Today we want to see what the rest of the New Testament says on loving enemies. But we begin with a . . .
Summary of Matthew 5:43-48
Jesus teaches us that we are to love our enemies. Love means returning good for evil to our enemy, instead of the harm for harm pattern that Moses taught. As examples of the good we give to enemies: we are to pray for our persecutors, feed our enemies, and bless our enemies. And as I have shared, if love means doing good to someone, at a minimum, this excludes killing them. Also, our love is to be complete or perfect, including all people.
Jesus gives this teaching as the culminating example of the six examples of the greater righteousness of the kingdom of God; the higher standard that Jesus calls us to live out.
Now we look at the rest of the New Testament, beyond Matthew 5.
More from Jesus on loving enemies
In the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10, Jesus teaches that we are to go and show mercy and compassion, even on our enemies who have needs. These are also our neighbors whom we are to love.
In the Sermon on the Plain Jesus says, very similarly to Matthew 5, “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” – Luke 6:27-28. And then he gives more teaching on loving enemies after these verses.
Calls to love all in the New Testament
Romans 13:8, 10 say, “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. . . Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” In this passage we are called to love everyone “own no one anything, except to love.” We also have the idea that love does no wrong or harm. The implication being that love does good.
James 2:8-9 says, “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin . . ..” There is an echo here of complete love. To show partiality means that we exclude certain people, here the poor. We are not to exclude anyone from our love. (See also Galatians 6:10).
Calls to return good for evil
Jesus’ rejection of harm for harm and his teaching on returning good for evil shows up in many places in the New Testament:
- 1 Thessalonians 5:15 – “See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.”
- 1 Corinthians 4:12-13 – “When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat.”
- Romans 12:14 – “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.”
- 1 Peter 3:9 – “Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.”
- Romans 12:17 – “Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.”
This is the same thing that Jesus teaches, with some of the same words, for instance the call to “bless” our enemies.
Right after this last verse, Paul gives an extended teaching on loving enemies. Romans 12:18-21 – “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’ To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” This introduces some new themes which we will take up in another class. 1) We are to leave vengeance to God. We are not to avenge the wrongs done to us, but we are to allow God to take care of this for us. 2) We are to overcome evil with good. Instead of falling into the pattern of returning harm for harm – so that we are now also doing harm – we overcome evil with good by doing good in response to harm, breaking the pattern of evil for evil.
The example of the Father’s love for enemies
Jesus talks about the Father feeding his enemies in Matthew 5, as we saw. But we also know that in the broader story of the New Testament the Father gave up his only Son for his enemies (us). Romans 5:8 says, “But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” In Romans 5:10 Paul goes on to say, “while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God.” God’s love is complete, even loving sinners and enemies like us. This is the ultimate returning of good for evil.
The example of Jesus dying for his enemies
Jesus not only talked about loving enemies, he demonstrated this for us – especially in his death on the cross. This is the focus of all four gospels – Jesus’ suffering and death for us.
- He chose to die for us – Mark 14:36 He said to God in prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, “Not what I will, but what you will.”
- He didn’t call for legions of angels to rescue him – Matthew 26:53
- He healed the ear of the man who came to arrest him and take him off to die – Luke 22:50-51. A very practical example of enemy love.
- He suffered injustice, torture, shame and death for us, so that we could be saved.
Jesus laid down his life for us in love, giving good for evil. But not only this, like we saw in Matthew 5, where we are called to emulate the example of the Father who loves his enemies, so also Jesus calls us to emulate his own love for others, including his enemies, by taking up our crosses. He said in Mark 8:34 –“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” If we want to be his disciple, we must lay down our lives for others, including our enemies. (This call is echoed in verses like 1 John 3:16, Ephesians 5:2 and 1 Peter 2:22-23).
The centrality of loving enemies
As we see in these various Scriptures, loving enemies is not some isolated teaching in the Scriptures (or some denominational distinctive). It is taught throughout the New Testament. And as we see in the example of the Father and the Son, it is at the very core of our Christian faith. Without God loving us, his enemies, and without Jesus dying for us, his enemies, there would be no gospel.
We end with one other theme that dovetails with this teaching on loving enemies, and indeed is presented with it in several places -
Mercy and Forgiveness
Luke 6:36-37 says, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven . . ..” Ephesians 4:32-5:1 says, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.” Like with the theme of loving enemies, where we imitate God’s love for those who do wrong, here as well we imitate God in giving mercy and forgiveness to those who have wronged us:
- “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful . . .”
- “forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
- “Therefore be imitators of God . . ..”
And the point is that – if we have mercy and forgive, how can we try to pay back harm to them, or seek to destroy them? Like with the call to love and do good to enemies, this teaching requires us to change our behavior toward those who harm us.
