Go the extra mile

Serving freely even the one who forces you.

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus takes up a saying his hearers knew: "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth" (Matthew 5:38). In the Law it was a rule for judges, making the penalty fit the wrong (Exodus 21:24, Deuteronomy 19:18-21). Jesus speaks instead to the person who has been wronged: "Resist not him that is evil" (Matthew 5:39). He gives four short examples — the blow on the cheek, the lawsuit for a coat, the order to go a mile, the one who asks or wants to borrow (Matthew 5:39-42).

The mile is the third: "whosoever shall compel thee to go one mile, go with him two" (Matthew 5:41).

The word translated "compel", angareuō, came into Greek from Persian, where it belonged to the royal courier service, whose riders could press men, horses and boats into service. The Romans kept a similar system of compulsory service for official business, and the Gospels show the same verb at work: soldiers "compelled" Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross of Jesus (Matthew 27:32; Mark 15:21). The mile (milion) is a Roman measure, a thousand paces — a little under an English mile.

So the demand Jesus pictures is not a favor asked by a friend. It is forced service, imposed by someone with power over you. Jesus does not tell his hearers to refuse, nor to do the bare minimum with a grudge. He tells them to go twice as far — turning a forced mile into a freely given one. The same passage goes on: "Love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you" (Matthew 5:44).

To "go the extra mile" now means to make an extra effort — to do more than a job requires, often at work or in serving customers. The ASV's wording is "go with him two"; the idiom's extra mile is the second one.

The modern sense keeps the generosity of doing more than is required, and that is a real part of Jesus' teaching. But it usually loses the setting. The first mile in Matthew 5:41 was not a task one had chosen or a customer one hoped to please; it was forced service to someone with power over you, quite possibly an enemy. Jesus' point is how a disciple treats the person who is using him — with free good will instead of resentment or revenge. "Going the extra mile" is faithful to the text when it means love shown to the difficult and the unjust, not only extra effort for those who will reward it.

Sermons sometimes add that Roman law let a soldier demand exactly one mile and no more. That detail is not in the text, and there is no clear ancient evidence for it, so it is left aside here.

compel

to press into service; a word of Persian origin, from the royal couriers

mile

a Roman mile, a thousand paces (about 1,480 metres)

And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to go with them, that he might bear his cross.

The same verb in action: soldiers compelled Simon of Cyrene to carry the cross.

And they compel one passing by, Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to go with them, that he might bear his cross.

Mark's account of Simon, "coming from the country," pressed into service.

but I say unto you, Love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you;

Where the passage leads: love for enemies and prayer for persecutors.

But I say unto you that hear, Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you.

Luke's form of the teaching: do good to them that hate you.

But if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him to drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Paul's application: "overcome evil with good."

and the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and have testified falsely against his brother; then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to do unto his brother: so shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee. And those that remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil in the midst of thee. And thine eyes shall not pity; life shall go for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

The Law's "eye for eye": a rule for judges, not for private revenge.

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