Loving Your Enemies

“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those that persecute you!”- Matthew 5:43-44

            While you will find the phrase “Love your neighbor” in the OT, you will NOT find the words ‘hate your enemies’. It would appear that it is implied among the Jews in those times. We find in Psalm 139:21-22 the following: “O Lord, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you? Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose you? Yes, I hate them with total hatred, for your enemies are my enemies.” It is said David was simply showing his hatred for what God hates, thus acutely defining his love for God.

Is hate ever good? It’s alright to hate evil and those things that God hates, namely all sin. It is not okay to hate any individual or group of individuals. Mortal man can be driven by various emotions, thus allowing hatred to enter in. Frankly, we have no right to hate anything or anyone, for God forgave the entirety of our sin out of love for us. It is that spirit of love that is to dominate our thought process and our actions and/or reactions.

Jesus, with this statement in the gospel of Matthew, is responding to the general misunderstanding that we are to hate those who hate and persecute us for our faith. If that were true, how would they ever hear the gospel? We would be acting in the same way those in the world would act. Scripture clearly tells us those outside the faith with know we love God by our love for one another ^{(John 15:34-35)}. Imagine what a positive impact it would have it we actually did as we are instructed. Jesus, our truest example of this principle, loved those who scourged him and nailed him to a cross. That is who we are to emulate. We should never act or react in a hateful way. If we concentrated on telling others about the gospel, we wouldn’t have any time left to entertain hate. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing.  

Richard Keller

Bread of Life Ministries