**Matthew 5:39 - Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)**

```Dust


<39> But I say to you not to resist evil: but if one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other: ```

Let's get a bit of context going

Matthew 5:30-45

**Matthew 5:30-45 - Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)**

```Dust


<30> And if thy right hand scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body be cast into hell. <31> And it hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a bill of divorce. <32> But I say to you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, excepting for the cause of fornication, maketh her to commit adultery: and he that shall marry her that is put away, committeth adultery. <33> Again you have heard that it was said to them of old, Thou shalt not forswear thyself: but thou shalt perform thy oaths to the Lord. <34> But I say to you not to swear at all, neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God: <35> Nor by the earth, for it is his footstool: nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king: <36> Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. <37> But let your speech be yea, yea: no, no: and that which is over and above these, is of evil. <38> You have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. <39> But I say to you not to resist evil: but if one strike thee on thy right cheek, turn to him also the other: <40> And if a man will contend with thee in judgment, and take away thy coat, let go thy cloak also unto him. <41> And whosoever will force thee one mile, go with him other two, <42> Give to him that asketh of thee and from him that would borrow of thee turn not away. <43> You have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thy enemy. <44> But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you: <45> That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh his sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. ```

In a flurry of different commandments, verse 39 doesn't even seem to stand out as a major point, but it well summarises the whole sermon. If a man strikes your right cheek, present to him the other; show strength in the face of adversary and exhibit fortitude in struggle, especially against ones enemies. Has it not been said before that, perhaps, in a demonstration-type scenario that if a God-hater were to strike you, then remain standing. For if you are not ready to also reveal your right cheek in another confrontation then you are already truly beaten

yeah I always read it as "endure whatever may be thrown at you"

If Satan were to take your coat, then give him your cloak too - for the Earth should mean nothing to men of God; ascetics and anti-materialists. As is the same of our bodies, mere earthly vessels - why martyrs are so ready to die for God. They understand that they can present their cheeks until their death. To deny God in order to save oneself would be as Peter denied Christ no less than thrice

And so Peter knew his shame

Anyway. The sermon is well summarised by simply saying people will persecute men of da cloth, so let them. Do not deny God, however. Love the enemy as God loves them

Thanks a lot buny

Also regarding this, a friend of mine is seriously considering mutilating his right hand since he commits the sin of masturbation

WEW

i know it sounds silly, but just to be sure

Admirable devotion but very extreme

you're not actually required to, right?

No lmao

lmao thanks i just wanted to hear someone else saying it

That’s just like people that used to cut their backs as penance

Very extreme measures, admirable but not encouraged

i'll tell him to better keep his arm and learn willpower

If anything discouraged, your hand may be material but it can still help do God’s work

I ain’t never jerked it 😎 he can learn to get better

If anything it’s more admirable and a greater show of faith to conquer it himself rather than doing something like that

yeah sounds better

also he will need his hands to do labor and stuff

Exactly

alright thx m8s

Yeah. Going to such measures in order to not sin is called mortification of the flesh, to mortify a part of the body (kill it). Of course as we know, the logical conclusion to this is that as man sins, the only way to stop man through mortification of the flesh is to simply kill all men, which is not the intention of our Lord. It's most extreme forms, like imitating the Passion at Calvary are considered forbidden. Nevertheless, there are still practitioners of extreme mortifiers of the flesh like Filipino traditionalists

Of course, there is devotional mortification, like kneeling down. It hurts the knees but we do it anyway out of love, respect and faith for and in God

But there's a difference in devotional mortification and what we could call "preventative" mortification

As the Bible constantly tells us, if we are not tested then we can never know our faith; and the strongest zealots come from within the belly of the beast

@ElPacho

oh so it's not entirely bad

we should not just take it to extremes

Cutting off your hand is

yeah like cutting off your hand

and stuff

is flagellation actually painful

The line between extreme and moderate is the difference between whether something is done out of love for God, or fear of sin

If we do something out of love, then it's devotion; if we do something out of fear, then it isn't our true intention

He could still want to jerk it but can't, which goes against concepts of desire