Do Not Resist an Evil Person.

"You have heard it said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,' but I say do not resist an evil person but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also."  Matthew 5:39

The commentaries I read said this meant to not seek personal revenge. That we should remember how Jesus acted when he was slapped on the night of his trial. He did not lose his temper. He did ask, "If I have said anything wrong, tell me what it was. But if I have told the truth, why do you hit me?" John 18:23

In the Old Testament, in the civil laws God gave the Jewish nation, God sometimes said that whatever a man did to you, then the same could be done to him. This was a law of "like for like" that later on the Greeks and Romans adopted. This was never to be done personally but by the magistrate. Personal retribution was banned.

Jesus is showing us a better way. Forgiveness of wrongs done to us may melt the heart of the person who hurt us. It may lead to his repentance and conversion. God allowed many things in the old days, but civilization had progressed and was ready for a higher standard. In old England punishment for stealing was too strict, in the old West they used to hang men for horse stealing or cattle rustling. Laws change as society changes, and usually for the better.

Like Rhonda said, God allowed certain things like divorce because of the "hardness of your heart." That time was over with the coming of Christ. He came to live a perfect life and set a perfect example so we would have no excuse to act with hatred and revenge.