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weight. She too is painfully aware
she has a problem and is doing her
best 10 e limina1e it. Bu1 she does not
like 1he way he keeps af1er her con–
slantly, embarrassing her in public
and ridiculing her in front o f their
friends. In fact, his behavior causes
her 10 feel hurt , attacked, pul down
and depressed , and this is frustral–
ing to her- il causes her 10 ea1 all
the more.
She would say a ll thi s nicely and
privately, withoul accusing or belit–
t ling him- but she wou ld say her
piece a nd say it firmly . She would
let him know tha t she does not like
that kind of t reatme nt and tha t it
will inevitably lead to futu re con–
flicts.
Was Christ Assertlve?
But again, the question arises: Is as–
serti ve behavior a truly Christian
way to act?
After all, didn ' t Jesu humbly and
meekly allow Himself to be cruci–
fied and killed withoul standing up
for His rights? T he Bible shows us
thal Jesus Christ really did behave
in a n assertive manner. He did
stand up for H is rights, not allowing
a pack of accusers to murder Him
before
His time carne to voluntarily
give His life for mankind (see Luke
4:28-30). And even when it was time
fo r Him to die, He asse rted His fu ll
legal right in no t g iving out infor–
mation abou1 His disciples. Wh en
the high priest asked Him about His
followers and His doct rine, He a n–
swered: " 1 didn ' t do a ny thing in se–
cret- why question me? Ask those
who heard me. Surely they know
what
1
said." Then one o f the offi–
cials nearby struck Him in the face.
" Is that the way to answer the high
pries t?" he demanded. Jesus then
said: " If
1
said someth ing wrong,
speak up about it. But if
1
spoke the
truth, why did you hit me?" (J ohn
18: 19-23 .) So Christ Himself wasn't
intimidated into giving up His rights
by a bully ing official. He "went as a
lamb to the slaughter," but He went
of His own accord, not because
sorne petty Palestinian o fficial s had
the legal right to make Him do so
(see John 10: 17-18).
Christ constantly asse rted His
The
PLAIN TRUTH
January
1978
rights as the Son of God, healing on
the Sabbath in spite of picky pha ri–
saical regulations, a nd driving the
moneychangers out of H is Father 's
house, the Temple.
The apostle Paul a lso behaved as–
sertively. When confronted by an
a nnoying case of demon possession ,
he ordered the evil spirit to leave
him and his pa rty alone (Acts 16: 16-
40). And when this led to the ir being
thrown into jail, uncondemned but
beaten in spíte of the ir legal immu–
nity to such treatme nt as Roma n
citizens, Paul asserted his full rights.
He demanded that the magistrates
apologize a nd personally escort him
ou t of prison. When politely asked
to Ieave town, he just as politely
ignored the request and entered into
Lydia's house, visiting and comfort–
iog the brethren until he was good
a nd ready to depart.
On another occasion Pau l es–
caped a beatíng by again asking the
officials if it were legal to scourge an
uncondemned Roman citizen (Acts
22:22-29). (And to falsely claim you
were a Roman citizen was punish–
able by the death penalty, so they
knew he meant business.)
Turning the Other Cheek?
So it would seem that nei ther Christ
nor the apostle Paul " turned the
other cheek" in the sense that sorne
interpret J esus' words in Matthew 5.
What , then, does this phrase really
mean?
Matthew 5:38-4 1, part of Christ's
Sermon on the Mount, reads: "You
have heard that it was said, 'An eye
for an eye and a tooth for a tooth .'
But I say to you , Do not resist one
who is evil. But if any one strikes
you on the right cheek, turn to him
the other also; and if a ny one wou ld
sue you and take your coat, Jet him
have your cloak as well; and if any
one forces you to go one mile, go
with
him
two
miles.
Give to him
who begs from you, and do not
refuse him who would borrow from
you" (RSV). Here Christ is reacting
to the
/ex talionis
(Jaw of reta liation)
of the Old Testament , wh ich stated
that revenge was to be appropria te–
"an eye for an eye, a tooth for a
tooth," no more and no less (see
Exodus 21 :23-24 and Deuteronomy
19:2 1). This law limited the amount
of revenge one could take on an–
other. In other words, if a man
knocked out your tooth you couldn' t
break his neck for it. But now Christ
is saying "vengeance is God's"; that
a Christian should forgive r a ther
than exact a specific legal penalty
from one who wrongs him. In other
words, taking
aggressive
action
against someone who wrongs you is
no t in keeping with New Testamenl
Christia n principies. We are not 10
re turn evil for evil (Rom. 12: 17);
rather we are to forgive our ene–
m ies.
Here Christ is actually advocating
assertive behavior- being in control
of the situa tion. Tf someone takes
you to court and demands your in–
ner garment, give him
two
gar–
ments- your outer one as well. (Old
Testament law forbade a creditor to
keep this cloak or outer garment
overnight- Exodus 22:25-26.) If a
Roman courier conscripts you into
carrying his mail pouch one mile.
show him that you are doing it of
your own free will . Go an extra
mi le.
We are not to participate in ag–
gressive retaliation, but Christ here
urges that we ta ke control of our
lives- that we use the options avail–
a ble to us. ("So you think you have
control over my life because you
took my shirt. Well, 1' 11 show you
tha t you don ' t- here 's my coat, too,
which l ' m going to Jet you take." O r,
"Come on- 1 want to carry it an–
othe r mile. It's my choice and 1 want
todo it.")
So if your enemy hungers, feed
him. But if he just walks up to you
and grabs your chicken-salad sand–
wich, you are not feeding him vol–
untarily. You a re not " turning the
other cheek" or "going the extra
mile," because you had
no choice
in
the matter.
The apostle Pa ul admonished the
Corinthians to react assertively
rather than submit to false teachers
(11 Cor. 11 : 1-21 ). He wrote: " For
you bear it if a man makes slaves of
you, or preys upon you , or takes
adva ntage of you , or puts on airs, or
(Continued on page 41)
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