John Calvin Commentary John 18:23

"Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou me?" — John 18:23 (ASV)

If I have spoken evil. That is, “If I have sinned, accuse me, so that, when the case has been tried, I may be punished according to the offense. For this is not a lawful way of proceeding; a very different order and very different restraint should be maintained in judicial courts.” Christ complains, therefore, that a grievous injury has been done to him if he has committed no offense, and that, even if he has committed an offense, they still should proceed in a lawful manner, and not with rage and violence.

But Christ does not appear to observe, in this instance, the rule which he elsewhere lays down for his followers; for he does not hold out the right cheek to him who had struck him on the left (Matthew 5:39).

I answer, in Christian patience it is not always the duty of one who has been struck to tolerate the injury done to him without saying a word; but rather, first, to endure it with patience, and, secondly, to give up all thoughts of revenge and to endeavor to overcome evil by good, (Romans 12:21). Wicked men are already too powerfully driven by the spirit of Satan to harm others, so that no one needs to provoke them.

It is a foolish exposition of Christ’s words, therefore, that is given by those who interpret them as if we were commanded to offer fresh inducements to those who are already too much disposed to do evil. For he means nothing other than that each of us should be more ready to bear a second injury than to take revenge for the first. Consequently, there is nothing to prevent a Christian man from protesting when he has been unjustly treated, provided that his mind is free from rancor and his hand from revenge.