---
title: Matthew 5:41
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-5-41/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/matthew-5-41.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Matthew 5:41
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Matthew 5:41

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> and if someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "and if someone in authority compels you into service for a mile, go with him two miles."

## JW Usage

Matthew 5:41 is rarely engaged in JW commentary on the alternative-service question. The Watchtower's policy from the 1940s to 1996 forbade Witnesses from accepting state-compelled civilian service (forestry, hospital work) — even though Jesus is here addressing exactly the Roman practice of angaria, the state's right to compel a civilian into service. The verse is noticed only as a generic principle of going beyond what is required, applied devotionally to interpersonal kindness.

## Protestant Usage

Jesus addresses the precise question the Watchtower forbade: state-compelled civilian service. The Greek angareuō describes Roman authorities pressing civilians into one mile of compulsory service — carrying a soldier's pack, providing transport. Jesus commands compliance and going further, not refusal. Pair Matthew 5:41 with Romans 13:1-7 (NWT: authorities "placed in their relative positions by God"). For nearly fifty years, JW young men went to prison rather than accept civilian work — an exact inversion of Jesus's instruction. The 1978 Governing Body vote was 11-5 in favour of allowing alternative service, but a procedural two-thirds majority requirement preserved the policy until the silent reversal in May 1996. Thousands of brothers spent years in prison enforcing a rule Jesus's own words ruled out — and the organisation that finally lifted the rule offered no apology and no acknowledgement of the harm.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Alternative Service — 50 Years of Needless Imprisonment](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/alternative-service-refusal.md) — Romans 13:1-7 / Matthew 5:41 — 'If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two' [Authority]