Do No Harm

Proverbs 3:30 reads, “Do not contend with a man for no reason, when he has done you no harm.” But what if someone does you harm? Are we free to avenge ourselves on someone who hurts us? As has been shown in previous articles, the scribes and Pharisees hijacked for personal use the instructions God gave to magistrates to administer justice in Jewish society.

In a recent conversation, the subject of the death penalty came up. Many people in the name of love sincerely believe that the death penalty is wrong because it is seen as revenge. Would it not be better to let the murderer live with the memory of the crime, hopefully regretting the deed? Also, what if the one being executed was really innocent of the crime? Is injustice to be the norm in this fallen world?

While sincere people may have good reasons to oppose the death penalty, the plain teaching of Scripture must override all arguments to the contrary. Sinful humans are not in charge of justice because even sincere people are affected by the deep corruption of their sinful natures. The very ones who protest the injustice of the justice system have no qualms about seeking personal vengeance on those who have wronged them. True, justice ought to step in and right wrongs, but, sadly, we live in a world full of injustice, much of which must wait until Judgment Day.

Believers have a higher calling. We represent the King of righteousness in a fallen world. Therefore, nothing is be taken personally by us even when it personally affects us. Thus, Jesus focuses on how His own are to respond to wrongs even when there is little hope of justice. Do not resist the evil, but rather love the evildoer. That is a revolutionary thing. When seeking the good of those who harm, people notice. It reveals sons of the Heavenly Father, who makes the sun to shine on rebels and sends rain on those who hate Him. Should we not do good to our enemies as well?

We are to be perfect (v. 48), the word meaning end, goal, or limit. It does not mean that a human could possibly attain the absolute perfection of God but is here used to encourage the relative goal of one who aims to be like God in moral character. The term is often used of the relative maturity of children as compared to what is expected of adults.

God placed Israel among the nations to demonstrate how wise and good God’s laws were compared to those of their Gentile idol-worshiping neighbors (Deuteronomy 4:6). The response expected would be, “What great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law” (Deuteronomy 4:8). The moral example Israel failed to be God has called His church to be. “You are the salt of the earth . . .. You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:13, 14). If believers merely respond to wrongs in a normal human way, even in a good way, God gets no glory at all.

Who Is My Neighbor?

Remember, the often-repeated error with this section of the Sermon on the Mount is that Jesus was establishing a kinder and more spiritual replacement of the law given on Mount Sinai. Rather, Jesus restored the correct intention of the law by rectifying the errors of the Jewish teachers. The last sections (vv. 38–20, retaliation and loving your enemies) correct the errors of the scribes and Pharisees pertaining to how one responds to his enemies.

Lest we should be too hard on these teachers, we need to be reminded that we are all very prone to interpret the words of Scripture to agree with our own prejudice. We also need to understand the rabbis’ perspective. The theology of Judaism at the time of Christ was shaped by the Jews’ reaction to Gentile treatment from the time of the Babylonian Captivity. It is not difficult to sympathize with their deep-seated dislike of those who treated them so badly. However, nowhere in Moses does “hate your enemy” appear as either stated or implied. That concept was twisted out of Leviticus 19:18: “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” The Jews read neighbor to equate with “sons of your own people.” Those who were not “of your own people” were exempt from the command. If such people did harm, hate and retaliate would be a proper response.

This insight is supported by the lawyer’s response to Jesus in Luke 10. He had asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life (v. 25). Jesus answered by asking him what was written in the law and how he understood it. The man rightly answered by giving the twofold summation of the law, to love the Lord and your neighbor. Jesus agreed and affirmed, “Do this and you will live” (v. 28).

The lawyer, knowing his personal failure which led to the original question, but unwilling to humble himself in the matter, sought justification by asking, “who is my neighbor?” (v. 29). The rabbis restricted the term to refer only to those related to them or, even more specifically, to those of their own party. The Old Testament defined the term more broadly. Generally speaking, a neighbor was anyone with whom one had some contact. Thus, a neighbor was any fellow creature made in the image of God. These qualify as those who are to be loved [cared for] as one does for himself. “When a stranger [foreigner] sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 19:33, 34). This includes not only those with whom we get along but, as Jesus develops here, “Love your enemies . . . so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:44, 45).

Fight the Good Fight

In a sermon on “The Sufficiency of Scripture in Disciple-Making,” delivered at the 2013 conference for the National Center for Family Integrated Churches, Voddie Baucham made and defended this observation: “In modern American Christianity, we will not tolerate biblical, spiritual, and theological maturity in men. . . . Nothing above mediocrity.” What ought to be a normal indication of spiritual life is seen as unacceptable, uncomfortably challenging to the average Christian who will not endure such maturity. He noted that when a young man pursues his faith with unusual zeal, he is told that he should go to seminary because he is evidencing God’s call to ministry. Such maturity will not be allowed anyone not called, for ordinary Christians must settle for modest and sub-normal spirituality.

Paul admonished Timothy, “Fight the good fight of the faith” (1 Timothy 6:12). This charge summarized his previous warning against those who wandered from the faith, suffering many wounds in their aberrant desire for gain (vv. 3–10). Instead, Timothy is urged to “flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness” (v. 11). This quality of spiritual life must characterize every redeemed and ransomed soul.

The enemy works to get Christians to settle for a spiritually mediocre life while pursuing worldly comforts and material gain. Many think that the mere hope of heaven should be enough to mark their faith. Thus, Jesus’ standard for His followers (Luke 9:23) is largely ignored because it is thought to belong only to those who desire a higher but optional level of devotion. This is wrong and betrays the false hearts of mere professors.

Paul closed his letter to the Roman church with a plea: “I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together [wrestle] with me in your prayers to God on my behalf” (Romans 15:30). He was calling on them to join his struggle. Pursuing, striving, and fighting takes real effort, the kind of effort that contrasts the mediocrity characterizing the spiritual lives of most Christians. In Ephesians Paul explains that all believers need to prepare themselves fully for the spiritual war directed against them. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities” (Ephesians 6:12). Wrestle is a synonym for striving in Romans 15:30, involving the same strenuous effort expected of all believers in this gospel age. Praying is one spiritual discipline little exercised today as evidenced by the anemic condition of the church. Prayer is hard work. When Paul exhorts the saints to “to stand” (vv. 11, 13, 14), he does not mean that standing should be passive. The command to “Stand therefore” (v. 14) is modified by the participle “praying” in verse 18. We stand by praying, and praying is wrestling together against spiritual powers working against us. Our success in praying also depends on our pursuing “righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness.”

May God grant us grace and enablement to “Fight the good fight of the faith” as we enter a new year and a new decade.