It’s a verse every Christian believes in until he suffers some great wrong. It’s a verse every Christian affirms until he is called to implement it in his own life. And it’s just then that the words seem to transform from clear to opaque, the application from simple to obscure. In 1 Corinthians 6:7 Paul speaks of lawsuits between believers and says “Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?” It’s better to suffer injustice within the church, he says, than to harm Christ’s cause before the world. It’s better to suffer harm quietly than to express outrage publicly. If you sue a brother and win, the church has already lost.
This is just one application of a much wider principle that is repeated throughout the New Testament, a principle that calls Christians to behave with humility and meekness, even in the face of grave injustice. Christians are not to retaliate when wronged, nor to repay evil with evil, nor to curse those who harm them. Rather, we are to bear patiently through suffering and persecution, we are to endure hardship, we are to entrust ourselves to God. We are to do all of this
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