Turning the Other Cheek: Jesus’ Radical Teaching on Retaliation

Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch Christian who bravely hid Jews during the Holocaust, paid a steep price for her convictions. Arrested and imprisoned at the Ravensbrück concentration camp, she witnessed immense suffering, including the death of her beloved sister, Betsy.

After the war, Corrie travelled extensively, sharing her story and proclaiming God’s message of forgiveness. Once, following a speaking engagement at a German church, a man approached, whom she immediately recognised as one of the guards from Ravensbrück.

The former guard, now a Christian, said to her, “I know God has forgiven me for the cruel things that I have done, but I would like to hear it from your lips. Will you forgive me?” In her memoir, The Hiding Place, Corrie recounts that she froze. She knew that Jesus commanded forgiveness, but her emotions and instincts cried out for justice. In desperation, she silently prayed, “Jesus, help me.” As she took the man’s hand, she felt God’s love surge through her and said, “I forgive you with all my heart.”

Corrie’s story is a vivid, modern reflection of one of Jesus’ most radical teachings—choosing forgiveness over vengeance, even when justice seems more justified.

In Matthew 5:38–39, Jesus addressed the ancient principle of “an eye for an eye” and, in the process, upended conventional thinking about justice and retaliation. Instead, he called his followers to respond to wrongs with grace, generosity, and love—hallmarks of God’s kingdom and character.

The theme of retaliation is woven through Scripture, beginning with Adam and Eve and escalating with Cain and Abel. After Adam and Eve sinned, they shifted blame rather than taking responsibility. Adam blamed both Eve and God: “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate” (Genesis 3:12). Eve blamed the serpent: “The serpent deceived me, and I ate” (Genesis 3:13).

Although God judged their sin, he also showed mercy by clothing them (Genesis 3:21) and promising redemption through future offspring (Genesis 3:15), ultimately pointing to Christ. This foreshadows Jesus’ call to resist blame and retaliation by responding instead with grace and restoration.

Soon after, Cain’s murder of Abel marked the first act of violent retaliation. Like his parents, Cain tried to evade responsibility: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9). Yet, even in the face of murder, God protected rather than executed Cain (Genesis 4:15). These early narratives establish a pattern: God’s justice is never devoid of mercy. This pattern calls us to a countercultural way of living.

To fully grasp Jesus’ teaching, it’s important to understand the cultural backdrop. The lex talionis (law of retaliation)—“an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” (Exodus 21:22–25; Leviticus 24:17–23—was not a license for revenge but a legal standard to limit retribution and ensure proportional justice in a society prone to excessive vengeance.

The reference to the right cheek is also significant. In that culture, a backhanded slap was intended to humiliate as much as hurt. His instruction to “turn the other cheek” was not a call to endure abuse passively, but an invitation to reject cycles of insult and retaliation, especially when pride or ego is at stake.

Jesus’ command offers an alternative to the cycle of violence—a response that upends worldly expectations and reflects the kingdom of God, where love triumphs over hatred. This teaching is not about passivity but about strength under control. It takes far more inner power to restrain anger than to lash out.

Jesus’ response wasn’t weakness—it was strength under control. Turning the other cheek requires far more courage and inner resolve than retaliating. It points to a deeper righteousness, which reflects trust in God’s justice and mirrors Christ’s own example. As 1 Peter 2:23–24 states, “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.”

This righteousness is what Jesus was referring to in Matthew 5:20: “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Similarly, Romans 14:17 tells us that “the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

When Jesus was spat on and mocked before his crucifixion, rather than retaliating, he entrusted himself to God, responding with love and pleading for forgiveness—the very embodiment of the gospel: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

This response does not mean we ignore all injustices. There is a place for legal recourse and self-defence in certain situations. But when we face personal attack, especially designed to test our humility and patience, Jesus calls us to break the cycle of retaliation and instead reflect his character and kingdom.

Jesus’ teaching isn’t theoretical but profoundly practical. But how do we live out this righteousness?

First, we surrender our rights to God. When we feel the need to defend our reputation or demand fairness, Jesus calls us to relinquish control and trust God. Resisting the urge to retaliate is an act of faith that acknowledges God as the ultimate judge and protector.

Second, we respond with grace, not bitterness. Turning the other cheek does not mean becoming a doormat. Turning the other cheek doesn’t mean becoming a doormat. It means responding with kindness and grace, especially when it’s undeserved. Proverbs 15:1 reminds us, “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”

Finally, we become peacemakers. Jesus taught earlier in his sermon, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). Being a peacemaker requires vulnerability and sacrifice, but it leads to transformation—both in us and in those around us.

This passage challenges us to live in a way that points to a different reality—one where love triumphs over hate, grace overcomes vengeance, and God’s kingdom breaks into a broken world. Jesus’ radical teaching calls us to embody an alternative way of life, where love overcomes hate, grace disarms vengeance, and peace replaces hostility. The question each believer must answer is, how have do handle and respond to wrongs? Do we reach for retaliation, or do we reach for Christ?

Corrie ten Boom’s story offers a modern answer to this ancient challenge. Her act of forgiveness was not the absence of justice, but the triumph of the gospel. In choosing grace, she revealed the heart of God’s kingdom—and so can we.