“A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. A wrathful man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger allays contention” (Prov 15:1,8).
The footsteps in which believers in Christ are to walk are spelled out for us in the teaching on a mountainside early in His ministry. We are to live in righteousness and holiness, and His commands haven’t changed over the ages: “I am the LORD and I do not change” (Malachi 3:6). Jesus was manifested in our likeness not only to pay our sin debt so we might be spared the penalty of sin and be reconciled with the Father in heaven. He came as a role model for living in power over sin by the indwelling Spirit of God that all believers receive upon new birth spiritually. And these footsteps include how we are to respond to rejection and persecution as well as mistreatment of any kind, whether deserved or not. They are footsteps of not returning evil for evil with anger or bitterness, but with love and forgiveness, always remembering that we have been forgiven so that we might have the ability to forgive others in return by not keeping a record of wrongs. So it is Jesus tells us, “I say to you, ‘Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which spitefully use you and persecute you: that you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. For if you love them which love you, what reward have you? Do not even the publicans do the same?” (Matthew 5:44,45). In contrast to those who answer wrath with a soft answer, a wrathful man responds harshly and stirs up further strife. If treated unjustly, we are told in this proverb to be slow to anger and not retaliate with words which serve to aggravate the situation into a state of even greater contention. Natural man has a tendency to respond to insult or bitterness with retaliation which is like pouring gasoline on a fire. In contrast is a spiritual man who finds himself having been crucified with Christ as did the apostle: “I have been crucified with Christ: it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). To accept having been crucified with Christ means having willingly died to one’s personal rights as did the sinless One in going to the Cross on our behalf. So it is we too must learn to turn the other cheek. It is never suggested in scripture that responding in this way is something which automatically takes place upon coming to a saving knowledge of Christ. At least for most of us, such is far from the truth. Rather, we must make a conscious and deliberate decision to walk in the footsteps of Him who died for us so that we might be forgiven. Let us never be deceived in this regard. We will reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7), so let us be slow to anger, lest we become captive to unforgiveness, resentment, and anger leading to hatred and a desire to retaliate with violence in word if not deed. We must always be on guard lest there develop a root of bitterness which will not only defile others. Such a root can risk keeping us from someday living eternally in freedom from sin in the presence of God, lest we think otherwise.
