Applying the Golden Rule

We try to teach our little boys to share, but sometimes the demand to share can turn into a selfish demand that negates the whole principle of sharing. For example, if one of the boys wants a favorite toy, should he always get it simply by telling his brothers that they have to share? The issue of sharing can end up being just as complicated for adults- even for Christians.
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Consider Luke 6:29-30: "Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt from him either. "Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back.” (NASB)
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Does this mean that if I steal your coat from you, that you are to give me your shirt too? Does this mean that if I ask you for your car, that you should give me your wife’s car as well? Does this mean that if I steal you wallet, that you should just let me keep it if you know that I did it?
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Of course stealing is wrong. “Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.” (Ephesians 4:28 NKJV)
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So how do we reconcile these two passages. First let us look at the parallel passage to Luke 6:29 found in Matthew 5:40: "If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.” (NKJV) There is a big difference between giving something away because it is has been stolen, and having to give something away because a court of law says that you owe it to another individual as restitution.
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Let us remember that Jesus was ministering to a mostly Hebrew people who were living under Roman law. Regardless of what the Roman law said should happen in a lawsuit, the Hebrew law calls for more than just equal restitution. "If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and slaughters it or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for the ox and four sheep for the sheep.” (Exodus 22:1 NASB). Not only did the Hebrew law prohibit stealing, but it required that more be paid back that what was stolen.
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The point Jesus was making in Luke 6, was that if you had wronged someone, then you should make restitution over and above what the person had lost. No wonder He next said, "And just as you want people to treat you, treat them in the same way.” (Luke 6:31 NASB)
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The statement about allowing your face to be hit again makes much more sense in this context as well. This does not mean that if some random person assaults you, that you are not to defend yourself, rather it is the idea that if you have insulted a person to the extent that they are justified in in slapping you across the cheek, that you ought to show your remorse for the insult to such an extent that you let them hit you again.
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Just as there needs to be restitution in a lawsuit, Luke 6:29 allows the person you insulted to have restitution as well. At the same time, we are to treat others like we would like to be treated. I would hope that if I insulted someone, that they would not hit me at all, therefore I will not demand to slap either cheek. Realize as well that our culture and our laws do not allow slapping for insults, while other cultures do.
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Let us follow Christ’s example of humility and follow the golden rule that treats others like we would like to be treated.