Bible Synapse

Did Jesus teach non-resistance, or the use of force?

Hard question · The life of Jesus · raised by 2 of the lists sceptics circulate

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The passages

Matthew 5:38–39

Instead of an eye for an eye: do not resist the one who does you evil; if struck on the right cheek, turn the other also.

Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Matthew 26:51–52

When a disciple cuts off a servant’s ear, Jesus tells him to put up his sword, for those who take the sword will perish by it.

And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest’s, and smote off his ear. Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.

Luke 22:35–38

Hard times are coming: let the one without a sword sell his garment and buy one. Shown two swords, Jesus says, ‘It is enough’.

And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing. Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end. And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, It is enough.

John 2:14–16

Making a whip of cords, Jesus drives the traders and their animals out of the temple and overturns the money-changers’ tables.

And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.

The objection

Jesus taught, “resist not evil”, and told Peter, “all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.” Yet on the same night he told his disciples to sell a garment and buy a sword, and earlier he made a whip and drove the traders out of the temple. Did he teach non-resistance or the use of force?

The answer

Matthew 5:39 is about personal revenge: Jesus sets it against using “An eye for an eye” (5:38), a rule for judges, as a licence for private paying back, and a blow on the right cheek, which a right-handed man would give with the back of his hand, was an insult more than an injury. His followers are not to repay wrongs done to them, and when Peter drew his sword in Gethsemane, Jesus told him to put it away (Matthew 26:52; John 18:10–11).

The sword saying in Luke 22 is a warning, not a call to arms: the welcome of the earlier mission was over, and Jesus himself was about to be “reckoned among the transgressors” (22:35–37). When the disciples, taking him literally, produced two swords, he answered “It is enough” (22:38), closing the subject, for two swords could not defend twelve men, and that same night he healed the man Peter struck (22:50–51; John 18:10). Matthew Henry read the saying this way, as meant ‘to show that the times would be very perilous’.

In the temple Jesus acted with a prophet’s authority against the misuse of his Father’s house, and John’s wording suggests that the whip of cords was for the animals: he “threw all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen” (John 2:15, WEB). No one is said to have been hurt, and nothing here sets aside his teaching against personal revenge.

Other answers Christians give

Self-defence

Some Christians read Luke 22:36 as allowing a sword for self-defence on the road, as travellers then carried them. On this view Jesus forbids revenge and the spreading of his kingdom by force (John 18:36), not every use of force to protect life.

Still open

Christians differ over whether Luke 22:36 allows a sword for self-defence or is meant wholly as a warning, and more widely over whether Christians may ever use force. Both sides agree that Jesus forbade personal revenge and the spreading of his kingdom by the sword.

From the classic commentators

This is intended only to show that the times would be very perilous, so that no man would think himself safe if he had not a sword by his side. But the sword of the Spirit is the sword which the disciples of Christ must furnish themselves with.Matthew Henry, Commentary on Luke 22:35–38 (1706–1721)
or this was a short way of speaking, suggesting their stupidity and ignorance: it is enough, it is very well, I perceive you do not understand my meaning, and I shall say no more at present.John Gill, Exposition on Luke 22:38 (1746–1763)

Sources

Further reading

Raised by: W. H. Burr, Self-Contradictions of the Bible (1860), EvilBible.com. Only the verse references come from these lists.

Checked 2026-10-22. All hard questions