Matthew 5:39 tells believers not to answer evil with more evil. When someone insults or hurts you, Jesus says you should not strike back, and in a small, striking way you should be willing to absorb a second blow rather than fight to win. The verse is part of the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus, teaching his disciples and the crowds gathered on the hillside, describes how life in God’s kingdom looks different from the world’s ideas of justice and honor.
But I tell you, don’t resist him who is evil; but whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.
Matthew 5:39 (WEB)
What Matthew 5:39 Means
The verse begins with “But I tell you,” which signals that Jesus is setting his teaching against a common understanding. The word translated “resist” refers to standing against someone in a hostile, retaliatory way. Jesus is not asking his followers to pretend that wrong is harmless or to stand by while others are harmed. He is describing a posture of the heart in which a personal insult does not trigger a personal revenge.
The image of the right cheek is important. A blow delivered with the right hand, for most people in that setting, lands on the left side of another person’s face, so the blow to the right cheek suggests a backhanded slap, a gesture meant to humiliate rather than injure. Turning the other cheek means choosing not to return the humiliation, staying composed, and refusing to let the other person’s contempt define your response. The verse does not promise that the offender will stop, that you will be safe, or that the situation will turn out fairly. It describes what faithfulness looks like when you are insulted.
The Context of Matthew 5:39
Matthew’s Gospel was written for a community that knew the Hebrew Scriptures well and was learning what it meant to follow Jesus as Messiah. The Sermon on the Mount appears in chapters 5 through 7, and in the verses just before this one Jesus addresses oaths and honesty, saying that a believer’s plain “yes” and “no” should be enough. The next verse, which you can read in the passage itself, moves from one-sided blows to lawsuits, forced labor, and generous lending, so the whole cluster is about how to treat people who take advantage of you.
Jesus opens this section by quoting the Old Testament principle of “an eye for an eye,” which was a rule meant to limit revenge to a proportionate response and to guide courts. Jesus does not reject the principle as a matter of public justice, but he teaches his disciples not to pursue personal payback. Seeing the verse within this sequence of examples helps readers understand that Jesus is describing a generous and self-giving character, not a rule that every abuse must be accepted without any response from the community or legal authorities.
Key Phrases in Matthew 5:39
Romans 12:19
Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.”
(WEB)
Paul echoes the call to refrain from personal revenge and reminds believers that justice belongs to God. This helps explain why Jesus can ask his followers to absorb insults: they are trusting that God sees what is done to them and will act rightly in his own time.
Luke 6:27-28
27 “But I tell you who hear: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you.
(WEB)
In Luke’s version of the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus pairs the call to love enemies with the call to bless those who curse you. Reading it alongside Matthew 5:39 shows that turning the other cheek grows out of a deliberate love for the very people who wound you.
A Short Prayer From Matthew 5:39
Lord Jesus, when someone insults me or strikes me with cruel words, I feel the pull to strike back and win the argument. Teach me to resist that pull and to answer with a calm and honest heart. Give me the courage to stay steady when I am humiliated, and the wisdom to know when to speak up and when to step away. Remind me that you see every wrong and that justice ultimately belongs to you. Amen.
