Love Your Enemies

“Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be
kind to each other and everyone.”

-1 Thessalonians 5:15

“Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek,
turn to him the other also… Love your enemies and pray for those
who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.”

-Matthew 5:39, 44-45

“Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing,
because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

-1 Peter 3:9

These teachings seem utterly unreasonable. They are all familiar
passages, so they aren’t initially startling. But honestly, I cannot imagine
getting punched on the right side of my face, and offering the left side as
well.

However, these teachings assume several important things about us,
and the state of our hearts. As Dallas Willard writes after referring to each
of these passages, “…all presuppose that one has laid down the burden
of having one’s own way. You can’t begin to even understand them, much
less follow them, except from a posture of self-denial firmly supported
upon confidence, and this based, in turn, in a strong experience of God’s
all-sufficient presence in your life.” Agreed. That may be why I struggle
with these so much. Who can say they have fully laid down the burden of
having one’s own way? But that is what it is - a burden! We are bound by
our own desires, our selfishness, until we, by the grace of God, are able
to relinquish our rights to our own fickle and misleading desires and are
freed to follow God’s good law: the love of God and neighbour before self.

These teachings certainly assume a high degree of self denial. But
they also suppose something else about the state of our hearts-that we are
suffering evil unjustly, that we are not somehow the conduit of strife and
conflict in someone else’s life, and in turn find ourselves in the midst of
such tension. To not repay someone wrong for wrong would suggest I have
not done them some wrong first! To turn the cheek would be meaningless if
I already threw a punch.

Peter says, “…how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for
doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you
endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called,
because Christ suffered for you, leaving you and example, that you should
follow in his steps… keep a clear conscience, so that those who speak
maliciously against your good behaviour in Christ may be ashamed of
their slander… If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or
any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler.” (verses from 1 Peter)

Certainly these verses from Peter reinforce the idea of self denial
as basic to following Christ. But for me, they drive home the fact that if
I want to experience the joy of suffering for Christ, of turning the other
cheek, of loving my enemies and praying for those who persecute me, my
conscience needs to be clear before God.

As Peter says, if all we are getting is what we deserve-which is
probably pretty often-than we have nothing to complain about, never mind
any moral credit in suffering in silence! Justice is simply being served.

Hypothetically, if I am critical of others, condescending, and
degrading, if I subtly make fun and seek to elevate myself at the expense
of others, I cannot balk at being treated in a similar way. When it happens
to me, I realize how much it hurts, and how little I like it. But to suffer as
one suffering the slings and arrows of injustice would make little sense. In
fact, when we feel the sting of being treated how we often treat others, it
simply serves to perpetuate the cycle of pain and bitterness in relationships
instead of waking us to our own sinful behaviour.

However, if I my conscience is clear on such a matter, yet it happens
to me, it is to my credit to respond graciously. God is glorified, and my
adversary is shamed (and possibly convicted) by a forgiving and gentle
response. It is not without reason that Peter exhorted the believers to
holiness-“just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do…live
in reverent fear.” When our life is holy, we are able to turn the other cheek
in any situation, to be always “completely humble and gentle”, to suffer as
Christ suffered-with a clear conscience and a forgiving response-so that
we may “silence the ignorant talk of foolish men” (1 Peter 2) and shame
those who “speak maliciously of your good behaviour” (1 Peter 3), and
ultimately, “conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.”