A little help please

[Clou]

I'm just working through my bible studies, I'm on luke ch6 v29 and I'm struggling to understand it. Would anyone be able to explain it in plainer/simpler terms please?

29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.


I am also struggling with this verse too. Is this literal? Where do you draw the line?

30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.

And as for demanding? Surely that means its ok to ask for something back as long as you are not demanding? For instance my friend borrowed my hose and jet wash and has had it a while now so I asked if she could try and get it back to me. Was this wrong according to this verse then? And instead of saying this verse just now would it be classes as scripture.

Thank you so much for helping this clueless baby christian

 

[1watchman]

It is talking to those who desire to be godly, I see. We ought to be like the Lord and give freely when it is not harming ourself. The Lord wants us to trust Him for all blessings and care, and not be asserting ourselves in the world or taking one to court, etc. as He also said. One can be too strict about the Word and go beyond the lesson intended, I think.

 

[ViaCrucis]

I'm just working through my bible studies, I'm on luke ch6 v29 and I'm struggling to understand it. Would anyone be able to explain it in plainer/simpler terms please?

29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.


I am also struggling with this verse too. Is this literal? Where do you draw the line?

30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.

And as for demanding? Surely that means its ok to ask for something back as long as you are not demanding? For instance my friend borrowed my hose and jet wash and has had it a while now so I asked if she could try and get it back to me. Was this wrong according to this verse then? And instead of saying this verse just now would it be classes as scripture.

Thank you so much for helping this clueless baby christian

I think Jesus means quite plainly what He says here. Early Christians certainly believed so:

"If you enroll as one of God’s people, heaven is your country and God your lawgiver. And what are His laws? You shall not kill, ... You shall love your neighbor as yourself. To him that strikes you on the one cheek, turn to him the other also." - St. Clement of Alexandria, Against the Heathen, ch. 10

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Bouke285]

I'm just working through my bible studies, I'm on luke ch6 v29 and I'm struggling to understand it. Would anyone be able to explain it in plainer/simpler terms please?

29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.


I am also struggling with this verse too. Is this literal? Where do you draw the line?

30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.

And as for demanding? Surely that means its ok to ask for something back as long as you are not demanding? For instance my friend borrowed my hose and jet wash and has had it a while now so I asked if she could try and get it back to me. Was this wrong according to this verse then? And instead of saying this verse just now would it be classes as scripture.

Thank you so much for helping this clueless baby christian

The whole purpose of Jesus in this message was to make the Jews take a step back. They had loved the law so much that they even added to it themselves! Christ came with radical teachings. He used sayings such as these to show how wrong their understanding of the law's purpose had become. The Pharisees thought they had things down perfectly. Their superficial glorification was good in the sight of God. Oh how wrong they were. Jesus came using their love for the law against them. You see him often doing this.

In this particular instance Jesus was depicting what true grace is and showing them how far from it they were. He was giving them a picture of how a selfless person should behave. Giving them more rules to strive for, its the rules which would seem almost, if not, unreachable that made them angry.

It is by the law we know sin, the law itself can't save, but can only condemn. Christ brought in a new testament, the age of grace. We should try to understand what the authors original intent in writing scripture was before we attempt to understand the exegetical (contemporary) context.

 

[Radagast]

I'm just working through my bible studies, I'm on luke ch6 v29 and I'm struggling to understand it. Would anyone be able to explain it in plainer/simpler terms please? ...

And as for demanding? Surely that means its ok to ask for something back as long as you are not demanding? For instance my friend borrowed my hose and jet wash and has had it a while now so I asked if she could try and get it back to me. Was this wrong according to this verse then? And instead of saying this verse just now would it be classes as scripture.

You're fine to ask for your hose. However, the principles here are, I think:

1) Don't retaliate -- see also 1 Thess 5:15: "See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone," 1 Peter 3:9: "Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing," Romans 12:17: "Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honourable in the sight of all."

2) Don't always insist on your "rights." -- Luke 6:36: "Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful." In the words of Dorothy Sayers: "Envy is the great leveler. If it cannot level things up, it will level them down, and the words constantly in its mouth are, 'my rights' and 'my wrongs.' At its best envy is a climber and a snob. At its worst it is a destroyer. Rather than have anybody happier than itself, it will see us miserable together... In love, Envy is cruel, jealous and possessive. My friend and my married partner must be wholly wrapped up in me, and must find no interests outside me. That is 'my right.'"

3) Give rather than lend (or at least, be mentally prepared for the loan to never be paid back) -- Luke 6:34-35: "And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil."

It's still OK to ask for your hose back. However, if it was something that they needed very badly and they were poor, it would be best to cheerfully let them keep it (principle 3). And it would be wrong to retaliate by smashing their windows (principle 1).

 

[paul1149]

As you read the Sermon on the Mount, remember that the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. Jesus did not give His principles inflexibly engraved in stone, as the law had been, but they are to be written on our hearts. So while these things should be our guiding motivations, even Jesus did not adhere to them slavishly. He resisted his enemies, He excoriated them mercilessly in Mt 23, and He physically assaulted them in the cleansing of the temple. He listened to His Father, through the Spirit, and was not bound to any self-defeating code.

Keep in mind that Jesus set you free in order that you would be free - not so you would be subject to the law again, in different dress. Of course, that is not a freedom to sin without consequences. But it is freedom from reliance on our own dead works, and from enslavement to the ministry of death written in dead stone.

2Cor 3

 

[TheLionOfGod]

I'm just working through my bible studies, I'm on luke ch6 v29 and I'm struggling to understand it. Would anyone be able to explain it in plainer/simpler terms please?

29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them.


I am also struggling with this verse too. Is this literal? Where do you draw the line?

30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.

And as for demanding? Surely that means its ok to ask for something back as long as you are not demanding? For instance my friend borrowed my hose and jet wash and has had it a while now so I asked if she could try and get it back to me. Was this wrong according to this verse then? And instead of saying this verse just now would it be classes as scripture.

Thank you so much for helping this clueless baby christian

Follow Jesus. Are you on the narrow way?

 

[Bouke285]

Follow Jesus. Are you on the narrow way?

What is the narrow way?

 

[parsley]

For instance my friend borrowed my hose and jet wash and has had it a while now so I asked if she could try and get it back to me. Was this wrong according to this verse then?

The hose is your property, and the original agreement was that she would return it. She was careless, and hopefully not trying to keep it... but be patient with her carelessness. We all have a tendency to blow up incidents in our minds, and if frustration sits there too long it will explode in unreality.

Ask again, and stay cool. Ask again, and do not add any supportive ammunition.

Keep the words "gracious" and "professional" echoing in your mind when you talk to her. When you turn the other cheek, you let yourself rise above the pettiness. Pride makes us want to win and be right. Actually getting something productive done often requires some giving up of pride.

Taking it to extremes, you know that Jesus didn't want us all slapped. He didn't want us to have no coats, or water. He wanted us to be gracious to others and be "the better man."

More things get accomplished when we use the synergy of two people supporting each other. When two people are pitted in competition, they destroy each other and nothing is accomplished.

 

[salida]

What did Jesus mean when He instructed us to turn the other cheek?
How should a Christian respond to bullying?
How should a Christian respond to persecution?
Was Jesus a pacifist?

It means take the high road and love others-it doesn't mean one can't use self defense if threatened.

 

[Bible2]

Clou said in post #1:

29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also.

In Lk. 6:29 (like in Mt. 5:39, 26:52, 2 Cor. 10:3-5), Jesus is commanding Christians (who are under the New Covenant: Mt. 26:28, Jer. 31:31) not to employ violence against people, even in self-defense. Some Christians mistakenly think Lk. 22:36b supports Christian violence. But Lk. 22:36b means every believer must obtain the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (Eph. 6:17, Heb. 4:12). The "two swords" which by themselves are enough for all believers together (Lk. 22:38) represent the 2 parts of God's Word: the Old Testament & the New Testament. Lk. 22:36b can't mean every believer must obtain a physical weapon, for otherwise 2 physical weapons wouldn't have been enough for 11 apostles (Lk. 22:38). And Lk. 22:36b can't mean any believer should obtain a physical weapon with which to attack other people, even in self-defense, for believers are elsewhere commanded not to defend themselves when they're attacked, but to turn the other cheek (Mt. 5:39). For those who take up a physical weapon to attack other people, even in self-defense, will perish by a weapon (Mt. 26:52).

Believers don't employ physical weapons or any other violence against people (2 Cor. 10:3-5, Eph. 6:12-18). Instead, Jesus at his 1st coming set the example for believers of what they're to do when they're physically attacked by people (1 Pet. 2:19-23). Believers are to go meekly like sheep to the slaughter (Rom. 8:36) just like Jesus did (Isa. 53:7). Believers know that death is no loss for them, but even gain (Philip. 1:21) as it brings their souls into heaven to be with Jesus (2 Cor. 5:8), which is far better than remaining in this world (Philip. 1:23). During the coming tribulation, believers will have to face martyrdom with patience & faith unto the end (Rev. 13:7-10, 14:12-13, 20:4, Mt. 24:9-13), just as believers have always had to spiritually overcome in the face of martyrdom (e.g. Rev. 2:10-11). Believers mustn't fear death (Heb. 2:15), & mustn't love their lives unto death (Rev. 12:11b), but must hate their lives in this world if they're to retain eternal life (Jn. 12:25, Mk. 8:34-38).

Also, Christians are commanded by Jesus to love even their enemies (Mt. 5:44), & if Christians truly love their enemies, they'll do them no harm (Rom. 13:10a, Mt. 7:12).