Радио ВЕРА - Евангелие от Матфея, Глава 5, стихи 33-41. - текст песни, слова, перевод, видео

Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 5, verses 33-41.

33 Again you have heard what was said to the ancients: Do not break your oath, but fulfill your oaths to the Lord.

34 But I say to you: do not swear at all: not by heaven, for it is the throne of God;

35 nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, because it is the city of the great King;

36 Do not swear by your head, because you cannot make a single hair white or black.

37 But let your word be: yea, yea; no no; and anything beyond this is from the evil one.

38 You have heard that it was said: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

39 But I say to you: do not resist evil. But whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other also to him;

40 And whoever wants to sue you and take your shirt, give him your outer garment too;

41 And whoever forces you to go one mile with him, go with him two miles.

Hieromonk Feoktist Igumnov comments.

The words of the Lord Jesus Christ about non-resistance to evil by force are perhaps one of the most frequently quoted words of the Gospel. Even people who have never read the Gospel somewhere once heard that Christian law commands that when struck on the right cheek, one should also present the left one. For people who are far from Christianity or for people who do not understand and do not accept Christianity, these words of Christ sound like a call to action, like a call to test: if I beat you, will you remain silent and turn the other cheek?

If not, then you are not Christians, but just hypocrites. But few people have thought about exactly how a right-handed person, of whom the statistical majority is, can strike the right cheek of the person standing in front of him. Of course, if a person practices boxing, then this will not be difficult for him. But, nevertheless, there are not so many boxers and it is unlikely that they were among the direct listeners of Christ. However, even ancient church writers paid attention to this seemingly oddity. And they concluded that we were talking about a backhand blow, not so much strong as offensive. Or, in other words, about a slap in the face. That is, in general, Christ is not talking about beatings and physical violence, but about causing personal insult. And this is a very important point. Because often Christ’s words about non-resistance to evil are not understood in the sense that Christ the Lord Himself put into them. After all, we remember that having received a blow on the cheek during interrogation by the high priest Anna, Christ did not turn the other cheek, but He rebelled against the evil inflicted. And at that moment Christ did not contradict Himself. This is the duty of every Christian - to fight evil, to rebel against evil. To fight precisely evil, and not the insults inflicted on us personally. Because the one who offends and insults commits a sin, and if someone resists the offender, then he commits exactly the same sin, because he also seeks to offend. He who does not resist is free from sin and therefore justified by God. This should and always has great practical significance, because in such cases God Himself is the avenger of the guilty and the protector of the innocent and defeats evil, with which it is difficult or completely impossible for an individual to fight.