Jesus' teaching in Mathew 5:38-42 and its implications for the contemporary Christians in Ibadan North Local Government Area, Oyo State

Abstract

Conflicts between Jesus' teachings on retaliation and some church traditions have resulted in misinterpretation of some Bible passages and wrongly premised church doctrines. Some denominations believe in unlimited retaliation, some limited retaliation, others replaced retaliation, while some do not believe in replaced retaliation. This study, therefore, examined Jesus' teaching on retaliation in Matthew 5:38-42 to determine the extent to which it aligns with church traditions and the effects of these on the Christians. Two hundred copies of the questionnaire were administered to Christians resident in Ibadan North Local Government area in Oyo State, Nigeria. Matthew 5:38-42 was exegetically analysed. Quantitative data was subjected to percentages. Jesus prescribed no retaliation, but forgiveness. A total of 150 (84%) of the respondents claimed that Jesus teaches no retaliation and that the Old Testament teaching on retaliation is not contradictory to Jesus' teaching. Paradoxically, in practice, only 46 (25.6%) respondents would not retaliate. To keep within Bible-based prescriptions, Christians should align completely with the teachings of Jesus in theory and in practice.