Question: Matthew 5:39a (ESV) says, “But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil”. If we had done this with Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, and others, wouldn’t many more innocent people have suffered?
Jesus was talking in the context of the “beatitudes”, (Matt. 5:1–10), and in my opinion the time when they apply practically; which will be in the future, i.e. Post Millennial.
It is important to acknowledge that Jesus never spoke this way except to “His own”, who, as you know Rejected Him, Jhn.1:10–13.
As Acts 28:25–28 shows, the Jews rejected Him, but the Gentiles did not, and the Gentiles can now be “children of God” in Christ Jesus, by the Holy Spirit!
As the Bible makes clear, we have no choice but “resist” the “evil one”, as your point makes clear!
At the time Jesus spoke these words, there was the possibility that Satan would be ″bound” as prophesied in Rev. 20, but because of the resistance of the Jews, their rejection and Crucifixion of Jesus, that event now awaits the end of the Millennial Reign!
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