Early Christian Teachings

How have early Christian teachings on revenge evolved through time and become relevant in modern Western

by L Barker & A Yates, Year 12 society?

It is no secret that the deepest values of contemporary secular society have their roots in Christianity. However, it is also well-known that the bible is a highly contradictory collection of books from separate authors, and therefore is difficult to interpret. So, in light of recent protests, politics and rising terrorism in the Western World, it is important to consider whether society appeals to the Christian teaching of forgiveness or revenge.

The most notable biblical teaching on revenge is the famous - or rather infamous - principle of Lex Talionis, or “An eye for an eye” as promoted in the Old Testament. The basis of the ‘Law of Retaliation’, found in Leviticus, encourages revenge and advocates the ideology that in a given situation, both parties should receive equal injuries in order to create a fair balance. Therefore according to this principle, if someone injures you, you are morally permitted to injure them back in an equal quantity. However, Jesus’ opposing teachings of love and forgiveness in the New Testament, that birthed

the commonly used phrase ‘turn the other cheek’, decisively contradict this. Rather than seeking revenge, a more liberal christian approach would be to “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you” as encouraged in the Gospel of Luke. Similarly, in ‘Epistle to the Romans’ it is said to “Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honourable in the sight of all”. Jesus’ philosophy of doing what is ‘honourable’ promotes love and forgiveness in the face of evil, which clearly contradicts the Law of Retaliation, and accordingly poses the question: Which fundamental teaching do we most strongly appeal to in modern secular society?

It is apparent that in this day and age it is impossible to expect an entirely moral society. In Christianity, the majority of the Old Testament is about revenge, and it is obvious that this has an effect on today’s ideals of morality. Gandhi, the leader of the Indian Nationalist movement, intertwines the quote ‘An eye for an eye’ with his own words of wisdom: “An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind”. Here, we can clearly see that Gandhi has created an entirely new meaning from the Old Testament’s infamous quote. There have been numerous accounts of revenge in the media lately. For example, after Donald Trump’s defeat in this year’s US election we saw extremely shocking behaviour to this: an attack on the Capitol. This planned attack has been equated to an act of terrorism with Christian instincts. Christian-right activists outside of the government claimed God told them to “let the church roar”. Interestingly, the attack on the Capitol opened with a prayer. Trump’s White House adviser, Paula White, called on God to “give holy boldness in this hour.” Trump claims that he had nothing to do with the uprising yet, Trump antagonised the crowd to “fight like hell”. The attack on the Capitol is only one political uprising that has Christian ideals of revenge rooted within it therefore from this we can infer that society is inclined to use revenge instead of forgiveness.

Perhaps, from this we can conclude that revenge is an innate ideal, truly ingrained into society, but even revenge can be forgiven and reformed.