Devotional Messages

An Eye for an Eye?

When in High School, I was confronted by a critic of Christianity, my own age (who had never read any part of the Bible), who questioned the opposing teachings of "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth" in the OT, and the NT teaching to "turn the other cheek". Of course he was referring to God's direction to the Israelites in Leviticus 24:18 (also in Ex. 21 & Dt. 19), and Jesus' teaching in Matthew 5:38-39: "You have heard that it was said, `Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also."

Now it is quite clear that God does not want us to take 'an eye for an eye' and 'a tooth for a tooth', as Jesus came after the OT period, and His words explicitly repudiated the OT teaching whilst advocating His own. So why the two conflicting teachings for different times?

It must first be noted that at the time of Moses, retaliation and vengence often got out of control - if someone from tribe A hurt someone from tribe B, those in tribe B were under compulsion to retalitate (often to a greater extent), causing those in tribe A to retaliate in turn (again, to a greater extent) to tribe B's original retaliation, and so on. It was a system which led to much bloodshed. The introduction of the strict teaching: "a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" relieved much of the bloodshed, as the law obviously meant: "a life and no more, for a life; an eye and no more, for an eye; a tooth and no more, for a tooth" etc.

So the OT teaching advocated exact retaliation, removing the need for much bloodshed, and ultimately making life safer. Jesus took this a step further and taught no retaliation at all. His point was to show your love to your neighbour at cost to yourself if need be. In fact, Jesus goes on to say:

And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

You have heard that it was said, `Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (5:40-48)

Such a teaching may often seem hard to implement - and not just because it is against human nature to put others before ourselves - it is not a usual occurance in our day to be legally forced to do something which we don't deserve to do. Often, it is not obvious how we can 'go the extra mile'. So we must conform our minds to that of Christ: when considering situations carefully and in accordance with the mind of Chirst, the way of Christ will be found.

It remains that the Bible was written across a period of millenia, to many different cultures and for many different needs. Often 'conflicting' teachings within may seem to be irreconcilable, yet when context and culture are taken into account we can learn much from a balanced view: from our reading of the OT today, we can see that exact retaliation is fair and certainly better than escalating retaliation; and from the "conflicting" verse in the NT we can see that showing love to our neighbours is more important than fairness (when it is at a cost to ourselves): we saw that the message of Jesus is much more important than our time, an article of clothing, or a sum of money.

Praise God for His good news in Jesus Christ and pray that He will strengthen you to live your life seeking always to 'go the extra mile' so that non-believers can see the glory of Christ in you.