Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 6:28
Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
28. pray for them which despitefully use you ] The Greek word implies the coarsest insults, and is found in 1Pe 3:16. St Luke alone records our Lord’s prayer for His murderers, Luk 23:34, from which St Stephen learnt his, Act 7:60.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Bless them that curse you;…. In common discourse, or anathematize you in their synagogues:
and pray for them which despitefully use you: so Christ himself did;
[See comments on Mt 5:44].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
That despitefully use you ( ). This old verb occurs here only in the N.T. and in 1Pe 3:16, not being genuine in Mt 5:44.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “Bless them that curse you,” eulogete tous kataromenous humas) “Bless those who repeatedly are cursing you,” Mat 5:44; Rom 12:20-21.
2) “And pray for them which despitefully use you.” (proseuchesthe peri tou epereazonton humas) “Pray concerning those who are insulting you,” Mat 5:39. Our Lord became an example of this that He taught, and Stephen followed Him in doing the same, Luk 23:34; Act 7:60.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
28 Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
Ver. 28. See Mat 5:44 ; Rom 12:20 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Bless. Not the same word as in verses: Luk 6:20, Luk 6:21, Luk 6:22. pray. See App-134.
for = on behalf of. Greek. huper. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Bless: Luk 23:34, Act 7:60, Rom 12:14, 1Co 4:12, Jam 3:10, 1Pe 3:9
despitefully: Eze 25:15, Eze 36:5, Act 14:5
Reciprocal: Exo 10:18 – and entreated Exo 23:4 – General Num 12:13 – General 1Ki 13:6 – besought Mat 5:44 – General Act 16:28 – cried
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
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To bless means to wish for something beneficial to happen to one. It does not mean anything merely for pleasure, but that which will actually do him good.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Vers. 27, 28. But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you. 28. Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
There is a break in the connection between Luk 6:26 and Luk 6:27. De Wette and Meyer think that the link is to be found in this thought understood: Notwithstanding these curses which I pronounce upon the rich, your persecutors, I command you not to hate, but to love them. But in the verses that follow, it is not the rich particularly that are represented as the enemies whom His disciples should love. The precept of love to enemies is given in the most general manner. Rather is it the new law which Jesus announces here, as in Matthew. The link of connection with what goes before is this: In the midst of this hatred of which you will be the objects (Luk 6:22), it will be your duty to realize in the world the perfect law which I to-day proclaim to you. Tholuck, in his Explanation of the Sermon on the Mount (p. 498), takes exception to Luke for giving these precepts a place here, where they have no connection; but he thus shows that he has failed to understand the structure of this discourse in our Gospel, as we have exhibited it. In this form of expression: But I say unto you which hear, there is an echo as it were of the antithesis of Matthew: Ye have heard…But I say unto you. By this expression, you which hear, Jesus opposes the actual hearers surrounding Him to those imaginary hearers to whom the preceding woes were addressed.
We must conceive of the words, Luk 6:27 and Luk 6:28, as having been pronounced with some kind of enthusiasm. These precepts overflow with love. You have only to meet every manifestation of hatred with a fresh manifestation of love. Love! Love! You can never love too much! The term love denotes the essence of the new principle. Then come its manifestations: first, in acts (do good); then in words (bless); lastly, the highest manifestation, which is at once act and word (pray for). These manifestations of love correspond with the exhibitions of hatred by which they are called forth: , hatred, the inward feeling; , to hold in abhorrence, the acts; , to curse, the words. (probably from and , to rise against, to thwart) corresponds with intercession. Jesus therefore here requires more than that which to natural selfishness appears the highest virtue: not to render evil for evil. He demands from His disciples, according to the expression of St. Paul (Rom 12:21), that they shall overcome evil with good; Jesus could not yet reveal the source whence His disciples were to derive this entirely new passion, this divine charity which displays its riches of forgiveness and salvation towards a rebellious world at enmity with God (Rom 5:8-10).
In the parallel passage in Matthew, the two intervening propositions have probably been transferred from Luke.