaching.
ConnectWho and what this connects to2 people, places and ideas named in these verses — and where you are in the story.
Tap any of these to see who or what it is, why it matters here, and where else it appears in our library. Editorial material, not Scripture.
AnglesSee it from a few anglesBiblical, human and — clearly marked — reflective readings, converging on one life.
These are ways of seeing, not competing theories to collect. They are editorial interpretation rather than Scripture, and they are here to meet in the alignment step below.
Biblical
What this contributes within Scripture
Loving one's enemy is not wholly new — Proverbs 25:21 and Exodus 23:4–5 already call for care toward an enemy's needs — but Jesus roots the command explicitly in God's own indiscriminate generosity, which sharpens its scope.
Historical
Background that changes the meaning
Both 'turn the other cheek' and 'go a second mile' picture specific first-century humiliations — a backhand slap asserting status, forced Roman labour — turned into occasions for a dignity that does not depend on retaliation.
Human pattern
Common human tendencies at work
Retaliation, even measured retaliation, tends to escalate a conflict rather than end it; this passage names a different response without claiming it is easy or without cost to the one who practises it.
Reflective anglesReflective
Ways of thinking with the text. They are not claims about what the original writer intended.
What it might illuminate in a life
Who is the hardest person for you, right now, to imagine praying for sincerely?
ReflectWhat this brings up for youOpen questions that assume nothing about your situation. Answers stay on this device.
Where in my life am I currently keeping score, even in small ways?
Is there an enemy — someone who has genuinely wronged me — that this passage names directly?
Where do I draw my own line between personal forgiveness and what justice requires?
What needs to come into alignment?
Does my instinct under provocation look more like measured payback or like this passage's demand?
- Notice
- Understand
- Choose
- Practise
Alignment is coherence between what you understand, believe, choose and do. It is not a score, and no one is measuring you. Anything suggested here is a possibility to weigh, never a command from God to you personally.
In your own words, what does this passage say?
In yourself, honestly, as you read it.
What you actually hold to be true here.
Your real behaviour, not your intentions.
Between what you believe and what you do.
Your own discernment — this app will not tell you what God requires of you.
One concrete action for the next 24 hours. Small and specific beats ambitious and vague.
Pray for one difficult person
Name one person who has wronged you and pray for their genuine good, specifically, once today — not for them to change toward you, but for their wellbeing.
Next 24 hours
If you keep practising this
Chapter 6 turns from how disciples treat others to how they practise giving, prayer and fasting 'before men, to be seen of them' (6:1–18). One possible direction: having just raised the bar on love of enemies, Jesus next asks who the acts of devotion are actually performed for.
A possible direction, not a promised outcome.
RememberWhat to carry forwardOne takeaway, one memory hook, and anything you want to keep.
Build my understanding
Remember this much
- Who / what
- Matthew 5:38-48 — Gospel in Matthew
- Where
- Matthew · The life of Jesus
- What happened
- The sixth and final of the 'ye have heard.
- Why it matters
- Jesus moves the lex talionis, a legal limit, out of the courtroom and into personal conduct, replacing it with non-retaliation to insult and imposition (a slap, a lawsuit, forced labour).
- Key idea
- This is the last and most demanding of the sermon's six contrasts: replacing measured retaliation with non-retaliation, and replacing love-of-neighbour with love of enemies. Jesus grounds the demand in God's own character, who gives sun and rain without distinguishing the deserving from the undeserving.
“Does my instinct under provocation look more like measured payback or like this passage's demand?”
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Translation
Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: 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. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Prefer to read the surrounding chapter? Open Matthew 5.