Mathew 5:43-48
WHEN SOMEONE SINS AGAINST YOU, WHEN SHOULD YOU FORGIVE THEM?
IS IT EVER ACCEPTABLE FOR A CHRISTIAN TO WITHHOLD LOVE?
SHOULD WE ALWAYS FORGIVE EVEN IF THERE’S NO REPENTANCE? IS IT EVER TOO SOON TO FORGIVE?
JESUS FORGAVE HIS KILLERS WHILE THEY WERE IN THE PROCESS OF KILLING HIM. CAN WE FORGIVE SOMEONE WHILE THEY ARE IN THE PROCESS OF HARMING US?
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 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. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
BACKGROUND
The Greek word, agape, means to love the undeserving regardless of disappointment. It is the Greek word most often used for love in the New Testament.
This passage is the culmination of what came before it. The beatitudes are expressions of love. Jesus came, he said, to fulfill the law. Only love fulfills the law. Conquering anger, lust, defeating divorce, and non-retaliation are all expressions of love. Even avoiding frivolous oaths demonstrates a love for God’s name. Thus, love is the pinnacle of all behavior. There is nothing greater than expressing love for God and others.
“To love is to seek others’ highest good in all circumstances, at any cost” (White, R.E.O. 1988. Love. In Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible, 2:1358. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House).
EXAMINATION
(V.43) “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’”
Up until now, Jesus was quoting Old Testament concepts and addressing how they were being used or abused. But, now Jesus goes a step further by quoting not just the OT law, but he attaches a popular saying that was used with it. Leviticus 19:18 said to love your neighbor, but it never implied to hate your enemy. That was a perversion of the text by the Jewish religious leaders. It was thought that hating one’s enemy was implied by loving your neighbor. Jesus condemned this. Even the Mosaic Law demonstrated this was wrong in Exodus 23:4, “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him.” Thus, hating one’s enemy was never biblical.
(V.44) “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
Now Jesus adds his own saying to Leviticus 19:18. He says, “Love your enemies and pray for those who who persecute you.”
In Romans 5, Paul takes Jesus’ demonstration of love even further. He says while we were still God’s enemies, Christ died for us.
Do you want to learn how to love your enemy? Start praying for his welfare. The purpose of prayer isn’t to get what we want. Rather, it’s to bring our will in line with God’s will. It is God’s will that we love our enemy.
Let me say that again. It is God’s will that we love our enemy. Thus, the more we pray for our enemy the more our hearts will change and we will want to seek their welfare.
WHAT KIND OF PRAYER DO WE MAKE FOR OUR ENEMIES? HAVE YOU EVER PRAYED IMPRECATORY PRAYERS, SUCH AS, “God, break their teeth in their mouths?” (Psalm 58:6)
Jesus’ meaning here is to pray for your enemy’s welfare. We know this because of the next verse.
(V.45) “For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”
Jesus didn’t say sunburn and flood. He said sun and rain, two things needed for life. The Father does good, even to his enemies.
Now Jesus begins to explain why we should do this. Remember last week’s study? We discussed the biblical model of forgiveness is to forgive then bless. That’s what Jesus is saying the Father does. He gives sun and rain to everyone. He blesses even those who hate him. This is an expression of God’s moral goodness, to seek the welfare of all.
Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, “I may have to love him, but I don’t have to like him.” Or, “Love is a verb.” These sayings are unbiblical. They are designed to hide ourselves from how we truly feel. We hate. But the reality is, there is no such thing as compassion without passion. Good deeds can be done without love, but true love is always felt. When Jesus was on the cross he forgave those who were crucifying him. Do you think he did that without feeling? He really meant it.
(V.46) “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?”
DO YOU LOVE IN DEGREES, LOVING SOME MORE THAN OTHERS? WHY DO WE DO THAT?
Its easy to love our friends and family because we know them. We have an emotional attachment to them. But this is not true about those we don’t know, or those who might be our enemies. Often, we look with judgment upon people with flagrant sin. But Jesus’ way is different. Supremely, it is love that draws someone to Christ.
Jesus said in John 13:34 that he was giving a new command to his disciples. He said, “Love one another as I have loved you.” Why was this a new command?
Consider the greatest commandment in Deuteronomy chapter 6. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your mind with all your strength.” There is only one problem with this command. The standard of behavior is US. We must love the Lord with OUR hearts, with OUR minds, with OUR strength. But the scripture is clear that our hearts are wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). Our minds are corrupt (Romans 8:6), and our strength is failing (Psalm 31:10). So Jesus gives, literally, a new command, love one another as HE loved us. His heart is not wicked. His mind is not corrupt. His strength never fails. And through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can love God and love one another with that kind of love.
We can love with God’s heart (Psalm 73:26, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”).
We can love with God’s mind (I Corinthians 2:16, “We have the mind of Christ.”).
We can love with God’s strength (Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”).
We can think what God thinks. We can feel what God feels. We can do what God does when it comes to loving one another.
(V.48) “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU ARE PERFECT. WHAT DOES JESUS MEAN BY BEING PERFECT?
Jesus is not saying we must be without flaw. He knows we cannot do this. Rather, this is not of degrees of excellence, but of the kind of excellence. We are always growing spiritually to become morally perfect, but we are not there yet.
Jesus statement here is a fitting end to the beatitudes and his antithetical statements of, “But I say to you…” Love is the ultimate expression of true spirituality. Without love, Paul says, we are nothing. And the kind of love we are to express is love, not just for one’s friends, but also for our enemies.
INTERPRETATION
What is Jesus’ big idea in this passage? Love as God loves.
We should love as God loves, from the heart. We are designed to feel what God feels. If we feel hatred for someone, we should bring that hatred to God in prayer and wrestle with him about it. Confess your feelings, anger, desire to retaliate, and so on. Ask the Lord to transform your feelings as you seek to obey him.
We should love as God loves, from the mind. Paul said in I Corinthians 2:16 that we have the mind of Christ. This means that we get to think what God thinks. We know that sometime in the future God will deliver justice to all of his enemies. But right now, we live in a time of mercy, where God’s hand of love is open to everyone.
The greatest battle we face is the battlefield of the mind. What we think determines what we feel and what we do. Therefore, this is the area of greatest difficulty. Romans 12 tells is to be transformed in our thinking, in our minds. We do that through prayer and applying the scriptures to our thinking. Remember that Paul also said in Philippians to dwell on right things.
We should love as God loves, from our behaviors. Transformed thinking changes our minds. Transformed minds changes our feelings. And both change our behavior. What we do demonstrates that we have been changed by Christ from deep inside. Our behaviors are the evidence of a changed life. How do you want to behave today?
APPLICATION
By way of application I’m going suggest something that might be very hard. I’m going to suggest using Deuteronomy 6 as a guide to how you pray and how you forgive.
- Love the Lord with your mind. Begin praying for your enemy’s mind. Ask the Lord to transform the way he thinks while asking him to transform your thinking as well. Pray for soundness of thought. Pray for a biblical way of thinking for both of you.
- Love the Lord with your heart. As you pray for your own feelings, pray for your enemy’s feelings. Pray for a change of heart about sin, where one was committed. Pray that your enemy’s feelings will change even as you pray that yours will change.
- Love the Lord with your strength. In other words, your behaviors. We do this by following the beatitudes. Bless instead of curse. Seek the welfare of the other person. After Judah was captured and taken into exile by Babylon, God told his people to pray for their captivator’s welfare (Jeremiah 29:7). Look for things that you can do that would bless the other person.
This is one of those applications of scripture that, to be honest, may hurt. It will require a transformation of how we think and feel, which God can do in us over time. So, love like God loves. Extend mercy. Offer forgiveness or ask for forgiveness. Think, feel, and do as God does everyday.
If you are tempted to say, “I’m not God, I can’t do that,” then remember this: God lives in you through his Holy Spirit. He can express these things through you. Second, you are made in God’s image. Jesus said, greater things will you do (John 14:12). That includes how we forgive and how we love. If we determine to love as he loves he will transform us.
