# Turning the other cheek belongs to the command to love enemies

Commentary on Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton.

On [CH06.P012](https://glosses.org/orthodoxy/pg16769-r1/CH06.P012/#char=505,545): "The Gospel paradox about the other cheek"

Matthew 5:38–44 places the instruction after the rule of retaliation and before the command to love enemies. In the King James Version, Matthew specifies the right cheek; Luke 6:27–31 gives the parallel injunction without specifying right or left, alongside blessing persecutors, surrendering possessions and the Golden Rule. Chesterton's phrase is therefore a compressed allusion shared by both accounts, not an exact quotation that identifies one Gospel or translation.

The surrounding commands make the episode more than advice to avoid a fight: it concerns the response to injury and the treatment of enemies. Whether that response excludes every public or military use of force requires a further interpretation. The Gospel allusion itself does not settle the entire historical question Chesterton builds around it. [King James Version, Matthew 5:38–44; Luke 6:27–31](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10).

## Sources

- [The King James Version of the Bible, Project Gutenberg ebook 10](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10), Matthew 5:38–44; Luke 6:27–31; inspected plain-text witness updated October 29, 2024

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