What is the Meaning of Luke 6:29?

Luke 6:29  And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take thy coat also.

Luke 6:29 is part of a larger discourse (The Sermon on the Mount) where Christ set forth the tenets of the New Testament economy, making comparisons and contrasts between the Old and New Testament dispensations. Matthew's account is more detailed than Luke's rendering.

Notice the general tenor of Matthew 5:21-44:
• verse 21: "Ye have heard" (Old Testament)
• verse 22: "But I say" (New Testament)
• verse 27: "Ye have heard"
• verse 28: "But I say"
• verse 31: "It hath been said"
• verse 32: "But I say"
• verse 33: "Ye have heard"
• verse 34: "But I say"
• verse 38: "Ye have heard"
• verse 39: "But I say"
• verse 43: "Ye have heard"
• verse 44: "But I say"

Luke 6:29 falls in the midst of these comparisons and contrasts. It is comparable to Matthew 5:39-40. Verse 39 begins, "But I say unto you," setting forth another New Testament response to an Old Testament practice. Thus, we must consider what they had "heard" (verse 38). What was the teaching and practice under the Old Testament? When Jesus said, "It has been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," He was quoting a Levitical law (Exodus 21:23-25; Leviticus 24:19-20; Deuteronomy 19:21). 

In its origin, this law was given to limit retaliation. In the Old Testament dispensation, concerning the bill of divorcement, Jesus said, "Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you" (Matthew 19:8). The condition of men's hearts under the old economy was hard. Thus, the Ten Commandments were written "in tables of stone" (2 Corinthians 3:3). Those in that dispensation had a "stony heart." In this New Testament dispensation, God said, "I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 36:26). 

God will write upon that heart "with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart" (2 Corinthians 3:3). Under the old dispensation, they had a "hardness of" their "hearts." Thus, there was a tendency to retaliate much more than was warranted. That type of retaliation was forbidden, even under the Old Testament! If a "tooth" was lost, they could only take a "tooth." Exodus 21:25 makes the principle clear: "Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe."

An individual with "an heart of flesh" where the Holy Spirit indwells and is soft to where "the Spirit of the living God" can write and make impressions upon it, will not have a retaliatory spirit. Romans 12:17-21 makes the New Testament principles clear: "Recompense [pay back] to no man evil for evil"; "avenge not yourselves"; "vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord"; "be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." When Jesus said, "Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also" (Matthew 5:39), He was saying what Romans 12:17 declares. 

The only way a right-handed man could "smite thee on thy right cheek" would be to backhand the individual. According to Jewish Rabbinic Law, to hit a man with the back of a hand was twice as insulting as hitting him with the flat of the hand. Jesus was not talking so much about being struck as being insulted. He was teaching (as the Apostle Peter did in 1 Peter 3:9): "Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing." 

When Jesus spoke of "take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also" (Matthew 5:40; Luke 6:29), He was teaching to not be so concerned with our "rights" as we are with being right! In both these examples, "smite thee" (verse 39) and "sue thee" (verse 40), Jesus spoke of hurtful actions taken by others. We are not to be as concerned with the actions people take against us as we are with our reactions. Few of us will experience having someone physically "smite thee on thy right cheek" or "sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat." 
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A strict literal application is not what is being conveyed. If it were, it would only apply to our "cheek" and "coat." The true intent is to set forth new principles. Christ set forth the injunction to "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you" (Matthew 5:44). Everything He established in this verse has to do with our reaction to someone's action. We cannot govern how others will act toward us, but we must make certain our reactions reflect Christ and the Spirit of God. 

Another principle is, if a matter needs addressed, there are proper authorities. Under the Old Testament, they could not take matters in their own hands; they had to take the offending individual to Moses. In the New Testament, Christ said not only should we not handle matters ourselves but as the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 6:7: "Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?" The child of God, directed by the Spirit of God, does not act in carnal retribution, but overcomes evil with good.

Earl R. Borders

From the April 2023 issue of The Gospel Trumpeter