infuse - Questions & Answers

Questions & Answers

Q: Does Matthew 5:38-42 mean that if someone attacks me or takes my belongings, I have to stand there and take it? Is it wrong to defend oneself from an attacker?

A: Matthew 5:38-42 is Jesus’ response to the notion that the “eye for an eye” law permitted personal vengeance. It did not. Rather, it was directed to the judges (Exodus 21:22-25), and was simply another way of saying that the compensation for a wrong done to a person must match the damages. Jesus’ directive to “turn the other check” can be understood two ways: First, it can be understood as a hyperbolic way of expressing how far a person should distance himself from seeking personal vengeance (and remember, personal vengeance is very different from self defense), just as “tear it out” and “cut it off” (versus should distance himself from sinful behavior). Second, Jesus may be speaking of situations in which resistance would only result in further damages (compare with verses 25-26). In any case, Jesus is not forbidding self-defense.

Q: Ephesians 2:8-10 says that salvation is by grace and through faith. What are grace and faith, and how do they relate to “good works”?

A: Read Ephesians 2:8-10.
God’s grace is His divine favor, His merciful kindness toward us. Faith may be defined simply as trusting belief in God and His promises. Salvation, then, is available to us only because of God’s merciful kindness. We obtain it by trusting in God and the provisions He has made for us. This trusting belief, or faith, always manifests itself through the actions of the person possessing it (see Hebrews 11). That’s what Paul means when he says that God’s people are “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”