Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
The verse records the saying the hearers had received, that they should love their neighbor but hate their enemy. Jesus answers it with the opposite requirement, to love enemies, do good to those who hate, and pray for those who mistreat and persecute, with no retaliation under insult. Such love copies the Father, who gives sun and rain and worldly good to the evil and the good, the just and the unjust, even to those who dishonor Him daily. This impartial, enemy-loving character is what makes a person a child of the Father in heaven, and is the perfection commanded in being perfect in one's humble sphere as the Father is perfect in His exalted sphere. The distinction between a neighbor to be loved and an enemy to be hated is abolished, so that every needy soul is neighbor and anyone who needs help, sympathy and love is to be regarded as neighbor without distinction of race or position.
Saying and Setting
The saying recorded here is the one the hearers had received, that love was owed to a neighbor while hatred was owed to an enemy. It was an old saying among the Jews that limited love to neighbors and permitted hatred of enemies, and Jesus answers it with the opposite requirement.
Its opening formula belongs to the rabbinical schools of that day, where appeals to what men say and they say were continually repeated. Putting unstable human words forward as exalted wisdom corrupted the minds of learners, so opinions of that kind are not to be accepted when the greater and certain wisdom of God is at command. Learners are instead to search Scripture for truth, and minds with no connection to schools using that method and to infidel authors can be reached more fully by God through the Old and New Testament Scriptures.
The verse belongs to the Sermon on the Mount, given especially to the disciples while the assembled multitude also heard. A curious crowd gathered with the disciples, and its words are among plain, simple teachings understandable even to the poor and unlearned, providing a sure foundation for faith and practice. There He taught the principles that govern the kingdom of divine grace rather than promising the earthly power and national glory His hearers expected.
In that sermon He defines the law and shows its far-reaching, spiritual claims, with its principles to be present in the heart because the state of the heart governs life and character and its reach extends to the thoughts and intentions of the heart. This corrected the rabbis' presentation of God's law as a cold code burdened by human traditions and contradicted the doctrines and practices of the self-righteous scribes and Pharisees, whose teaching about God misrepresented His character. Christ restored the law to its proper light as the enduring standard of righteousness and revealed God's compassion, mercy, and love. His teachings there also corrected false ideas about God's kingdom, giving its conditions of entry.
Failure to walk in the light thus given separates people from Him and brings darkness in proportion to the light rejected, for His revealed requirements are just and He requires obedience to His commandments. The law explained there in its full spiritual reach condemns every evil action and requires perfect obedience, and truly following Him means keeping God's commandments as He did.
Enemy Love Commanded
Jesus answers the old saying with the opposite requirement, to love enemies, bless those who curse, do good to those who hate, and pray for those who mistreat, abuse and persecute, calling His followers beyond partial love to no retaliation under insult and persecution. This love is to be shown in practical kindness and not in cursing injurers, but in seeking to win them from evil by kindness as Christ treated His persecutors, exercising Christian courtesy, deeds of mercy, and a benevolence superior to that of the worldling. Hatred does not overcome an enemy's malice, while love and kindness can beget love in return and win a person from evil. That command was hard for revengeful hearers longing to crush their Roman oppressors, whose hatred of the Romans and desire to avenge wrongs had trained them in evil.
Such love copies the Father, who faithfully rewards virtue and punishes guilt yet gives sun and rain and worldly prosperity to the evil and the good, the just and the unjust, including the rebellious and idolatrous who dishonor Him daily, showing forbearance and benevolence toward all. Love must not be restricted to people who please or return affection, but is to reach those who need it most, as God shows goodness to both the evil and the good. Loving only those who love and greeting only brethren brings no reward and is no more than ordinary conduct, no more than even the publicans and worldlings do.
This impartial, enemy-loving character is what makes a person a child of the Father in heaven, and those who have it are to imitate Him in words, spirit and actions. It fulfills the blessing that peacemakers shall be called the children of God with names registered in the Lamb's Book of Life. It is the perfection commanded in being perfect in one's humble sphere as the Father is perfect in His exalted sphere, representing the spirit that rules in heaven rather than the narrow selfish spirit of the world, so as to be fit for companionship with sinless beings in the kingdom of heaven. God makes this obedience possible through power given to those who receive Christ.
Christ thereby tears away the wall of partition built by selfishness, pride, prejudice and national divisions between the guardians of the sacred oracles and every other nation, lifting men from the narrow circle selfishness prescribes and teaching love for all the human family. He abolishes all territorial lines and artificial distinctions of society, caste and aristocracy, making no difference between neighbors and strangers or friends and enemies. The distinction between a neighbor to be loved and an enemy to be hated is abolished with regard to all who need light and truth. Every needy soul is neighbor, and anyone who needs help or sympathy, assistance and love is to be regarded as neighbor without distinction of race, poverty, wealth or position, with the whole world as the field for showing the Father's mercy and goodness.
Living Out the Love
Hatred never overcomes an enemy's malice, while love and kindness can beget love in return and win a person from evil ways. Conduct shaped by the verse breaks the cycle by which misunderstanding breeds unkindness, which provokes retaliation and spreads strife and words that separate friends. The teaching is to be often dwelt upon so that divine virtues are brought constantly into life, the standard without spot or wrinkle is held high, and misapprehension is seen and corrected.
A follower may feel righteous indignation when God is dishonored or the innocent are oppressed, but anger or resentment indulged over personal provocation is sinful. Bitterness and animosity must be removed from the soul to be in harmony with heaven. The verse requires Christian courtesy, forbearance, mercy and kindness at all times and under all circumstances, respecting the rights of all, refusing even unkind thoughts and refusing to climb upon the judgment seat to censure or condemn brethren. It forbids crowding, pushing, ridicule, misrepresentation or unkind treatment of those who differ or are regarded as opponents or who do not see as one sees, even if their views are questionable. Error is to be addressed courteously and arguments weighed from Scripture in Christ's spirit, with love and Christian fellowship rather than accusing and faultfinding that undermines unity among believers.
This obligation binds especially those in positions of responsibility, who must be like-minded with God, strong in His strength and meek and humble as a little child. Their words, spirit, deportment and manner of treating brethren sow seeds for good or evil that others will follow. The truths of the chapter are divine requirements to be cherished, obeyed and shown in words, attitudes and actions and in daily life, which transforms character to show Christ's character. God makes this obedience possible through power given to those who receive Christ, as love for enemies belongs to Christian perfection in imitating the Father in words, spirit and actions. Living those lessons makes a deeper and more lasting impression than preaching them, and gives clear knowledge of doctrine to all who will to do God's will.
Perfect obedience would bring love, harmony and joy instead of oppression and injustice, while disobedience obscures Christ's character and weakens the witness. Those who have departed from God's commandments by being impatient, fretful, sour and quarrelsome in spirit and unkind to husband, wife, children or parents must be converted with the forgiving spirit of Jesus or they will never see the kingdom of heaven. Their sins may then be blotted out through the merits of His blood and their characters transformed by His grace and made fit for the society of the heavenly family. Love for neighbor sets the holy standard for business transactions, forbidding diverting means from their true object for ambitious designs, mingling human wisdom with the divine, confusing other minds about right and holy methods, and unjustly acquiring means at another's expense.
Those who do such things do not love God with the whole heart and do not love their neighbor as required and prove they have not yet learned the holy law, and they must repent and be converted and do works worthy of the name Christian in a cleansing of the soul temple. The verse links love to practical care for people in need such as the hungry, thirsty, naked, sick and imprisoned, since neglecting them is failure to serve Christ. It calls for diffusive missionary piety that reaches every needy soul and consecrates life to the saving mission, as Christ trained His workers by sending the Twelve two and two and then the Seventy before Him wherever He would go to proclaim the kingdom. The way to hearts is found by relieving temporal necessities as far as possible to open the way to present His love, a practical benevolence that enlarges Christian usefulness more than sermons.
The verse records the saying the hearers had received, that they should love their neighbor but hate their enemy.
Jesus answers it with the opposite requirement, to love enemies, do good to those who hate, and pray for those who mistreat and persecute, with no retaliation under insult.
Such love copies the Father, who gives sun and rain and worldly good to the evil and the good, the just and the unjust, even to those who dishonor Him daily.
This impartial, enemy-loving character is what makes a person a child of the Father in heaven, and is the perfection commanded in being perfect in one's humble sphere as the Father is perfect in His exalted sphere.
The distinction between a neighbor to be loved and an enemy to be hated is abolished, so that every needy soul is neighbor and anyone who needs help, sympathy and love is to be regarded as neighbor without distinction of race or position.
Saying and Setting
The saying recorded here is the one the hearers had received, that love was owed to a neighbor while hatred was owed to an enemy. It was an old saying among the Jews that limited love to neighbors and permitted hatred of enemies, and Jesus answers it with the opposite requirement.
Its opening formula belongs to the rabbinical schools of that day, where appeals to what men say and they say were continually repeated. Putting unstable human words forward as exalted wisdom corrupted the minds of learners, so opinions of that kind are not to be accepted when the greater and certain wisdom of God is at command. Learners are instead to search Scripture for truth, and minds with no connection to schools using that method and to infidel authors can be reached more fully by God through the Old and New Testament Scriptures.
The verse belongs to the Sermon on the Mount, given especially to the disciples while the assembled multitude also heard. A curious crowd gathered with the disciples, and its words are among plain, simple teachings understandable even to the poor and unlearned, providing a sure foundation for faith and practice. There He taught the principles that govern the kingdom of divine grace rather than promising the earthly power and national glory His hearers expected.
In that sermon He defines the law and shows its far-reaching, spiritual claims, with its principles to be present in the heart because the state of the heart governs life and character and its reach extends to the thoughts and intentions of the heart. This corrected the rabbis' presentation of God's law as a cold code burdened by human traditions and contradicted the doctrines and practices of the self-righteous scribes and Pharisees, whose teaching about God misrepresented His character. Christ restored the law to its proper light as the enduring standard of righteousness and revealed God's compassion, mercy, and love. His teachings there also corrected false ideas about God's kingdom, giving its conditions of entry.
Failure to walk in the light thus given separates people from Him and brings darkness in proportion to the light rejected, for His revealed requirements are just and He requires obedience to His commandments. The law explained there in its full spiritual reach condemns every evil action and requires perfect obedience, and truly following Him means keeping God's commandments as He did.
Enemy Love Commanded
Jesus answers the old saying with the opposite requirement, to love enemies, bless those who curse, do good to those who hate, and pray for those who mistreat, abuse and persecute, calling His followers beyond partial love to no retaliation under insult and persecution. This love is to be shown in practical kindness and not in cursing injurers, but in seeking to win them from evil by kindness as Christ treated His persecutors, exercising Christian courtesy, deeds of mercy, and a benevolence superior to that of the worldling. Hatred does not overcome an enemy's malice, while love and kindness can beget love in return and win a person from evil. That command was hard for revengeful hearers longing to crush their Roman oppressors, whose hatred of the Romans and desire to avenge wrongs had trained them in evil.
Such love copies the Father, who faithfully rewards virtue and punishes guilt yet gives sun and rain and worldly prosperity to the evil and the good, the just and the unjust, including the rebellious and idolatrous who dishonor Him daily, showing forbearance and benevolence toward all. Love must not be restricted to people who please or return affection, but is to reach those who need it most, as God shows goodness to both the evil and the good. Loving only those who love and greeting only brethren brings no reward and is no more than ordinary conduct, no more than even the publicans and worldlings do.
This impartial, enemy-loving character is what makes a person a child of the Father in heaven, and those who have it are to imitate Him in words, spirit and actions. It fulfills the blessing that peacemakers shall be called the children of God with names registered in the Lamb's Book of Life. It is the perfection commanded in being perfect in one's humble sphere as the Father is perfect in His exalted sphere, representing the spirit that rules in heaven rather than the narrow selfish spirit of the world, so as to be fit for companionship with sinless beings in the kingdom of heaven. God makes this obedience possible through power given to those who receive Christ.
Christ thereby tears away the wall of partition built by selfishness, pride, prejudice and national divisions between the guardians of the sacred oracles and every other nation, lifting men from the narrow circle selfishness prescribes and teaching love for all the human family. He abolishes all territorial lines and artificial distinctions of society, caste and aristocracy, making no difference between neighbors and strangers or friends and enemies. The distinction between a neighbor to be loved and an enemy to be hated is abolished with regard to all who need light and truth. Every needy soul is neighbor, and anyone who needs help or sympathy, assistance and love is to be regarded as neighbor without distinction of race, poverty, wealth or position, with the whole world as the field for showing the Father's mercy and goodness.
Living Out the Love
Hatred never overcomes an enemy's malice, while love and kindness can beget love in return and win a person from evil ways. Conduct shaped by the verse breaks the cycle by which misunderstanding breeds unkindness, which provokes retaliation and spreads strife and words that separate friends. The teaching is to be often dwelt upon so that divine virtues are brought constantly into life, the standard without spot or wrinkle is held high, and misapprehension is seen and corrected.
A follower may feel righteous indignation when God is dishonored or the innocent are oppressed, but anger or resentment indulged over personal provocation is sinful. Bitterness and animosity must be removed from the soul to be in harmony with heaven. The verse requires Christian courtesy, forbearance, mercy and kindness at all times and under all circumstances, respecting the rights of all, refusing even unkind thoughts and refusing to climb upon the judgment seat to censure or condemn brethren. It forbids crowding, pushing, ridicule, misrepresentation or unkind treatment of those who differ or are regarded as opponents or who do not see as one sees, even if their views are questionable. Error is to be addressed courteously and arguments weighed from Scripture in Christ's spirit, with love and Christian fellowship rather than accusing and faultfinding that undermines unity among believers.
This obligation binds especially those in positions of responsibility, who must be like-minded with God, strong in His strength and meek and humble as a little child. Their words, spirit, deportment and manner of treating brethren sow seeds for good or evil that others will follow. The truths of the chapter are divine requirements to be cherished, obeyed and shown in words, attitudes and actions and in daily life, which transforms character to show Christ's character. God makes this obedience possible through power given to those who receive Christ, as love for enemies belongs to Christian perfection in imitating the Father in words, spirit and actions. Living those lessons makes a deeper and more lasting impression than preaching them, and gives clear knowledge of doctrine to all who will to do God's will.
Perfect obedience would bring love, harmony and joy instead of oppression and injustice, while disobedience obscures Christ's character and weakens the witness. Those who have departed from God's commandments by being impatient, fretful, sour and quarrelsome in spirit and unkind to husband, wife, children or parents must be converted with the forgiving spirit of Jesus or they will never see the kingdom of heaven. Their sins may then be blotted out through the merits of His blood and their characters transformed by His grace and made fit for the society of the heavenly family. Love for neighbor sets the holy standard for business transactions, forbidding diverting means from their true object for ambitious designs, mingling human wisdom with the divine, confusing other minds about right and holy methods, and unjustly acquiring means at another's expense.
Those who do such things do not love God with the whole heart and do not love their neighbor as required and prove they have not yet learned the holy law, and they must repent and be converted and do works worthy of the name Christian in a cleansing of the soul temple. The verse links love to practical care for people in need such as the hungry, thirsty, naked, sick and imprisoned, since neglecting them is failure to serve Christ. It calls for diffusive missionary piety that reaches every needy soul and consecrates life to the saving mission, as Christ trained His workers by sending the Twelve two and two and then the Seventy before Him wherever He would go to proclaim the kingdom. The way to hearts is found by relieving temporal necessities as far as possible to open the way to present His love, a practical benevolence that enlarges Christian usefulness more than sermons.