And if any man will sue you at the law, and take away your coat, let him have your cloak also.
And if any man will sue you at the law, and take away your coat, let him have your cloak also.
And if any man would go to law with thee, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.
And if any man goes to law with you and takes away your coat, do not keep back your robe from him.
And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.
If anyone sues you to take away your coat, let him have your cloak also.
And if any man would go to law with thee, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.
And if any man will sue thee at the law - Every where our blessed Lord shows the utmost disapprobation of such litigations as tended to destroy brotherly kindness and charity. It is evident he would have his followers to suffer rather the loss of all their property than to have recourse to such modes of redress, at so great a risk. Having the mind averse from contentions, and preferring peace and concord to temporal advantages, is most solemnly recommended to all Christians. We are great gainers when we lose only our money, or other property, and risk not the loss of our souls, by losing the love of God and man.
Coat - Χιτωνα, upper garment. - Cloke, ἱματιον, under garment. What we call strait coat, and great coat. - See on Luke 6:29 (note).
5:40-41 Where the damage is not great, choose rather to suffer it, though possibly it may on that account be repeated, than to demand an eye for an eye, to enter into a rigorous prosecution of the offender. The meaning of the whole passage seems to be, rather than return evil for evil, when the wrong is purely personal, submit to one bodily wrong after another, give up one part of your goods after another, submit to one instance of compulsion after another. That the words are not literally to be understood, appears from the behaviour of our Lord himself, John 18:22,23.