Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: Matthew 5:38
The declaration of the Bible’s Author is: ‘I am the LORD, I change not’ (Malachi 3:6). Indeed, the unquestionable authority of God’s government is founded upon the immutability of the word He has spoken. In an attempt to incite sedition against Heaven, the schools of higher criticism have attempted to point out contractions within holy writ. Seizing upon the spiritual teachings given in the sermon on the mount, such make out that the teachings of the New Testament are at variance with that of the Old. Arguably, the most commonly used hook that cavillers use to hang their doubting hats upon is Mathew 5:38. In reference to the Pentateuch, Jesus said:
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. Matthew 5:38-39
Taking hold of this saying, the skeptic claims that Jesus was contradicting a divine statute that allowed for the indulgence of personal revenge. Granted, the apostate Jewish teachers of Christ’s day evidently justified personal vengeance using this phrase found in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. In fact, it was this very misconception that Jesus was answering. Acts of retaliation like gouging out another man’s eye find no sanction in the Old Testament.
Exercising personal vengeance is tribal and heathenish. To institute personal vengeance on a national or family level would be a sure recipe for a chaotic and violent society. In the peaceful and orderly theocracy which God was seeking to establish in ancient Israel, personal vengeance was expressly forbidden. A careful reading of the context that surrounds the phrase ‘an eye for an eye’ reveals that retribution for wrongs was to be meted out judicially by a magistrate, and not by the spontaneous whim of the enraged individual. The very words of God in Leviticus leave no doubt regarding the Lord’s forbiddance of personal vengeance:
Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD. Leviticus 19:18
Far from being annulled by Jesus, the Heaven-ordained law that judicial punishment is to be proportionate to a man’s crime is plainly taught throughout the New Testament. In an earthly sphere, vengeance is declared to be the responsibility of the civil powers (Romans 13:4). And on the great day of judgment, proportionate recompense for deeds done will be meted out by Christ Himself (Matthew 16:27).
The spiritual directive given to individuals to ‘resist not evil’ is in no wise opposed to the civil command of ‘an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth’ that is directed towards magistrates. On the contrary, Jesus’ teachings against individual retaliation demonstrate a respect for the civil powers, to whom retribution belongs in this earthly sphere.
Christopher Sparks