This week, we’re reflecting on familiar passages that are often misunderstood or misapplied. Yesterday, we looked at Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (What “All Things” Can We Do Through Christ?)
Today, we’re looking at Jesus’ call in the Sermon on the Mount to love our enemies. I can almost hear the responses:
- “That’s not practical! Back in Jesus’ day, things were different.”
- “Well, maybe I have to love them, but that doesn’t mean I have to like them.”
- “In the Old Testament, God told Israel to wipe out their enemies. Jesus must have been speaking idealistically.”
So what does it look like to love your enemies in today’s world?
The Sermon on the Mount: Words to Build a Life On
As I noted yesterday, it’s important for us to consider context when we read Scripture. So what is the context for this verse? First, the broader context is the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew’s Gospel, the Sermon on the Mount is the first time that Jesus teaches His followers. Because of that, I call it the “ABCs of Discipleship.” After all, if this is the first thing Jesus taught his disciples, He must have considered these concepts the foundation of faith. I like the way that The Message renders Jesus’ closing remarks in the Sermon: “These words that I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on” (Matthew 7:24, MSG).
In the part of chapter 5 which precedes today’s verse, Jesus has challenged His disciples by telling them that they are the light of the world (5:14). He explains by telling them that their good works will help people to see God at work, and glorify Him. He then proceeds to talk about various ways that we relate to each other. In the NASB translation, verses 21-48 have the heading “Personal Relationships.” Jesus uses a pattern to structure these comments; He says, “You have heard…But I say to you…” He then proceeds to teach us five different concepts with this pattern:
You have heard… But I say…
You shall not murder (5:21-22) Everyone who is angry with his brother
shall be answerable to the court
You shall not commit adultery (5:27-28) Everyone who looks at a woman with
lust for her has already committed
adultery with her in his heart
Whoever sends his wife away is to Everyone who divorces his wife,
give her a certificate of divorce (5:31-32) except for the reason of sexual
immorality, makes her commit adultery
You shall not make false vows, but shall Take no oath at all…But make sure your
fulfill your vows to the Lord (5:33-37) statement is, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’
Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth (5:38-42) Do not show opposition against an evil
person, but ‘turn the other cheek’
Love Your Enemy
That’s the context for the last part of the passage: “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may prove yourselves to be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Even the tax collectors, do they not do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Even the Gentiles, do they not do the same? Therefore you shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:43-48).
Several things stand out in this passage. First, as I’ve noted in other posts, the NASB translation uses capital letters to reflect quotations from the Old Testament. What’s interesting in this passage is that “You shall love your neighbor” is in capital letters, but “and hate your enemy” is not. That means that “hate your enemy” was never God’s command, but was a human addition. Whenever we add our own ideas to God’s commands and treat them as equal, trouble ensues!
Loving Our Enemies Evidences God’s Work in Us
It’s one thing to acknowledge that “hate your enemy” was not God’s command; it’s another thing entirely to say that we should love our enemies. But that’s exactly what Jesus is saying. “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may prove yourselves to be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” In other words, loving our enemies proves that we are God’s children. God causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good. He sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If God can love even those who rebel against Him, we can love our enemies.
After all, we were also God’s enemies. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Then, in verse 10, Paul says: “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” That’s why Jesus says that loving our enemies demonstrates God’s work in us.
Who Are Our “Enemies”?
The natural next question is: Who are our “enemies”? If we are to love our enemies, we need to identify who they are, right?
Actually, no. Remember what Jesus says. It was said, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy,” but He calls us to love our enemies. That doesn’t mean that we don’t love our neighbors! Jesus is expanding our “circle of love,” not shifting our focus. He calls us to love neighbors and enemies. In other words, love everyone. If we do that, we don’t need to sort people into the categories of “neighbor” and “enemy.”
What Does It Mean to Love Our Enemies?
The real question becomes, what does it mean to love our enemies? The simple answer is: the same thing it means to love our neighbors. But that’s not really helpful, because we often struggle with what it means to love. That struggle is demonstrated by the fact that in English, we have just one word for love. You probably know that Greek – the language of the New Testament – has three different words that can be translated “love.”
- Eros – (from which we get the word “erotic”) describes the sexual love and attraction between a man and a woman.
- Philia – “brotherly love”
- Agape – the self-giving love that originates in God and is fully demonstrated by God.
Clearly, it is agape that Paul describes in Romans 5 when he says that God demonstrated His love for us by sending Christ to die for us. But Jesus also uses a form of agape when He calls us to love our enemies. That’s why He says that loving our enemies demonstrates that we are children of the Father.
“Love Your Enemies” Demonstrates We’re God’s Children
At its most basic level, “love your enemies” means that we treat them the same way that God treated us “while we were still sinners.” It doesn’t mean that we excuse wrong behavior. It doesn’t mean that we ignore God’s commands; we don’t call evil good, or good evil (Isaiah 5:20). Later in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus explains it this way: “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12).
So what does it look like to love our enemies? Maybe we can start by not thinking of people as our enemies! If we stop categorizing everyone as either “friend” or “enemy,” perhaps we can begin to find ways to build bridges instead of walls. Then, we can demonstrate that we are children of our Father!
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