“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;” (Matthew 5:43-44)
We can see the higher standard that Jesus brought to the Law. It was foreign to the Jews. And it was foreign to the world then and foreign to the world today. Some call the kingdom of God the upside-down kingdom because it’s the opposite of world standards. But in God’s eyes, the world standards are upside down.
“Love thy neighbor...” “ Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40) These two commandments were to Jesus the top things, love God and love your fellow man. This was what the Law was based on and what the prophets taught.
Enemies are not given the consideration of kindness and much less love. But Jesus teaches, they are also your neighbor, your fellow man and worthy of love, blessing and goodness. Why I ask? Or why you may ask? Our enemies hate us and do whatever they can to destroy us. John 3:16 gives us the answer. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) God loves our enemy. He sent Jesus for them also. And Jesus died for them also. As children of God, we are to behave like children of God. “As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” (1Peter 1:14-16)
We cannot do this in the natural. It’s not natural to love, bless and to be good to those who want to harm one. But we are not to do it in our own strength because we can’t. We are to do it in obedience by the power of the Holy Spirit. It’s part of being born of God. It’s part of being led and empowered by the Holy Spirit, living and walking in the Spirit.
Paul wrote: “Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirsts, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:20-21) Doing good to the enemy overcomes evil, meaning, it subdues it, overcomes it and has victory over it. The phrase “thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head” means that shame will overcome that person and lead him to repentance which is God’s ultimate goal and that should also be ours.
And lastly, one cannot mention love without turning to the chapter of love. “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” (1Corinthians 13:4-7) The word love was translated charity. The Greek word that Paul used was agape love, unconditional love or selflessness. The kind of love we are to have for our enemy is not sacrificial, agape love but agapao love which is to socially and morally love. Both sacrificial agape love that we are to have and agapao love which is blessing and doing good to our enemy cannot be done without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. God is love. “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” (1John 4:16) We can only love sacrificially and bless and do good with the power of God through the Holy Spirit.
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