Our focus text for this class is Matthew 5:43-48 -

“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 be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

The class in a nutshell

This is so that you can see what the class is about as we get started. The phrase, “Love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44) means what it says. And this is confirmed by the rest of Jesus’ teaching and example, as well as the rest of the New Testament.

  • There are no restrictions on the word “love” in this phrase. It means what it means everywhere else in the New Testament – to do good to, to care for, to bless, to sacrifice for.
  • And as well there are no restrictions on the word “enemies” in this phrase. It covers all kinds of enemies, in any context in which we find them – from personal enemies to the enemies of your nation, which in Jesus’ case would have been the Romans, who occupied and oppressed his country.

At a minimum this teaches us that we should not kill our enemies. More broadly as Jesus teaches in this passage, we should not return evil for evil, harm for harm, but rather return good for evil to anyone who harms us.

Now, the implications of this teaching are enormous! For instance, how do you treat: Someone who cuts you off on the road? A neighbor who harasses you? Someone who threatens to kill you or your family? Your country’s enemies in a time of war? These are all enemies, whom we are called to love, according to Jesus.

Now there are many who say this simple phrase – “love your enemies” – doesn’t mean what it seems to mean. And we will look at these interpretations and objections as we go along. But, as I said, this whole class is about saying that this phrase does mean what it says.

Why are we looking at this?

There are several reasons:

1. Love of enemies is an important topic biblically.

  • In the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5 (our text), this is the culminating example, out of six different topics, of the greater righteousness of the kingdom of God
  • It is also highlighted in the Sermon on the Plain in Luke 6. Here the topic takes up over 1/4 of this sermon.
  • It is the point of the parable of the good Samaritan in Luke 10. Loving and caring for a national enemy in need.
  • The example of Jesus dying on the cross for us, his enemies. This is the climax of the storyline and focus in all four Gospels.
  • There are other Scriptures that teach not returning harm for harm, but rather returning good for evil – Romans 12:17:21; I Thessalonians 5:15; I Corinthians 4:12-13; I Peter 3:19. We will come back to these and others to look more carefully at them in another class.

2. It is our church’s position to love all of our enemies. This is what we teach that Christian faithfulness means for  followers of Jesus. [See the handout “Confessions of Faith.”]

3. This teaching raises a host of difficult practical questions about the Christian life, which can’t be addressed if we don’t talk about this issue.

  • How should we respond to an enemy who threatens our family?
  • How should we use the legal system with regard to our enemies?
  • Does this exclude us from certain jobs that harm others? – military, police, or government positions that require you to return harm for harm.
  • Does this mean that I can’t be a good citizen? For instance, if I am not killing my nation’s enemies when it tells me to?

4. To Learn how to do this!? To see what can we learn from the Scriptures about the inner strength you need to love your enemies. Think about Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane waiting to be turned over to his enemies, to die for them. Think about his struggle in prayer. It was hard for him.

Also, we need to learn from the Scriptures about the practical wisdom needed to love your enemies. What did Jesus do? What did Paul do? What does love allow?

I have been is such situations and I know you have too. What can we learn to help us for the future?

Alright, since this a controversial topic, I want to talk about -

How I will teach this class

I want to take a “confessional approach.” By confessional I mean that I am simply confessing – this is what I believe; this is my understanding of Scripture and Christian faithfulness.

This is important to say for a couple of reasons: 1) This is my own way of teaching this. Others who also believe that loving enemies excludes killing them and who teach returning good for evil, might present it to you in slightly different ways. This is my way of saying it. 2) I do not assume that you will agree with me and I am not here to argue you down, or force you to agree. I bear witness to my faith and the church’s faith, which we take to be the message of Scripture, and you are free (as always) to respond in the way that you feel appropriate. But do so based on the Scriptures.

Some of you, who come from different Christian traditions may well not understand at all or like where I’m coming from. You know that I was not raised a Mennonite. My father was in the Army and then worked for the Army in the civil service for his career – publishing training manuals for the Army. So, when I became a Christian at 14, I had no problems with the Army. I remember once in college I was in a school sponsored debate on this topic, and there was a Quaker (Friends) minister invited. And I just ignored him because what he said made no sense to me at all. What do you mean – Christians should refrain from killing enemies in a time of war?! I couldn’t understand it at all. But now it makes perfect sense to me and brings together the Scriptures in a powerful way. So if what I say doesn’t make sense to you, at least you can know that I once thought the same.

Some of you from Mennonite background may not like how I say things, or where I differ to some degree from traditional Mennonite understandings. For instance on nonresistance, which we will briefly talk about in the next class.

So I might just make everyone unhappy! But again, this is a chance to engage the Scriptures and to ask questions. So take advantage of it.

Some key understandings

We each come to this specific issue with different frameworks – our assumptions and positions on other issues. No issue stands by itself. It is always entangled in other issues, and our positions on these affect what we say about the specific topic. So I’m trying to help you here to understand the bigger picture of where I am coming from. (This is what I bring to this issue of loving enemies. Perhaps you can think about what you bring to it).

1. Jesus is our authoritative teacher. In Matthew 23:10 Jesus says, “You have one teacher, the Messiah.” Another way to say it is that the New Testament, which gives us Jesus’ teaching and example, is our standard of conduct as Christians.

  • Not our common sense. Some things Jesus teaches go against our common sense, like “lose your life to gain it.”
  • Not church traditions. The goal is not to be a faithful Mennonite or a Baptist, or whatever. It is to be faithful to Jesus.
  • Not society around us. So that we try to fit in with what they think is right, or tailor our faith so that we can fit in.
  • Not even Moses and the Old Testament, if Jesus changes something.

Jesus is our Lord. He is the unique and fullest revelation of God, and he has all authority in heaven and on earth. The bottom line is – we do what he says.

2. Jesus teaches a higher standard of righteousness than Moses or the State. In Matthew 5:20 Jesus references the greater righteousness of the kingdom of God. And then we have several examples:

  • Moses and the State say, don’t murder. But the kingdom says, not even any words of anger that tear another down.
  • Moses says, no adultery. But the kingdom says, don’t even lust for another.
  • Moses and the State say divorce is alright. But the kingdom says, don’t do it unless there has already been adultery which has broken the marriage.
  • Moses and the State say, swear promises. But the kingdom says, don’t do this, but let your yes, be yes, and your no, no.

And in our case: Moses and the State say, return harm for harm. But the kingdom says, return good for evil and love our enemies – a higher standard.

3. God still uses the State. Even though it operates according to a lower standard, including its use of “the sword” or force. It is “God’s servant” – Romans 13:4. It is God’s way of overseeing the fallen world; all that choose not to follow his higher kingdom way.

So there are two levels in place simultaneously – one for the world, and one for God’s people. And the State will continue to function, until Jesus returns.

4. The church is God’s distinct nation. It follows Jesus’ higher standard, the way of the kingdom of God. I Peter 2:9 speaks of the church in this way – “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession . . ..” So, we are distinct from any earthly nation we live in. As the New Testament teaches, we live as exiles and as foreigners in the nations that we live in. We are distinct in that we live by this different, higher standard.

5. When there is a conflict between the two, we follow Jesus. In Acts 5:29, as the apostles said when the State authority told them not to do what Jesus commanded, “We must obey God rather than man.” That is, we must obey God rather than any human authority. When there is a conflict, we follow the higher standard of the kingdom of God.

Guidelines for discussion

Since this can be a hot topic lets remember these things:

  • “Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger” – James 1:19
  • “Let all that you do be done in love” – 1 Corinthians 16:14
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