Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 5:43

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.

( c) Love or Charity, 43 48.

43. Thou shalt love thy neighbour ] Lev 19:18, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” The second clause does not occur in Levit., but was a Rabbinical inference. Enemies, all who are outside the chosen race, the etymological force of the Greek word. Heathen writers bear testimony to this unsocial characteristic of the Jews. Juvenal says it was their rule

“Non monstrare vias eadem nisi sacra colenti,

Quaesitum ad fontem solos deducere verpos.” Sat. xiv. 104.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy – The command to love our neighbor was a law of God, Lev 19:18. That we must therefore hate our enemy was an inference drawn from it by the Jews. They supposed that if we loved the one, we must of course hate the other. They were total strangers to that great, special law of religion which requires us to love both. A neighbor is literally one that lives near to us; then, one who is near to us by acts of kindness and friendship. This is its meaning here. See also Luk 10:36.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Mat 5:43

Love your enemies.

Forgiveness of injuries

The duty of forgiveness does not forbid resentment, but the excess or abuse of it.

I. Such resentment in excess is wrong, for anger produces anger; revenge, malice, and that without limit: an aggravation of misery; and such resentment is a painful remedy to him who suffers from it, and, if not a remedy, it becomes an unmixed evil: the gratification of this passion is never innocent except when necessary.

II. Love to our enemies is a duty; for it is part of the law of general benevolence, which, however, admits resentment, though not the abuses of it. Resentment is consistent with good-will. To love our enemies is not rant, unless benevolence is so; but is as reasonable as the opposite ix mischievous.

III. Reflections adapted to beget and strengthen the temper. Self-love is apt to magnify things amiss in others and lessen them in ourselves. So is anger. Moderation, therefore, is only common sense, trying to ascertain the truth; and is perfectly reasonable. The origin of wrong done is not generally malice, but some passion in itself, and within proper limits, allowable. The object of our resentment is himself a sufferer, and therefore a fit object of compassion. We ourselves need forgiveness, and a forgiving disposition is essential to it. (Bishop Butler, D. C. L.)

Mans nature is to be judged, not as to whether it is best in the abstract, but on a comparison with his circumstances. Here we have to consider-

I. The nature of the emotion. Sudden and deliberate. Sudden anger is an instinct, excited by violence or harm, not necessarily a wrong, and the end of this passion is the resistance or prevention of violence. Deliberate anger, or resentment, is a passion, excited by wrong or injury undeserved. Hence called indignation, which is not malice, and is stronger the more nearly the injury affects ourselves. The sense of wrong is essential to it, as is plain from the circumstances which aggravate the feeling.

II. The end for which the emotion is implanted: to prevent or remedy injury.

III. The abuses of the emotion of resentment. Sudden: passion, peevishness. Deliberate: resentment against such as innocently injure us; obstinacy in resisting evidence of innocence. Though liable to abuse, the emotion is important, as a balance against the weakness of pity, and in punishing crime. Hence fresh proofs of the reality of virtue, which has certain emotions on its side, and of the wisdom and goodness of God, who makes an instance of them, even the emotion of resentment. (Bishop Butler, D. C. L.)

The Christians duty to prisoners

Never, perhaps, does guilty, suffering humanity assume a form more likely to be overlooked or despised by the world at large than in the person of the imprisoned convict. But Christians may be justly expected to regard him with pity-may be justly expected to make prompt and vigorous exertions to promote his welfare. This I argue:

I. From the character of Christians. Disinterested benevolence. Deep sense of personal guilt which they maintain. Efficacy of Divine grace to work a radical change.

II. From the means of usefulness they are able to employ.

III. The commands of Jesus Christ.

IV. The Providence of God. (Beriah Green.)

In what manner are you to repress the rising of improper

dispositions:-

1. Remember your own feelings.

2. The evil in the city is permitted by God.

3. Recollect the unwearied patience of God.

4. The treatment the Saviour endured.

5. This will not make a Christian mean-spirited; were there any in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar that showed such greatness of soul as Daniel? (E. Irving.)

1. The supreme art of life, above all other arts, is the art of living together justly and charitably.

2. To get on with men will constitute the most persistent aim within the Christian disposition. (H. W. Beecher.)

On forgiveness of injuries and against revenge

This law reasonable:

I. If we consider the nature of the act here required, which is to love-the most natural, easy, and delightful of all the affections; whereas ill-will and revenge are troublesome and vexatious passions. The devising of mischief, accomplishment of it, and reflection upon it are uneasy.

II. If we consider the qualification of the object-Our enemy. The two great foundations of love are relation and likeness. Men alike and related in essential nature. The hatred of an enemy, if we make a right use of it, may prove of greater advantage to us than the civilities of our best friend; is better and less dangerous than the flatterer. Reconciled enemies often prove our best friends.

III. If we consider the excellence and generosity of the thing itself. It is the most perfect act of the most perfect of all graces-in spite of provocation.

IV. The perfection and prevalency of the examples which the gospel proposeth to us to allure to this duty.

1. The example of God Himself.

2. The example of Jesus Christ.

It is objected that the bearing of injuries like this invites more.

1. Few so bad as to make so barbarous a return for generosity.

2. Christ never intended that our goodness should be void of all prudence.

Learn:

1. Let us be careful how we make enemies, if it be thus difficult to love them.

2. How great ought our kindness to be to others.

3. The excellence of Christian religion which hath carried our duty so high.

4. The humanity of the Christian religion. (T. Tillotson.)

Prayer for enemies

I wonder how many prayers you ever sent up for those that hate you? I think it did not take the top of one sheet in the angels record-book to put down all the prayers that you ever made for men that hate you. (Beecher.)

Difficult to forgive a sneaking enemy

When a large house-dog comes out with an announcement of himself, a man knows what he has got to meet: but when one of those little nasty Spitz dogs that dont bark at all, but run behind and nip, you dont know whether to run or to stand still, whether to fight or to give it up. An enemy that is an enemy outwardly and openly, and strikes fair blows, can be met; but whisperers, backbiters, mean folks that follow you, and nip you, and sneak in and out of the fence to save themselves, we do not know how to deal with; and yet we are commanded to pray for them. (Beecher.)

The marrow of the gospel

1. The teaching of the New Testament is that love is the only religion.

2. It teaches that love is a comprehensive disposition.

3. There is no worship of God which is an equivalent or substitute for love. If thou bring thy gift to the altar.

4. No man can love God except through the practice of loving men.

5. Love carries with it a double capacity, of perceiving an ideal excellence, and of loving men who represent the opposite. Love goes out to men, not according to their righteousness, but according to their needs.

6. True gospel love is a love that re-creates men. (Beecher.)

Love a universal disposition

A man does not love according to Scripture, simply because he can count well, and say, I love that person, that one. That is not it. What kind of a candle would that be which, being set on your table, only shone on particular things-on this book, on that vase, on that mirror, on that picture, and nowhere else. A candle is put upon a candlestick, that it may give light to all in the house. Love must leave nothing out. (Beecher.)

Love attracted by need rather than by character

Is your heart a physician to cure men that need curing, no matter who they may be? (Beecher.)

Love is sometimes severe in its methods

Love is like the old surgery, which took blood, that the fever might go, and that life might come. Love is no poor moonshiney, pale light, caring for nothing. Love is a revelator; it discriminates between right and wrong. It likes the right and hates the wrong, and helps men out of the wrong into the right. (Beecher.)

Love severe in order to salvation

The mother, under ordinary circumstances, is unwilling to singe the childs hair or scourge its skin, because she loves it so, yet, if there is some conflagration, and she sees that the way of life is through the flame, with wild strength she bears the child through in her bosom, though it be burned in every part. Such is her love for the child that she would rather see it wounded than see it perish. (Beecher.)

The enemies of Louis XII. of France

There is a story told of Louis XII. of France. He had many enemies; and when he succeeded to the throne, he caused a list of these to be drawn up, and marked against each of their names a large black cross. When this became known, the enemies of the king fled, because they thought it was a sign that he intended to punish them. The king, hearing of their alarm, recalled them, and gave them an assurance of his good will, saying that he had placed a cross beside their names to remind him of the Cross that brings pardon to all; and he urged them, by his own example, and especially by the example of Him who prayed for His enemies, to go and do likewise.

Sir Eardley Wilmots advice

A gentleman who had filled many high stations in public life, with the greatest honour to himself and advantage to the nation, once went to Sir Eardley Wilmot in great anger at a real injury he had received from a person high in the political world, which he was considering how to resent in the most effectual manner. After relating the particulars to Sir Eardley, he asked if he did not think it would be manly to resent it? Yes, said Sir Eardley, it would doubtless be manly to resent it, but it would be Godlike to forget it. This the gentleman declared had such an instantaneous effect upon him, that he came away quite another man, and in temper entirely altered from that in which he went.

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 43. Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.] Instead of neighbour, the Codex Graevii, a MS. of the eleventh century, reads friend. Thou shalt love thy friend, and hate thine enemy. This was certainly the meaning which the Jews put on it: for neighbour, with them, implied those of the Jewish race, and all others were, considered by them as natural enemies. Besides, it is evident that , among the Hellenistic Jews, meant friend merely: Christ uses it precisely in this sense in Lu 10:36, in answer to the question asked by a certain lawyer, Mt 5:29. Who of the three was neighbour ( friend) to him who fell among the thieves? He who showed him mercy; i.e. he who acted the friendly part. In Hebrew, rea, signifies friend, which word is translated by the LXX. in more than one hundred places. Among the Greeks it was a very comprehensive term, and signified every man, not even an enemy excepted, as Raphelius, on this verse, has shown from Polybius. The Jews thought themselves authorized to kill any Jew who apostatized; and, though they could not do injury to the Gentiles, in whose country they sojourned, yet they were bound to suffer them to perish, if they saw them in danger of death. Hear their own words: “A Jew sees a Gentile fall into the sea, let him by no means lift him out; for it is written, Thou shalt not rise up against the blood of thy neighbour: – but this is not thy neighbour.” Maimon. This shows that by neighbour they understood a Jew; one who was of the same blood and religion with themselves.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, was the old law of God, Lev 19:18; the other part, and hate thine enemy, was the Pharisees addition, or rather their collection, because the law only commanded them to love their neighbour. signifies sometimes a friend, sometimes more largely any other person; they took it in the strict sense, yet they could not be so blind as not to extend it to all those of their own nation, for Mat 5:17 there are two words used, one signifying thy brother, the other thy countryman, whom they are commanded in that verse not to hate in their hearts. But it appeareth by Luk 10:29, that they did not very well know their neighbour. The lawyer asked, Who is my neighbour? Christ instructs him by the parable of him that was fallen among thieves, that they ought not to look upon those of their own country only as neighbours, for a Samaritan might deserve the name better than a priest or Levite. But they generally looked upon all the uncircumcised as not their neighbours, but their enemies, whom the precept did not oblige them to love.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

43. Ye have heard that it hath beensaid (Le 19:18).

Thou shalt love thyneighbourTo this the corrupt teachers added,

and hate thine enemyasif the one were a legitimate inference from the other, instead ofbeing a detestable gloss, as BENGELindignantly calls it. LIGHTFOOTquotes some of the cursed maxims inculcated by those traditionistsregarding the proper treatment of all Gentiles. No wonder that theRomans charged the Jews with hatred of the human race.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Ye have heard that it hath been said,…. By, or to them of old time. This law has been delivered to them,

thou shalt love thy neighbour, with this appendage to it, or false gloss upon it,

and hate thine enemy; for the first of these only is the law of Moses, Le 19:18, the other is the addition, or wrong interpretation of the Scribes and Pharisees: wherefore the Jew o has no reason to charge Christ, or the Evangelist, with a false testimony, as he does, because the latter is no where written in the law, nor in the prophets: nor does Christ say it is; he only observes, that it had been traditionally handed down to them from the ancients, by the masters of the traditions of the elders, that the law of loving the neighbour was so to be understood as to allow, and even enjoin, hatred of enemies: in proof of which, take the following instances p.

“When one man sins against another, he may not hate him in his heart, and be silent, as is said of the wicked; Absalom spoke not with Amnon: but it is commanded to make it known to him, and to say to him, why hast thou done to me so and so? As it is said, “rebuking, thou shalt rebuke thy neighbour”; and if he returns, and desires him to pardon him, he shall not be implacable and cruel; but if he reproves him many times, and he does not receive his reproof, nor turn from his sin, then , “it is lawful to hate him”.”

Again, they say q,

“Every disciple of a wise man, , “who does not revenge, and keep as a serpent”; that is, as the gloss explains it, “enmity in his heart”, as a serpent, is no disciple of a wise man.”

And so Maimonides r, one of their better sort of writers, says;

“A disciple of a wise man, or a scholar, whom a man despises and reproaches publicly, it is forbidden him to forgive him, because of his honour; and if he forgives him, he is to be punished, for this is a contempt of the law; but “he must revenge, and keep the thing as a serpent”, until the other asks pardon of him, and then he may forgive him.”

Thus they bred their scholars in hatred and malice against their enemies. This arises from a mistaken sense of the word “neighbour”, which they understood only of a friend; and concluded, that if a friend was to be loved, an enemy was to be hated; not the Gentiles only, but anyone, among themselves, which could come under that name.

o R. Isaac Chizuk Emunah, par. 2. c. 11. p. 402. p Moses Kotsensis Mitzvot Tora precept. neg. 5. Vid. Maimon. Hilchot Rotseach, c. 13. sect. 14. q T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 22. 2. & 23. 1. r Maimon. Hilch. Talmud Tora, c. 7. sect. 13.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The Sermon on the Mount.

      43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.   44 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;   45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.   46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?   47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?   48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

      We have here, lastly, an exposition of that great fundamental law of the second table, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, which was the fulfilling of the law.

      I. See here how this law was corrupted by the comments of the Jewish teachers, v. 43. God said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour; and by neighbour they understood those only of their own country, nation, and religion; and those only that they were pleased to look upon as their friends: yet this was not the worst; from this command, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, they were willing to infer what God never designed; Thou shalt hate thine enemy; and they looked upon whom they pleased as their enemies, thus making void the great command of God by their traditions, though there were express laws to the contrary, Exo 23:4; Exo 23:5; Deu 23:7. Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite, nor an Egyptian, though these nations had been as much enemies to Israel as any whatsoever. It was true, God appointed them to destroy the seven devoted nations of Canaan, and not to make leagues with them; but there was a particular reason for it–to make room for Israel, and that they might not be snares to them; but it was very ill-natured from hence to infer, that they must hate all their enemies; yet the moral philosophy of the heathen then allowed this. It is Cicero’s rule, Nemini nocere nisi prius lacessitum injuri–To injure no one, unless previously injured. De Offic. See how willing corrupt passions are to fetch countenance from the word of God, and to take occasion by the commandment to justify themselves.

      II. See how it is cleared by the command of the Lord Jesus, who teaches us another lesson: “But I say unto you, I, who come to be the great Peace-Maker, the general Reconciler, who loved you when you were strangers and enemies, I say, Love your enemies,” v. 44. Though men are ever so bad themselves, and carry it ever so basely towards us, yet that does not discharge us from the great debt we owe them, of love to our kind, love to our kin. We cannot but find ourselves very prone to wish the hurt, or at least very coldly to desire the good, of those that hate us, and have been abusive to us; but that which is at the bottom hereof is a root of bitterness, which must be plucked up, and a remnant of corrupt nature which grace must conquer. Note, it is the great duty of Christians to love their enemies; we cannot have complacency in one that is openly wicked and profane, nor put a confidence in one that we know to be deceitful; nor are we to love all alike; but we must pay respect to the human nature, and so far honour all men: we must take notice, with pleasure, of that even in our enemies which is amiable and commendable; ingenuousness, good temper, learning, and moral virtue, kindness to others, profession of religion, c., and love that, though they are our enemies. We must have a compassion for them, and a good will toward them. We are here told,

      1. That we must speak well of them: Bless them that curse you. When we speak to them, we must answer their revilings with courteous and friendly words, and not render railing for railing behind their backs we must commend that in them which is commendable, and when we have said all the good we can of them, not be forward to say any thing more. See 1 Pet. iii. 9. They, in whose tongues is the law of kindness, can give good words to those who give bad words to them.

      2. That we must do well to them: “Do good to them that hate you, and that will be a better proof of love than good words. Be ready to do them all the real kindness that you can, and glad of an opportunity to do it, in their bodies, estates, names, families; and especially to do good to their souls.” It was said of Archbishop Cranmer, that the way to make him a friend was to do him an ill turn; so many did he serve who had disobliged him.

      3. We must pray for them: Pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you. Note, (1.) It is no new thing for the most excellent saints to be hated, and cursed, and persecuted, and despitefully used, by wicked people; Christ himself was so treated. (2.) That when at any time we meet with such usage, we have an opportunity of showing our conformity both to the precept and to the example of Christ, by praying for them who thus abuse us. If we cannot otherwise testify our love to them, yet this way we may without ostentation, and it is such a way as surely we durst not dissemble in. We must pray that God will forgive them, that they may never fare the worse for any thing they have done against us, and that he would make them to be at peace with us; and this is one way of making them so. Plutarch, in his Laconic Apophthegms, has this of Aristo; when one commended Cleomenes’s saying, who, being asked what a good king should do, replied, Tous men philous euergetein, tous de echthrous kakos poiein—Good turns to his friends, and evil to his enemies; he said, How much better is it tous men philous euergetein, tous de echthrous philous poiein–to do good to our friends, and make friends of our enemies. This is heaping coals of fire on their heads.

      Two reasons are here given to enforce this command (which sounds so harsh) of loving our enemies. We must do it,

      [1.] That we may be like God our Father; “that ye may be, may approve yourselves to be, the children of your Father which is in heaven.” Can we write a better copy? It is a copy in which love to the worst of enemies is reconciled to, and consistent with, infinite purity and holiness. God maketh his sun to rise, and sendeth rain, on the just and the unjust, v. 45. Note, First, Sunshine and rain are great blessings to the world, and they come from God. It is his sun that shines, and the rain is sent by him. They do not come of course, or by chance, but from God. Secondly, Common mercies must be valued as instances and proofs of the goodness of God, who in them shows himself a bountiful Benefactor to the world of mankind, who would be very miserable without these favours, and are utterly unworthy of the least of them. Thirdly, These gifts of common providence are dispensed indifferently to good and evil, just and unjust; so that we cannot know love and hatred by what is before us, but by what is within us; not by the shining of the sun on our heads, but by the rising of the Sun of Righteousness in our hearts. Fourthly, The worst of men partake of the comforts of this life in common with others, though they abuse them, and fight against God with his own weapons; which is an amazing instance of God’s patience and bounty. It was but once that God forbade his sun to shine on the Egyptians, when the Israelites had light in their dwellings; God could make such a distinction every day. Fifthly, The gifts of God’s bounty to wicked men that are in rebellion against him, teach us to do good to those that hate us; especially considering, that though there is in us a carnal mind which is enmity to God, yet we share in his bounty. Sixthly, Those only will be accepted as the children of God, who study to resemble him, particularly in his goodness.

      [2.] That we may herein do more than others,Mat 5:46; Mat 5:47. First, Publicans love their friends. Nature inclines them to it; interest directs them to it. To do good to them who do good to us, is a common piece of humanity, which even those whom the Jews hated and despised could give as good proofs as of the best of them. The publicans were men of no good fame, yet they were grateful to such as had helped them to their places, and courteous to those they had a dependence upon; and shall we be no better than they? In doing this we serve ourselves and consult our own advantage; and what reward can we expect for that, unless a regard to God, and a sense of duty, carrying us further than our natural inclination and worldly interest? Secondly, We must therefore love our enemies, that we may exceed them. If we must go beyond scribes and Pharisees, much more beyond publicans. Note, Christianity is something more than humanity. It is a serious question, and which we should frequently put to ourselves, “What do we more than others? What excelling thing do we do? We know more than others; we talk more of the things of God than others; we profess, and have promised, more than others; God has done more for us, and therefore justly expects more from us than from others; the glory of God is more concerned in us than in others; but what do we more than others? Wherein do we live above the rate of the children of this world? Are we not carnal, and do we not walk as men, below the character of Christians? In this especially we must do more than others, that while every one will render good for good, we must render good for evil; and this will speak a nobler principle, and is consonant to a higher rule, than the most of men act by. Others salute their brethren, they embrace those of their own party, and way, and opinion; but we must not so confine our respect, but love our enemies, otherwise what reward have we? We cannot expect the reward of Christians, if we rise no higher than the virtue of publicans.” Note, Those who promise themselves a reward above others must study to do more than others.

      Lastly, Our Saviour concludes this subject with this exhortation (v. 48), Be ye therefore perfect, as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Which may be understood, 1. In general, including all those things wherein we must be followers of God as dear children. Note, It is the duty of Christians to desire, and aim at, and press toward a perfection in grace and holiness, Phil. iii. 12-14. And therein we must study to conform ourselves to the example of our heavenly Father, 1Pe 1:15; 1Pe 1:16. Or, 2. In this particular before mentioned, of doing good to our enemies; see Luke vi. 36. It is God’s perfection to forgive injuries and to entertain strangers, and to do good to the evil and unthankful, and it will be ours to be like him. We that owe so much, that owe our all, to the divine bounty, ought to copy it out as well as we can.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

And hate thine enemy ( ). This phrase is not in Le 19:18, but is a rabbinical inference which Jesus repudiates bluntly. The Talmud says nothing of love to enemies. Paul in Ro 12:20 quotes Pr 25:22 to prove that we ought to treat our enemies kindly. Jesus taught us to pray for our enemies and did it himself even when he hung upon the cross. Our word “neighbour” is “nigh-bor,” one who is nigh or near like the Greek word here. But proximity often means strife and not love. Those who have adjoining farms or homes may be positively hostile in spirit. The Jews came to look on members of the same tribe as neighbours as even Jews everywhere. But they hated the Samaritans who were half Jews and lived between Judea and Galilee. Jesus taught men how to act as neighbours by the parable of the Good Samaritan (Lu 10:29ff.).

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Neighbor [ ] . Another word to which the Gospel has imparted a broader and deeper sense. Literally it means the one near (so the Eng., neighbor = nigh – bor), indicating a mere outward nearness, proximity. Thus a neighbor might be an enemy. Socrates (Plato, “Republic,” 2 373) shows how two adjoining states might come to want each a piece of its neighbor ‘s [ ] land, so that there would arise war between them; and again (Plato, “Theaetetus,” 174) he says that a philosopher is wholly unacquainted with his next – door neighbor, and does not know whether he is a man or an animal. The Old Testament expands the meaning to cover national or tribal fellowship, and that is the sense in our Lord ‘s quotation here. The Christian sense is expounded by Jesus in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luk 10:29 sqq.), as including the whole brotherhood of man, and as founded in love for man, as man, everywhere.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “Ye have heard that it hath been said,” (ekousate hot! errethe) “You all have heard that it was said,” among your people in olden days, based upon a former command from the Lord.

2) “Thou shalt love thy neighbor,” (agapeseis ton plesion sou) “You shall love (receive with affection) your neighbor,” Lev 19:18.

3) “And hate thine enemy.” (kai miseiseis ton echtron sou) “And you shall hate your enemy,” or hold them in a lower degree of respect, Deu 23:3-6; Deu 25:19; Ezr 9:12.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

Mat 5:43

. Thou shalt love thy neighbor. It is astonishing, that the Scribes fell into so great an absurdity, as to limit the word neighbor to benevolent persons: for nothing is more obvious or certain than that God, in speaking of our neighbors, includes the whole human race. Every man is devoted to himself; and whenever a regard to personal convenience occasions an interruption of acts of kindness, there is a departure from that mutual intercourse, which nature itself dictates. To keep up the exercise of brotherly love, God assures us, that all men are our brethren, because they are related to us by a common nature. Whenever I see a man, I must, of necessity, behold myself as in a mirror: for he is my bone and my flesh, (Gen 29:14.) Now, though the greater part of men break off, in most instances, from this holy society, yet their depravity does not violate the order of nature; for we ought to regard God as the author of the union.

Hence we conclude, that the precept of the law, by which we are commanded to love our neighbor, is general. But the Scribes, judging of neighborhood from the disposition of the individual, affirmed that no man ought to be reckoned a neighbor, unless he were worthy of esteem on account of his own excellencies, or, at least, unless he acted the part of a friend. This is, no doubt, supported by the common opinion; and therefore the children of the world are not ashamed to acknowledge their resentments, when they have any reason to assign for them. But the charity, which God requires in his law, looks not at what a man has deserved, but extends itself to the unworthy, the wicked, and the ungrateful. Now, this is the true meaning which Christ restores, and vindicates from calumny; and hence it is obvious, as I have already said, that Christ does not introduce new laws, but corrects the wicked glosses of the Scribes, by whom the purity of the divine law had been corrupted.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

C. THE WISE AND GODLY MAN IN RELATION TO THE LAW

6. HIS ATTITUDE TOWARD PERFECT love. (Parallel Luk. 6:32-36)

TEXT: 5:43-48

43. Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy:
44. but I say unto you, love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you;
45. that ye may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust.
46. For if ye love them that love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
47. And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the Gentiles the same?

48. Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS

a.

What happens to men when they allow themselves to hate?

b. What is the basis for the distinction we make between those whom we call enemies and those whom we call friends? Is this a proper distinction?
c.

What kind of enemy does Jesus have in mind: personal? national? just anyone who is hostile to us?

d. How should Jesus teaching be applied with reference to ones national enemies? If a man is not sure that his nation has a just cause in war, should he allow himself to be made part of its army? If he is reasonably sure that his nation has a just cause, how should he treat or regard those who will be enemy soldiers?
e.

Is it possible to like someone who is personally hostile to us and is trying his best to thwart our every design? Is it possible to love him? What is the difference?

f.

Is it possible to say that love is the perfect law? What makes you think so? What do you mean by law here?

g. Are laws themselves ethical principles, or are there ethical principles behind the laws which cause them to be written?
h.

What is the relationship between the principle of love and laws, as these latter are found in any code of law?

i.

If a person be governed by love, does he need to be governed by law? If not, why not? If so, what is the function of the law in this case?

j.

Is it possible that the word perfect, as used by Jesus (Mat. 5:48), produce very different effects in those who hear it? In other words, how would the sinner react to this demand? How may the disciple respond to it?

k.

How does the standard of Jesus surpass all standards known to man?

l.

How does Jesus make it possible to grow into such a standard?

m.

Are you absolutely perfect yet? If not, what provisions are made for your perfection? What if you die in that imperfect condition?

PARAPHRASE AND HARMONY

You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor your enemies: do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse and hate your enemy, But I say to you who will really listen, love you, pray for those who insult and persecute you, in order to act like your heavenly Father. Yes, do good and lend, expecting nothing in return. You will have a rich reward and you will be truly sons of the Most High. He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. He makes His sun rise on the evil as well as on the good people, and sends His rain on the just and unjust alike. Be compassionate just like your Father is merciful.

For if you love those who love you, what thanks could you expect? Do not even tax collectors and sinners do as much? And if you greet only those within your own circle, what more are you doing than others? DO not even the pagans do that much? And if you return good deeds only to those who do good to you, what virtue is there in that? For even sinners do the same thing. And if you lend only to those from whom you expect to get it back, what is extraordinary about that? Even sinners lend to each other, to get back the same amount in full.

You, therefore, are to be perfect-as perfect as your heavenly Father is!

SUMMARY

A summary of practical Jewish morality revealed an ethically inadequate lovelessness and partiality, although it had seemed perfectly rational. But God’s personal mercifulness undoubtedly ignores such spurious justifications and distinctions, since He blesses even those who spite Him in every way. Sectarian selfishness and calculating courtesies are typical of those who make no pretences to knowledge or service of God. But Jesus expects nothing less than the perfection of God as a standard for His disciple.

NOTES

I. AN ANCIENT ADAGE AMENDED

A. THE ANCIENT ADAGE

Mat. 5:43 Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. The first phrase is as old as the Law itself and is left unchanged by the Lord. (Lev. 19:18) There is no point in mentioning Jesus’ omission of as thyself since His correction (Mat. 5:44-48) takes no notice of the omission. Jesus is not quoting a popular Pharisaic tradition which omits this measurement of love. Rather, as He quotes it, the first phrase balances more neatly the second phrase which He intends to correct.

Hate thine enemy. While this is not a direct precept of the Mosaic Law, it is a true representation of its practical application. Though there were precepts enjoining love for the individual foreigner sojourning in the land (Lev. 19:33-34) and civil rights and courtesies equal to those due any native Hebrew, nevertheless the fear of contamination by idolatry, through any kind of social contact with their surrounding pagan neighbors, caused the Jews to heed those commands which enforced their separatism. (Exo. 23:20-33; Exo. 34:11-16; Numbers 31; Deu. 7:1-5; Deu. 7:16; Deu. 10:10-18; Deu. 23:3-6) True, they often compromised these instructions, but their being reprimanded for these failures, which threatened to erase their distinctiveness, helped to create that attitude inherent in the commands themselves: show your enemies no mercy: destroy them entirely. Further, in the same context with the precept to vanquish their enemies completely is found expressed God’s own attitude of strict retribution, almost as if to provide Israel an example for imitation (see Deu. 7:9-11), even as Jesus offers God’s example in the present section as an example for imitation of His mercy. In the one case, Israels religious instinctiveness was at stake; in this case, it is not, Rather, impartial love is the question, and the purpose for Israels separatism is already realized and needs no further protection, Perfect love is more capable of preserving religious separation than any amount of warring against ones enemies, even though this latter expedient was necessary to prepare that primitive people for the coming of Jesus who could reveal such love. Nevertheless, godly men, living under such laws, felt this hatred. (Cf. Psalms 18; Psalms 35; Psa. 55:8-15; Psalms 59; Psa. 69:18-27; Psa. 137:7-9; Psa. 139:21-22) And they practiced it. (Cf. 1Ch. 21:1-3)

This is not to deny the totally unjustifiable distortions of God’s intent for such legislation, God never intended that Israelites should detest or refuse to love a personal foe. Rather, kindness and practical generosity were to be used toward him. (Exo. 23:4-5; Pro. 24:17-18; Pro. 25:21; cf. Notes on Mat. 5:21)

Is not such hate also the natural outgrowth of self-righteousness which so strictly identifies itself with the cause of righteousness that the self-righteous cannot conceive of Gods plans as having any expression except through him and his group? This is the we-are-right-let-those-who-disagree-with-us-go-to-hell spirit seen in all sectaries just as much in the orthodox and faithful as in the terrorists and false teachers.

B. THE AMENDMENT

Mat. 5:44 But I say unto you, love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you. Far from pampering the prejudices of His audience, which grovelled under the Roman yoke, having known one oppressor after another since the beginning of the great captivities, Jesus shows Himself the true Patriot. He offers them the only way to improve relations with ANY enemy, personal or national. This word of love must have aroused resentment in some who had unusually bad relations with tax collectors and Roman soldiery. How these words would have stung on the ears of those who were just living for the day when they personally might draw Roman blood and drive the hated occupation army out of Palestine!

But this word enemy covers the whole realm of those who oppose one: personal antagonists, business competitors, political opponents, social rivals. This is evidenced in the Law by the more or less personal relations between the antagonists, which would have permitted deeds of kindness to him. (See Exo. 23:4-5; Pro. 24:17-18; Pro. 25:21) The fact that Jesus places the emphasis on loving our enemies, rather than upon loving our neighbors, should remind us that that hateful quality in some of our neighbors which makes them our enemies must not cause us to forget that they are, after all, neighbors to love. Jesus is not saying that our enemies are somehow not our neighbors, merely because He does not identify the two here, since He does identify them elsewhere. (Luk. 10:29-37)

At first view, what Jesus commands seems impossible due to the many misconceptions of the meaning of the word love. What is this love which Jesus requires?

1.

Clear examples, which explain His meaning, are offered immediately in this context:

a. Pray for those who persecute you. No man can honestly pray for another and continue to hate him; rather, he will try to understand his enemys real need and the reasons which make him that way. Such magnanimity must necessarily destroy rancor and desires to retaliate.

b. Impartial generosity (See on Mat. 5:45)

c. Social courtesy (See on Mat. 5:46)

d. Readiness to reconcile; refusal to hold in contempt (Mat. 5:21-26)

e. Refusing to hate a member of the opposite sex by lusting after them (Mat. 5:27-30)

f. Destroying enmity for ones society by resisting the temptation to create a situation which would undermine it (Mat. 5:31-32 )

g. Rejecting false, deceiving oaths by simple honest speech (Mat. 5:33-37)

h. Returning good for evil (Mat. 5:38-42). Lukes parallel (Mat. 6:27-34) actually mixes these applications with the precept, making just one integrated section where Matthew has two.

Thus, Jesus meaning is exemplified in these examples of actions, deeds and attitudes, and not merely through a sentiment.

2. Other examples of loving ones enemies:

a. The Good Samaritan (Luk. 10:25-37)

b. Jesus on the cross (Luk. 23:34)

c. Stephen being martyred (Act. 7:60)

d. David spared Sauls life (1 Samuel 24, 26)

So we see, even before examining the word love itself we have before

us a clear concept of its meaning intended by the Author, derived from the examples He gives of its manifestation. he exact meaning of Jesus word (agapate) must be gathered from the context in which He uses it, due to the interchangeability of the two Greek words usually used to express this relationship between persons.

For studies in agape and philia and their verbs agapao and phileo, compare Amdt-Gingrich, pp. 4-6, 866, 867, where their interchange is noted, But see Butler, John , II 454-456 and Hendriksen, John, 11, 494-500, where excellent reviews of the differences are given.

From the way Jesus illustrated what He means, we learn:

3. What Jesus does NOT mean. He does not intend just a natural compassion or good-naturedness, a natural affection or fondness. Nor can He imply a blanket, general love which takes in wholesale an enemy nation, or the whole corrupt political machine, or an entire religious denomination, but rather He intends a love for the individual, detached from the movement he represents. It is not a tender sentiment similar to that which binds us to our nearest and dearest. It is not something that we cannot help, because Jesus commands us to do something about it. This love commanded is not an ethical principle for application by society en masse, but by the individual, since it was to the latter that He addressed it. Nor does Jesus mean that love must ignore criminal actions and refuse to discipline due to a pretended love for the unscrupulous, undisciplined and criminal.

4. What Jesus DOES mean: by the word love He intends a purposeful, intelligent, comprehending love which cannot ignore the hatefulness and wickedness of the enemy, but seeks in every way to free him from the sin which blinds and binds him to those passions that drive him to be what he is. This love commanded is a matter of the will, a victory over that which comes instinctively even to publicans and sinners. This love is something that we have to will ourselves into doing, not an emotion that comes to us unbidden. This love is a determination of the mind expresses itself in invincible good will to all men alike by always doing what is in the best interest of each. Jesus insists that each disciple take His fiat seriously as a basis of their personal relationships.

Is not this love the empowering ethical principle that motivates all of the impossible demands of Jesus? Not only does this love far surpass the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, but it raises the standard so far above all law, especially that of Moses, that it touches the perfect character of God! Instead of this precept being a mere lovely theory, it is practical to the last degree, because it puts every motive to the test, challenges every action and rejects automatically all conduct that would be a violation of love. This latter feature is accomplished without any recourse to that inferior conduct motivation or moral control known as law. Thus, Jesus is revealing a means of conduct control that for its excellence far surpasses any and all legal systems, It is superior because the constraints of love must bring about a complete moral transformation in man by causing him to re-examine his entire character and bring it into line with the demands of his love.

Conversion, then, is not so much a miraculous process as it is a rational introspection into ones heart to determine wherein the individual is not loving God and his fellows, and a thorough-going determination to act conscientiously according to the dictates of this true love. Gods part in conversion, therefore, is His provision of the key that unlocks this whole series of conversions in every area of life. The key is simply His own love which stimulates us to love (1Jn. 4:7-21). In other words, Jesus is saying, love God and your neighbor perfectly, and everything else will take care of itself. Who needs rules to force him to act, whose heart is entirely converted by the very ethical motivation that requires such rules be written for the ethically unmotivated?

But the original command of God was: love your neighbor (and Jesus says this means our enemy too) AS YOURSELF. What a standard! HOW far-reaching! How do we express this self-love? Our love for ourselves is unhypocritical, ardent, active, habitual and constant. It respects our interests, is tenderly concerned about our welfare, takes genuine pleasure in promoting our success and happiness: we just cannot do enough for ourselves! $!The test, then, of our love for the other fellow is not merely our fondness for him, but the trouble we are willing to take and the sacrifices we are prepared to make for his benefit. Luke (Luk. 6:31) inserts the golden rule right in the middle of his account of this section, thereby suggesting that the acid test of love is deeds, not merely sweet sentiments. Twice he quotes Jesus as saying, love your enemies and do good , , . (Luk. 6:27; Luk. 6:35; cf. Rom. 12:17-21)

Should someone object that the cost of love is too high (1Jn. 3:16), the cost of hatred is even greater! (1Jn. 3:15) He who would shut out his neighbors need from his heart, likewise shuts out the love of God!

II. THE ALMIGHTY, AN ACKNOWLEDGED AUTHORITY ON ALTRUISM

Mat. 5:45 that ye may be sons of your Father who is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust. This is the first reason Jesus urges us to love our enemies: that we might be like God. God is the very author and example of this outgoing love of others. (Rom. 5:5-8 ; 1Jn. 4:7-12) Our pattern and measure of love is to be no less than His!

Love that you may be sons expresses the purpose of our loving those who certainly do not love us. The word be (genesthe) might be translated become, thus suggesting that this love is, in the final analysis, the only real means of growing into the image of the Son of God (cf. Rom. 8:29 ), and this recalls Mat. 5:9 where those who imitate God will be called His sons. (See notes there) The central idea is this: moral likeness proves ones true parentage. (Contrast Joh. 8:39-47) To the Jews present that day, the phrase sons of your Father would have been readily grasped in its general Hebraistic sense of likeness or chief characteristic. (See Gesenius, 126) Accordingly, Jesus is saying, love that you may be like God, or godly, godlike. However, Jesus word must not be construed to mean that one may become a son of God merely by the exercise of some brand of neighborly love which bypasses regeneration! Truly, such impartial loving as Jesus expects is impossible without regeneration. Though this love is the ready test of sonship, yet one is not necessarily a son if he ignores the father’s instructions for becoming a son. (Cf. Gal. 3:26-27 )

The honest man, whose conscience has been stabbed by Christ’s message and who feels keenly his own imperfection, will be reminded that God did truly bless him even in his sinfulness. Such a disciple will be motivated to bless and help men, especially his enemies, loving them as God had first loved him. This is Gods reason for continuing to bless even those who by their continued impiety dare Him to destroy them. His goodness could melt their stubborn hearts, causing them to repent (Rom. 2:4; 1Ti. 1:12-17). Thank God that He does not bless us on the basis of our capricious and relative goodness! Thus, ours is to be a perfect interest in people that is closely identified with God’s concern for them. (Cf. Eph. 4:31 to Eph. 5:1)

III. THE ABSURDITY OF ACT’ING ACCORDING TO AVERAGE ATITITUDES

Mat. 5:46-47 See the PARAPHRASE/HARMONY for Luke’s significant additions here. Jesus’ second reason for loving the unlovely and unloveable, is that refusal to do so is conduct no better than that of the worst of men. That choice to love only those who are beautiful, desirable, and who will reciprocate love, is nothing but that same cruel, callous, calculating partiality practiced by any hypocrite! James (Jas. 2:1-17) drives home the heinous injustice of partiality.

Publicans, Gentiles: Luke in this place says simply sinners while Matthew, writing more to a Jewish standpoint, mentions two classes which to Jews were sinners without equals. The publicans were the collectors who did the foot-work, actually gathering the Roman taxes’ for their Roman bosses. To a subject people like the Jews, not only the taxes to support their rulers, but also these mercenaries who collaborated with their conquerors to collect the money, would be hated and despised as traitors to their people. The stigma attached to the profession naturally precluded the accepting the occupation by any good men who had any regard for the good opinion of their countrymen. Obviously, this left the office to those who had less self-respect to lose and no reputation to protect and often few principles. Considered as traitors as well as grafters, they were regarded as entirely out of fellowship with God. (Cf. Luk. 3:12-13; Luk. 19:1-9; Luk. 15:1-2; Luk. 18:9-14) On Gentiles see on Mat. 5:43 to grasp this purely Jewish allusion.

What reward have you? . . . What do you more than others ? These rhetorical questions are calculated to call His hearers to make a personal judgment, or perhaps to call attention to His judgment intimated in His question: If one loves and salutes only his most intimate friends and family, he is acting just like those whom he would class as flagrant sinners, Worse yet, he is sharing their sin of partiality, Here the Master exposes the proud snob for the hypocrite he really is, since he would probably claim to love all men and yet he would rationalize such party loyalty as would salute only its own clique, clan of club. Party spirit and clan loyalty have been scored by the apostles as well. (Gal. 5:20; Jud. 1:19; 1 Corinthians 1-4) That unhypocritical love which embraces even the repulsive and hateful really goes beyond these average attitudes and actually does more than others. (Rom. 12:9; 2Co. 6:6; Gal. 6:10; Eph. 6:5-9; Php. 2:3-4; 1Pe. 1:22) Christian love must be unlike human love which is often no more than a self-interested affection. In other words, we must never let our natural likes and dislikes become the rule of our life or the test of our love, since real love carries us into the lives of those for whom we have no natural affinity. To break the force of our clannish habits, let us begin to associate with men, not because they are congenial to us or agree with us, but because they need our compassion and understanding, Let us cultivate those outside out group. (Cf. Luk. 5:27-32; Luk. 7:36-50; Luk. 14:12-14; Luk. 15:1-2; Joh. 4:1-42)

Salute was a word loaded with connotations of friendship, acceptance and fellowship, just as the oriental salutation was a vigorous personal contact consisting of a cordial embrace, a kiss on both cheeks and inquiries about the welfare of each member of the others family. Thus, Jesus IS asking quite a bit more than a simple good morning of His disciples: if you are only cordial with your little circle, what do you do that is so different?

In this admonition, Jesus, having shown the weakness of such distinctions that selfishness must create, now corrects the absurdity of thinking that one could really live in love and yet show practical favoritism. Edersheim (Life, 11, 237) observes:

That question, Who is my neighbor? has ever been at the same time the outcome of Judaism (as distinguished from the religion of the OT), and also its curse . . . God had separated Israel unto Himself by purification and renovation – and this is the original meaning of the word holy and sanctify in the Hebrew. They separated themselves in self-righteousness and pride-and this is the original meaning of the word Pharisee and Pharisaism. . . . Before we sit in harsh judgment on these Jews, let us remember how often professing Christians have restricted the circle of Christian love until it embraces no more than pagan love, i.e., those who love us and salute us.

IV. ASPIRING TO ATTAIN THE ABSOLUTE

Mat. 5:48 Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Jesus idea of real religion or true righteousness is to make us like God, nothing else or nothing less! McGarvey puts it right: though it be impossible for such sinners as we to reach this perfection yet anything short of it is short of what we ought to be. In fact, one sure rule to remember must be: if you think you have arrived at this perfection, you have not. The closer we approach the perfection of God and thus the more intimate grows our knowledge of the Father, the more we will be humbled and dissatisfied with our accomplishments.

But what is Jesus driving at? Surely He must know that we could not struggle up to the heights of that far inferior standard of Moses Law, and if THAT were too difficult for us, how could He expect us even to begin thinking about aiming for Gods perfection? We must cry out in dark despair, Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner that I am! But this was exactly His point: to bring us to our knees asking Him what we must do. (See introduction to the Sermon) Carver (81) raises that important philosophical problem: Could we follow Jesus as we do if He had for us any lower standard of morals and ethics than perfection, if He could be content until He has made us true sons and daughters of His perfect Father? Probably not, for we would ever suspect that there yet remain a final answer above and beyond Jesus, however satisfied we might be with His good standards. But being brought up face to face with THIS standard, we may rest assured that there are no higher standards, and it is with TH.IS one that we have to deal, decide, do or die!

HOW TO BE PERFECT

Let us, however, not permit our despair of ever reaching such an exacting standard to become an excuse for ignoring Jesus as an unrealistic dreamer whose schemes for human moral improvement as unworkable. Let us remain at least long enough to hear Him explain His idea.

A. BY LOVING PERFECTLY

Interpreting Jesus word in context, we see that Jesus is saying something very simple and yet so profound: He who loves like the heavenly Father loves, is thoroughly equipped to grow into absolute perfection. He who loves, needs no other rules or standards, for he will always act in the best interest of his neighbor, friend or enemy. To love consistently is to be perfect.

This interpretation harmonizes with the propositions of the Apostles, Whoever practices obedience to His message really has a perfect love of God in his heart. (1Jn. 2:5 CBWilliams) No one has ever seen God; yet if we practice loving one another, God remains in union with us, and our love for His attains perfection in our hearts. (1Jn. 4:12 CBW; Cf. 1Jn. 4:17-18) Ones faith is perfected by what he does (Jas. 2:22), if it is a faith which works through love (Gal. 5:6). Only intense love can hold a man steadfast in trials and thus be perfected (Jas. 1:2-4). And, most important of all, no law is capable of making anybody perfect (Heb. 7:19; Heb. 9:9; Heb. 10:1; cf. Rom. 2:12; Rom. 3:29; Rom. 4:15; Rom. 5:20; Rom. 8:3). ALL law must render man imperfect in his own eyes and frustrate his attempts to be perfect. Perfect loving, on the other hand, has in it the seed-germ capable of making man entirely perfect.

By commanding men to be perfect, Jesus DID mean them to be sinless, since the essence of sin is lovelessness. There is no moral perfection but where perfect love has made sin impossible. Sins, by definition, are those acts which express mans selfishness and his failure to love his neighbor or his God at some given point of contact. Sin is not only or merely transgression of the law (1Jn. 3:4; Rom. 3:20 etc.), although it is this too, but is more the refusal to love (1Jn. 3:11-18; 1Jn. 4:9; 1Jn. 4:17-21). Laws are but the muscles of love, given to punish those who are unable or unwilling to be governed directly by love. Laws merely describe and forbid unethical behavior, but the behavior itself is sin because, in one way or another, it disobeys the dictates of love. Contrarily, love is the fulfilling of any law. (Mat. 22:36-40; Rom. 13:8-10; Gal. 5:14; Gal. 6:2) True righteousness IS love and as such is not subject to law; rather, love is the maker of laws where they are necessary. (Gal. 5:22-23) ALL standards of right and wrong will be perfectly fulfilled by the man who always does what is in the best interest of his neighbor, i.e. loves him completely. This is the genius of Christianity and the very reason why Jesus refused to spell out in detail what constitutes true righteousness, lest men mistake His word for another law! By just commanding love, He covered the whole gamut of human relations like no detailed law could ever do.

B. BY BEING DECLARED PERFECT

Thus, the very admission that we do not love as we should, condemns us for our imperfection. How can God admit anything less than perfection? God has solved this dilemma by choosing to declare perfectly righteous those who will believe Jesus, depend entirely upon Him, and thus regard His perfection as their own. (Rom. 8:1-4; 2Co. 5:17-21; 1Co. 1:30; Eph. 2:6; Php. 3:8-9; Col. 1:12; Col. 1:22; Col. 1:28; Col. 2:10) Thus, all that is imperfect in the Christian is judged to be perfect, because it is viewed as perfected by the perfection of Christ. This is only possible because of the disciples position in Christ. This perfection of the Christian is a judicial declaration, quite irrespective of his personal maturity. This declaration is entirely based upon the Christians dependence (faith) upon Jesus to be his righteousness, sanctification, justification and redemption. (Heb. 10:14)

C. BY GROWING UP INTO THE STANDARD

Teleios, the word translated by our word perfect, can mean all that our word signifies, i.e. absoluteness, the highest degree of excellence. Yet is means more. (See Arndt-Gingrich, 816, 817) Perfection is obviously relative, relative to the goal, end, purpose or aim (telos) sought. Something is perfect when it accomplishes the purpose for which it was planned. Thus, teleios is used to describe persons of full age, full-grown, mature, adult (1Co. 2:6; 1Co. 14:20; Eph. 4:13-16; Heb. 5:14) and, by extension, it describes those who are spiritually mature (Php. 3:15 ; Col. 4:12). It was also a technical term of the ancient mystery religions, which refers to him who had been initiated into the mystic rites. To this latter class may belong such passages as: 1Co. 2:6; Php. 3:15; Col. 1:28, where the translation would be the initiate, the insider. Then, teleios has at least four other instances (Mat. 19:21; Jas. 1:4 b; Jas. 3:2; perhaps Col. 4:12) of the absolute idea of full moral development to the highest degree of excellence. Which of these four ideas describes Jesus meaning in this text? That depends upon who is listening to Him.

1. To the Outsider: If Jesus is talking to the sinner, endeavoring to drive him to practical despair of ever being good enough, then Jesus means for the sinner to be shaken by that word perfect in all of its harsh absoluteness, The man of the world must understand the futility of trying to justify himself before God by any kind of standard less than perfection, The outsider would not have it in him to reach such a lofty norm, Assuming that God is so loving and impartial as to bless him even when he is yet a sinner (Mat. 5:45), he could safely conclude that this God also has a means of salvation from this inexorable ,justice, and come to Jesus seeking answers.

2. To the Insider: If Jesus intends His teaching to be a guide to righteousness for all future generations of His disciples, then He may mean maturity, adulthood, as understood in .the relative sense. No teleios adult would admit to being absolutely perfect in every quality that, together with other qualities, renders him teleios, and yet he is teleios, adult or mature, To the Christian, then, perfection or maturity is not a terrifying, impossible standard, since Jesus has revealed His secrets for arriving there. Jesus secret power to transform men into the image of God, a secret only to those who refuse to see it, is the influence of that all-encompassing command: love your neighbor as yourself. Out of such love flows all those deeds that may be called righteousness.

Jesus ideal is neither an impossible not an impractical ethic, Rather it is the bloodstream of the New Testament. (Study Rom. 13:8-10; Gal. 5:6; Php. 3:7-17; 1Ti. 1:5) As an ideal, Jesus must require absolute perfection (in degree) ; as a practical expectation, Jesus may look for a growing perfection (in kind) which has in it the capacity to transform man into Gods likeness.

FACT QUESTIONS

1.

Locate the OT Law of love, cited by Jesus. (book, chapter, verse)

2.

Explain the rise of the axiomatic exhortation to hate ones enemy. Did God command such hate? What divine commands might lead to this conclusion? Did God intend for a Jew to bear personal grudges or hate a personal opponent? Prove your answer.

3.

Did godly men in the OT hate their enemies? Prove it.

4.

What information may be drawn from the context, that helps to understand the meaning of the word love, as Jesus intended it?

5.

List the two examples, positive and negative, given by Jesus as examples of how we should and should not love.

6.

Why does Matthew bring up publicans and Gentiles? What is the Jewish viewpoint regarding these two groups?

7.

Who were the publicans?

8.

What does perfect mean, as used by Jesus? What else could it mean?

9. What other NT passages use the word perfect, which throw light on Jesus meaning?

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(43) Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.In form the latter clause was a Rabbinic addition to the former; and this is important as showing that our Lord deals throughout not with the Law as such, but with the scribes exposition of it. But it can hardly be said these words, as far as national enemies were concerned, were foreign to the spirit of the Law. The Israelites were practically commanded to hate the Canaanites and Amalekites, whom they were commissioned to destroy. The fault of the scribes was that they stereotyped the Law, which was in its nature transitory, and extended it in a wrong direction by making it the plea for indulgence in private enmities. Our Lord cancels the Rabbinic gloss as regards national and, fortiori, private hatreds, and teaches us to strive after the ideal excellence which He realised, and to love, i.e., to seek the good of those who have shown us the most bitter hostility. So He taught men to find a neighbour even in a Samaritan, and so He prayed, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

(5.) Christian law of love.

43. Love neighbour hate enemy The command, Love thy neighbour, (Lev 19:18,) was interpreted by the rabbles to include Israelites only. To hate the rest of mankind was, therefore, they held, religiously right. Our Lord, however, extends our neighbourhood over all mankind. As immortal beings, all are entitled to a solemn respect; as children of the same Father, they are the proper objects of our wishes for their wellbeing. That they are our enemies is a good reason why we should ward off their attacks; but it is no reason why we should not wish their happiness. One of the best ways of showing our benevolence is to invent some method of removing their bad disposition and disarming their enmity.

Love your friends and hate your enemies is the law written by selfishness on the human heart. Its’ necessary effect is to divide mankind into clans maintaining perpetual feuds. The action and reaction of revenge, sustained by the point of honour, render the feud permanent and cruel. Such was eminently the state of society when our Lord was engaged in dispensing these truths to his Church. To end these feuds, the commencement must be made by the good man’s making the advances of patience, of adventurous suffering, of disarming enmity by magnanimous disregard of the standing feud, of the point of honour, and even, sometimes, of the possible law of self-preservation. Here is the finest field for the purest heroism and the noblest generosity. And, at the same time, there is the fullest room for all our tact and fertility of invention to make our generosity truly tell. By blunder, by misapplication, by ill-timed introduction, our magnanimity may wear the look of cowardice; and the enemy, instead of being conciliated, will think himself called upon to trample upon our meanness. Thereby we shall not heap coals of fire upon his head, but apply a coal of fire to inflame his heart.

And what a beautiful and masterly calmness does our Lord here prescribe to the Christian heart. He is to keep his own temper undisturbed, and while his enemy is raging with insane fury he is calmly to study by what skilful application of touching kindness he can transform the lion to a lamb. By so doing he attains a victory; but that is the smallest part of the matter. He has transformed an enemy to a friend; and what is better than either, he has, perhaps, converted a sinner from his error, and saved a soul from death.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour, and hate your enemy,

The passage once again commences with a statement made by others. ‘It has been said.’ This represents the popular attitude. And what has been said is that ‘love your neighbour’ necessarily excludes one’s enemy. The statement had thus clearly become somewhat commonplace that ‘you shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy’. Here a central feature of the Law appears seemingly to have been taken up, ‘you shall love your neighbour as yourself’ (Lev 19:18), but then limited by the addition of what seems a commonsense rider, ‘you shall hate your enemy.’ But in fact it will be noted that the whole emphasis of the first statement has by this been altered. The idea of the demanding depth of the love revealed in Lev 19:18 is dropped (‘as yourself’) so that the cutting edge is removed, while the contrast with the enemy takes away even more force from the idea of love. It has simply become a statement seen as speaking of friendship as against enmity. In this form it is very similar to ideas expressed at Qumran, ‘love the sons of light — and hate all the sons of darkness’. It has become a parochial representation of national solidarity, and a softening up even of the requirement to a neighbour. And we can also parallel the idea in Rabbinic teaching, where commenting on Lev 19:18 we find the comment, ‘against others (who are not your neighbours) you may be revengeful and bear a grudge’. Although that must not necessarily be seen as typical of all Rabbinic teaching.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Disciples Are To Love Even Their Enemies And Are To Seek To Be Perfect Even As Their Father in Heaven Is Perfect (5:43-48).

Jesus has been slowly building up to this final revelation of the love that epitomises the Kingly Rule of God and the One Who is over it. There was to be no hatred or insulting of others, no dividing of married couples made one, total openness and honesty, loving response to unpleasantness, and now all is capped by a picture of total love.

Analysis of Mat 5:43-48 ).

a “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour, and hate your enemy,

a But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you,

a That you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven,

a For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good,

a And sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

b For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?

c Do not even the civil servants the same?

b And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more than others?

c Do not even the Gentiles the same?

a You therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Note that in ‘a’ they are to reveal that they are like their Father in Heaven, and in the parallel they are to do the same. In ‘b c’ and its parallel we are presented with the two similar alternatives within a threesome, something which has been a regular feature of this whole passage. The threesome is found firstly in ‘love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you’, secondly in the double contrast of the alternative position, and thirdly in the final demand that they be perfect.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jesus Teaches on Loving Our Neighbour ( Luk 6:27-28 ; Luk 6:32-36 ) – In Mat 5:43-48, Jesus teaches us the true meaning of how to love our neighbour by making a reference to Lev 19:18.

Lev 19:18, “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.”

He tells us not only to love our neighbour, but to love our enemies as well (Mat 5:44). How do we do this? We do it by blessing them and praying for them (Mat 5:44). Why do we do this? Because God loves His enemies (Mat 5:45) and we are to be imitators of Him (Mat 5:48).

Scripture Reference – Note a similar passage:

Pro 25:21-22, “If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink: For thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head, and the LORD shall reward thee.”

Mat 5:43  Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

Mat 5:43 Comments – Lev 19:18 teaches us to love our neighbour. However, the scribes and Pharisees taught that men were not obligated to love those whom it did not consider its neighbour.

Lev 19:18, “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.”

Everett F. Harrison notes that the phrase “Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy,” although not found in the Old Testament, has a parallel statement in the Manual of Discipline (1.4.10) (now called the Community Rule Scroll), which is a writing of the ancient Jewish Qumran community, suggests that Jesus may have borrowed this phrase from sources outside of the Old Testament. [381] Adolfo Roitman paraphrases this quote, “if you are part of this group, you must not only love your fellows but also hate your opponents.” [382] This statement may have been commonly used in the first century Jewish culture, of which Jesus makes a reference by saying, “Ye have heard that it hath been said”

[381] Everett F. Harrison, Introduction to the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, c1964, 1971), 174.

[382] Adolfo Roitman, The Dead Sea Scrolls Offer New Insight Into the Roots of Western Culture, 15 December 2003 [on-line]; accessed 9 June 2009; available from http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=20031215_71243_71243; Internet.

Mat 5:44  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;

Mat 5:44 “do good to them that hate you” Scripture References – Note similar verses:

Exo 23:4-5, “If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him.”

Exo 23:22, “But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.”

Mat 5:44 Comments – Jesus Christ spoke these words to a people who had spent years under the bitter oppression of the Roman government. He spoke to a people who had been treated cruel by their enemies. Jesus was telling them to love them and not to hate them.

Illustration – David treated Saul good as he ran from Saul (1Sa 24:19).

1Sa 24:19, “For if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away? wherefore the LORD reward thee good for that thou hast done unto me this day.”

Illustration – In March 2001 I made a decision to do what Mat 5:44 says to do. I was managing a Christian television station in Kampala, Uganda. This was also a commercial station selling advertisements and airtime. We greatly depended upon some large marketing agencies in town in order to gain big clients. However, in the largest agency in town, the manager over these clients was corrupt. He convinced the largest advertisers in East Africa not to advertise on our Christian television station.

I trying going to his boss, the managing director, but to no avail. I tried taking this person to lunch and befriending him. Nothing worked. Finally, when all else failed, I made a decision to pray for him and his company. Every morning, we began the workday with a word of prayer. We constantly lifted this company up in prayer, praying that the Lord would give the managers and workers in this company wisdom and blessings. While he was cursing me, I was blessing him. It took an act of faith to do this, but I knew that this was what the Lord wanted me to do.

To my surprise, within two months, this person was fired. I believe that it was because this agency gained a large advertiser, and this corrupt treated them unfairly. They Lord had both blessed this company and given the management wisdom.

Mat 5:45  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Mat 5:45 Comments – God would not ask us to do something that He Himself was not willing to do. By the act of giving men the sunshine and the rain, He blessings the good and the evil people because of His overall love for mankind.

Mat 5:46  For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

Mat 5:47  And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

Mat 5:48  Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Mat 5:48 Comments – Job was perfect. Job 31 shows this Old Testament saint living out much of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5. It is living God’s Word, not just knowing it, that counts in God’s eyes.

Rom 2:13, “For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.”

Job 1:1, “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.”

This supreme command is a reflection of Lev 19:2.

Lev 19:2, “Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy .”

Peter quotes from this passage in Leviticus.

1Pe 1:16, “Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.”

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Final illustration, from the general law of love:

v. 43. Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.

The first injunction is found in the Law, Lev 19:18. The second part of the sentence is an addition made by the rabbis. They understood the word “neighbor” of the members of their own nation only, arguing from the many passages of the Law in which God had commanded the children of Israel to destroy the heathen nations. But in all those instances the children of Israel were merely carrying out God’s penal justice. Their argument would therefore not stand, especially in view of Exo 22:21; Exo 23:9; Lev 19:33; Deu 10:18-19; Deu 24:17; Deu 27:19. Jesus insists that all hatred is contrary to humaneness, opposed to the spirit which He was striving to foster. His is a different law:

v. 44. 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.

The injunction receives its application at all times and in all places. The impressiveness of the passage is heightened by the contrast presented in each member of the saying. Cursing is met with blessing; hatred, which leads to injuries, with well-doing; and abuse of all kinds, culminating in persecution arising from religious hatred, with prayer and intercession. Whatever meanness the enemies may devise, love’s ingenuity will find a way of overwhelming them with goodness. For its object is always to find ways and

means of winning the adversary, and, above all, of gaining him for the Lord.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Mat 5:43. Ye have heard, &c. It may be proper to note here, in this last quotation, the manner of our Lord’s quoting the doctrines which he chose to speak of. He does not say, Ye know that it was said, &c. as he would have done if nothing but the written law had been in his eye; but he says, Ye have heard that it was said; comprehending not only the law itself, but the explications of it, which the doctors pretended to have derived from the mouth of Moses by tradition. The passage of the law referred to in the present case is Lev 19:18 where the clause, and hate thine enemy, is not found. But the doctors pretended that it was deducible from the first part of the precept, which seems to limit forgiveness to Israelites: besides, they supported their opinion by the tradition of the elders, and by the precepts concerning the idolatrous nations too rigidly understood. Hence their malevolence toall mankind but their own nation was so remarkable, that the Heathens took notice of it. “Their fidelity,” says Tacitus, “is inviolable, and their pity ready towards one another; but unto all others they bear an implacable hatred.” Hist. lib. 5: cap. 5 and compare 1Th 2:15. Indeed, they were so excessively haughty, that they would not so much as salute a Heathen or a Samaritan. None but brethren received the least mark of respect from them; a behaviour which rendered them odious to all mankind. They certainlydishonoured God extremely, by pretending that his law countenanced such ferocity; the precepts upon which they laid so much stress having no reference at all to the disposition which particular persons among the Israelites were to bear to particular persons among the Heathens. They only prescribed what treatment the Israelites were to give those nations as bodies politic, in which capacity it was most just they should be destroyed, because of their abominations, and because they might have tempted God’s people to idolatry; Lev 25:28. But the Jews, overlooking the reason of those precepts, extended them most absurdly to the heathens in general, nay, and to private enemies among their brethren also. In opposition to this narrow and abominable spirit, our Lord commands his disciples to shew benevolence, according to their power, to every individual of the human species, without respect of country or religion; benevolence even to their bitterest enemies. See Macknight, Chemnitz, and the next verse.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Mat 5:43 . ] In Lev 19:18 , denotes a member of the nation, whereby the proselyte also is included with others; hatred towards the heathen, however, is not conceived of by the legislator as an antithesis that follows of itself, and therefore we may all the less assume that Jesus Himself introduced into the law hatred of one’s enemies, as an abstraction from the national exclusiveness, in which the law keeps Judaism towards heathenism, as if it commanded this hatred (Weiss, Bleek). The casuistic tradition of the Pharisees, however, explained Lev 19:18 , as the antithetical . . shows, of a friend, and deduced therefrom (perhaps with the addition of passages like Deu 25:17-19 , comp. Mal 1:3 ) the antithesis (which confessedly was also a principle of the common Hellenism), see Stallbaum, ad Plat. Phil. 110, p. 154; Jacobs, ad Del. epigr. p; Matthew 144: , by which was meant not the national enemy (Keim), but the personal ( ) private enemy, in opposition to the law (Exo 23:4 f.; Lev 19:18 ) and to the pious spirit of the Old Covenant (Psa 7:5 ; Psa 35:13 f.; Job 31:29 ; Pro 24:17 ; Pro 24:29 ; Pro 25:21 f.; comp. Gen 45:1 ; 1Sa 24:7 ; 1Sa 18:5 ; 2Ki 6:22 ). Jesus Himself also may have understood the Pharisaic addition only to refer to private enemies, as is clear from His antithesis, Mat 5:44 ff.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 1309
LOVE TO ENEMIES ENJOINED

Mat 5:43-48. 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; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the Publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the Publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

IT is well said by the Psalmist, that the commandment of God is exceeding broad; since it reaches to every disposition of the mind, and requires infinitely more than man, in his present weak and degenerate state, can perform. Indeed, though many traces of the law still remain upon the heart, and are discoverable by the light of reason, there are depths in it which unaided reason could never have fathomed, and a breadth and length which it could never have explored. Amongst the precepts which we consider as known only through the medium of Revelation, we would particularly specify that which is contained in the text. Human nature would itself approve of love to friends; but our Lord commands us to love our enemies.

In discoursing on the text, we shall be led to consider,

I.

The duty inculcated

The Jewish teachers in general sanctioned the indulgence of hatred towards enemies

[We must, in justice to them, acknowledge that they had some shadow of reason for their opinions: for God had commanded the Jews entirely to extirpate the Canaanites: and, though some little favour was to be shewn to the Edomites and Egyptians [Note: Deu 23:7.], the Ammonites and Moabites and Midianites were never to be treated with kindness [Note: Deu 23:3; Deu 23:6 and Num 25:16-18.]; and the very remembrance of the Amalekites was to be blotted out from under heaven [Note: Deu 25:17-19.]. Moreover, the duty of love seemed to be restricted to those of their own nation [Note: Lev 19:17-18.]: and in case even a Jew should accidentally kill any person, the man who was the nearest relative of the deceased was at liberty to kill the manslayer, in case he could overtake him before he could enter into a city of refuge, or should be able afterwards to find him without the gates of that city [Note: Num 35:26-27.].

But these mistaken teachers did not consider that a commandment given in relation to those devoted nations was not intended to be made a rule of conduct between individuals: nor did they recollect, that, whilst they restricted the word neighbour to those of their own nation, the Decalogue itself had taught them to comprehend the whole universe under that name [Note: Exo 20:17.]: (for a Jew was no more at liberty to covet the wifeof a Heathen, than he was of a Jew.) Nor, lastly, did they reflect, that the ordinance relative to the man-slayer was altogether typical of Christ and of his salvation [Note: Heb 6:18.].]

In opposition to such erroneous notions, our Lord enjoined, in the most authoritative manner, the love of enemies

[He takes for granted, that his faithful disciples would be hated, reviled, and persecuted: and under all the evil treatment which they may receive, he commands them to return kind words for bitter, benevolent actions for spiteful, and fervent prayers for the most cruel oppressions. Not that this was any new precept: it was enjoined under the law as strongly as under the Gospel [Note: Compare Rom 12:20-21. with Pro 25:21-22.]; and was exemplified too under the legal dispensation, in almost as eminent a degree as even by the Apostles themselves [Note: 2Ch 28:15. Psa 35:12-14.]. There is this difference, indeed, that the exercise of such heavenly tempers was less frequent among the Jews, because few of them comparatively attained to any high degrees of piety: whereas, now that the Spirit is poured out more abundantly upon the Church, this is a common attainment, or rather, I should say, an universal attainment, amongst all who are truly converted unto God. Our blessed Lord set us the example, going as a lamb to the slaughter, and, as a sheep before her shearers, not opening his mouth, either in threatenings or complaints [Note: Isa 53:7. with 1Pe 2:21-23.]. Even in the agonies of crucifixion he prayed for his murderers [Note: Luk 23:34.], as Stephen also did in his dying moments [Note: Act 7:60.], and thousands of others also have done amidst the flames of martyrdom. This is our duty, even in such extreme cases as are here supposed; and consequently must be so in all cases of inferior moment.]

However difficult this duty may appear, we shall address ourselves cheerfully to the performance of it, if only we consider,

II.

The reasons for performing it

The Lords people are represented by the Apostle as a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that they should shew forth the praises (or virtues) of him that hath called them [Note: 1Pe 2:9.]. But how are they to answer this great end of their calling? It is very principally by attending to this duty. By their performance of it they are to mark,

1.

Their resemblance to God

[The whole race of mankind, with comparatively few exceptions, is up in arms against God. A very great proportion of them are bowing down to stocks and stones: and almost all, even of those who acknowledge the one true God, are yet denying him daily, and shewing their enmity to him by wicked works. But how does he requite them? Does he avail himself of his power to deprive them of every comfort, and to punish them all according to their deserts? No: with much long-suffering he endures all their provocations, notwithstanding they are vessels of wrath already fitted for destruction: he even loads them indiscriminately with all the bounties of his providence, making his sun to rise equally on the evil and on the good, and sending rain equally on the just and on the unjust. In like manner must we act towards those who injure us. We must bear with them, and do them good according to our ability: and it is by such conduct only that we can approve ourselves his children. Let us not, however, be misunderstood: it is not necessary that we should deal with such persons altogether as our friends: for even God himself does not do that: he comes to his own people in a more intimate manner, and sups with them, and makes his abode with them, and manifests himself unto them as he does not unto the world. Thus also may we do. There is a love of benevolence, a love of beneficence, and a love of complacency, if we may so speak: the two former must be exercised towards all: the last may fitly be reserved for those who alone possess the dispositions worthy of it. Such a preference God himself authorizes, when he says, Do good unto all men, but especially unto them who are of the household of faith [Note: Gal 6:10.].]

2.

Their superiority to an ungodly world

[God will not be satisfied with seeing his people live after the manner of the ungodly. To what purpose have they been redeemed, if they are to retain the same vain conversation which those around them follow? To what purpose have their eyes been opened to behold the wondrous things of Gods law, to what purpose have they been adopted into his family, and been filled with his Spirit, and been made heirs of his inheritance, if they are not to walk worthy of their high calling? Are their superior knowledge, obligations, prospects, and assistances, to have no practical influence upon their lives? The vilest of publicans and sinners will love and benefit their friends; and is this a standard for Gods redeemed people? No: they must love their enemies: else, What do they more than others? Surely, if we are no better than others in our dispositions and conduct, we shall be no better than they in our eternal destiny.]

That we may have a more complete view of this duty, let us inquire into,

III.

The extent to which it is to be performed

The law of God is at once the rule and measure of our duty

[The law is a perfect transcript of the mind and will of God. It was originally written upon the heart of man: and mans perfect conformity to it constituted that image of God in which he was created. To have these dispositions restored, and thereby to regain that image, is the object which we are taught to aspire after with incessant ardour. God has promised to his people that they shall be renewed after his image in righteousness and true holiness: and of that promise we must seek the full accomplishment. To dream of a conformity to Gods natural perfections, were folly and madness: we cannot possibly be omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent: but his moral perfections we may and must attain: nor ought we to be satisfied with any precise measure of them; we should never think we have attained any thing whilst any thing remains to be attained.]

To a perfect conformity to that law we must be ever pressing forward
[This was St. Pauls mind. After he had preached the Gospel for twenty years, and had attained an eminence of piety which probably none but the Lord Jesus Christ himself ever surpassed, he said, Not as though I had already attained, or were already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of God in Christ Jesus [Note: Php 3:12.]. Nor is this a pursuit proper for Apostles only; it is equally necessary for all. Now are we the sons of God, says St. John: and every one that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure [Note: 1Jn 3:2-3.]. In a word, the model for our imitation is God: nor must we ever stop, till we are holy as God is holy, and perfect even as our Father which is in heaven is perfect.]

We cannot contemplate this subject without noticing,

1.

What need we have of mercy at the hands of God

[Let us look back through our whole lives, and see how numberless have been our transgressions against this holy law; and let us look into our own hearts, and see what a proneness there is in us yet daily and hourly to transgress it. Who does not find, that, when injured and insulted, his heart is ready to rise against his adversary in a way of retaliation and invective? Who does not feel, that, without the divine assistance, he can no more maintain the exalted spirit here spoken of, than he can create a world? Let us then humble ourselves before God in dust and ashes. Let us acknowledge our desert of his heavy displeasure, and our need of pardon through the blood of Christ. Let us at the same time implore the assistance of his Holy Spirit, that we may be enabled to walk as Christ walked, and to exercise that kindness towards others which we desire and hope for when standing before his tribunal ]

2.

What encouragement we have to expect mercy at his hands

[Has God required us to love our enemies, even whilst they are manifesting towards us their enmity to the utmost of their power; and will not he himself shew mercy to us, when we lay down the weapons of our rebellion? Again; has he required of us such tempers as fruits of our conversion; and will he refuse us that grace which is necessary to produce them? Assuredly not. If he gives the bounties of his providence to his most inveterate enemies, he will surely give the blessings of his grace to his suppliant and repenting friends? Let not then a sense of past guilt appal us, or a sense of present weakness discourage us: but let us go boldly to the throne of Grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help us in the time of need.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

Was there ever such a refinement of the most perfect law of the LORD as is here drawn? And where shall we look for the fulfilment of it but in the Lord JESUS himself? He indeed, and He only, observed it in the fullest extent of it. And therefore the close of the chapter is express to the purpose with an eye to him. Be ye perfect; that is, in the perfection of JESUS, for there is no other way of finding perfection but in him. What men talk of respecting sincerity for perfection, is a fancy formed nowhere but in their own brain. But as the members of the body partake in all that belongs to the head, so the members of CHRIST’S body are considered perfect in him. And when JESUS saith be ye perfect, he wills what he commands; his biddings are enablings. Be ye perfect in me. Hence the answer by the Prophet; Surely in the Lord have I righteousness and strength: Or as the apostle renders it, perfect in CHRIST JESUS. Isa 45:24-25 ; Col 1:28 ; 1Co 1:30 .

REFLECTIONS

HAIL! thou Almighty Prophet of thy people, blessed LORD JESUS! We praise thee for thy gracious proclamation in the Mount. Oh! grant thy people to be poor in spirit, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom. Holy mourners we shall be when the Load hath convinced us of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. And Oh! for that meekness in JESUS, that hungering and thirsting for JESUS and his righteousness, as those who are conscious that they have neither in themselves, and seek all in the LORD. Defer not, O our God, to induce all those graces of thy Spirit in the hearts of all thy redeemed, that mercy they may learn from thee, purity of heart find in thee, and as children of God, may walk in peace and love, as CHRIST also hath loved us, and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to GOD for a sweet smelling savor. And to all the persecutions and revilings of life, be looking stedfastly to JESUS, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despised the shame, and is set down on the right hand of the Majesty on high I And grant dearest LORD, while learning under the influences of thy Holy Spirit, to mortify the deeds of the body that we may live. Oh! for grace to be living out of ourselves upon thee and thy fulness, and never to lose sight for a moment that thou art in our stead and law-room all that is here enjoined, and hast both magnified the law and made it honorable, and fulfilled the whole for us and our salvation. Yea! blessed JESUS! thou art the LORD our righteousness, and all thy people are righteous in thee. Amen.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

Ver. 43. Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy ] This latter they drew as an inference from the former, by the rule of contraries. But logic, being the rule of reason, which now is corrupt, is itself in some respects corrupt also. Sure we are, be it what logic it will, it is but carnal divinity. Suitable it is to our nature, but so much the more suspicious. The Pharisees taught it, and were applauded. The Papists also little better (for the Pharisees are fled and hid in the Papists, as one saith the ancient heretics are in the monks): they teach, that in two cases only we are bound to help our enemies-in the case of extremity and of scandal. For other things, to love them, to pray for them, or do them good in other cases, it is but a counsel our Saviour gives, and no commandment. If men can do it, it is well; but if they cannot, it is not required. Thus say they, but what saith Christ, the law maker, and so the truest interpreter thereof?

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

43 48. ] SIXTH EXAMPLE. The law of love and hatred .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

43. ] The Jews called all Gentiles indiscriminately ‘ enemies .’ In the Pharisaic interpretation therefore of the maxim (the latter part of which, although a gloss of the Rabbis, is a true representation of the spirit of the law, which was enacted for the Jews as a theocratic people), it would include the ‘odium humani generis’ with which the Jews were so often charged. But our Lord’s ‘ fulfilment ’ of neighbourly love extends it to all mankind not only foreign nations, but even those who are actively employed in cursing, reviling, and persecuting us; and the hating of enemies is, in His fulfilment of it, no longer an individual or national aversion, but a coming out and being separate from all that rebel against God.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Mat 5:43-48 . Sixth and final illustration: from the Law of Love . To an old partial form of the law Jesus opposes a new universal one.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Mat 5:43 . : said where, by whom, and about whom? The sentiment Jesus supposes His hearers to have heard is not found in so many words in the O. T. The first part, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour,” occurs in Lev 19:18 . The contrary of the second part is found in Exo 23:4 , where humanity towards the straying or overburdened beast of an enemy is enjoined. It is to be hoped that even the scribes did not in cold blood sin against the spirit of this precept by teaching men to love their private friends and hate their private enemies. Does then mean an Israelite, and a Gentile, and was the fault of the traditional law of love that it confined obligation within national limits? The context in Lev 19:18 gives . that sense: “Thou shalt not bear any grudge against the children of thy people”. On the other hand, the tendency of Israel’s election, and of certain texts ( vide Exo 23 , Deu 7 ), was to foster aversion to the outside nations, and from Ezra onwards the spirit of Judaism was one of increasing hostility towards the goyim vide Esther. The saying quoted by Jesus, if not an exact report of Rabbinical teaching, did no injustice to its general attitude. And the average Jew in this respect followed the guidance of his teachers, loving his own countrymen, regarding with racial and religious aversion those beyond the pale.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Matthew

THE LAW OF LOVE

Mat 5:43-48 .

The last of the five instances of our Lord’s extending and deepening and spiritualising the old law is also the climax of them. We may either call it the highest or the deepest, according to our point of view. His transfiguring touch invests all the commandments with which He has been dealing with new inwardness, sweep, and spirituality, and finally He proclaims the supreme, all-including commandment of universal love. ‘It hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour’-that comes from Lev 19:18 ; but where does ‘and hate thine enemy’ come from? Not from Scripture, but in the passage in Leviticus ‘neighbour’ is co-extensive with ‘children of thy people,’ and the hatred and contempt of all men outside Israel which grew upon the Jews found a foothold there. ‘Who is my neighbour?’ was apparently a well-discussed question in the schools of the Rabbis, and, whether any of these teachers ever committed themselves to plainly formulating the principle or not, practically the duty of love was restricted to a narrow circle, and the rest of the wide world left out in the cold. But not only was the circumference of love’s circle drawn in, but to hate an enemy was elevated almost into a duty. It is the worst form of retaliation. ‘An eye for an eye’ is bad enough, but hate for hate plunges men far deeper in the devil’s mire. To flash back from the mirror of the heart the hostile looks which are flung at us, is our natural impulse; but why should we always leave it to the other man to pitch the keynote of our relations with him? Why should we echo only his tones? Cannot we leave his discord to die into silence and reply to it by something more musical? Two thunder-clouds may cast lightnings at each other, but they waste themselves in the process. Better to shine meekly and victoriously on as the moon does on piled masses of darkness till it silvers them with its quiet light. So Jesus bids us do. We are to suppress the natural inclination to pay back in the enemy’s own coin, to ‘give him as good as he gave us,’ to ‘show proper spirit,’ and all the other fine phrases with which the world whitewashes hatred and revenge. We are not only to allow no stirring of malice in our feelings, but we are to let kindly emotions bear fruit in words blessing the cursers, and in deeds of goodness, and, highest of all, in prayers for those whose hate is bitterest, being founded on religion, and who are carrying it into action in persecution. We cannot hate a man if we pray for him; we cannot pray for him if we hate him. Our weakness often feels it so hard not to hate our enemies, that our only way to get strength to keep this highest, hardest commandment is to begin by trying to pray for the foe, and then we gradually feel the infernal fires dying down in our temper, and come to be able to meet his evil with good, and his curses with blessings. It is a difficult lesson that Jesus sets us. It is a blessed possibility that Jesus opens for us, that our kindly emotions towards men need not be at the mercy of theirs to us. It is a fair ideal that He paints, which, if Christians deliberately and continuously took it for their aim to realise, would revolutionise society, and make the fellowship of man with man a continual joy. Think of what any community, great or small, would be, if enmity were met by love only and always. Its fire would die for want of fuel. If the hater found no answering hate increasing his hate, he would often come to answer love with love. There is an old legend spread through many lands, which tells how a princess who had been changed by enchantment into a loathly serpent, was set free by being thrice kissed by a knight, who thereby won a fair bride with whom he lived in love and joy. The only way to change the serpent of hate into the fair form of a friend is to kiss it out of its enchantment.

No doubt, partial anticipations of this precept may be found, buried under much ethical rubbish, elsewhere than in the Sermon on the Mount, and more plainly in Old Testament teaching, and in Rabbinical sayings; but Christ’s ‘originality’ as a moral teacher lies not so much in the absolute novelty of His commandments, as in the perspective in which He sets them, and in the motives on which He bases them, and most of all in His being more than a teacher, namely, the Giver of power to fulfil what He enjoins. Christian ethics not merely recognises the duty of love to men, but sets it as the foundation of all other duties. It is root and trunk, all others are but the branches into which it ramifies. Christian ethics not merely recognises the duty, but takes a man by the hand, leads him up to his Father God, and says: There, that is your pattern, and a child who loves his Father will try to copy his ways and be made like Him by his love. So Morality passes into Religion, and through the transition receives power beyond its own. The perfection of worship is imitation, and when men ‘call Him Father’ whom they adore, imitation becomes the natural action of a child who loves.

A dew-drop and a planet are both spheres, moulded by the same law of gravitation. The tiny round of our little drops of love may be not all unlike the colossal completeness of that Love, which owns the sun as ‘His sun,’ and rays down light and distils rain over the broad world. God loves all men apart altogether from any regard to character, therefore He gives to all men all the good gifts that they can receive apart from character, and if evil men do not get His best gifts, it is not because He withholds, but because they cannot take. There are human love-gifts which cannot be bestowed on enemies or evil persons. It is not possible, nor fit, that a Christian should feel to such as he does to those who share his faith and sympathies; but it is possible, and therefore incumbent, that he should not only negatively clear his heart of malice and hatred, but that he should positively exercise such active beneficence as they will receive. That is God’s way, and it should be His children’s.

The thought of the divine pattern naturally brings up the contrast between it and that which goes by the name of love among men. Just because Christians are to take God as their example of love, they must transcend human examples. Here again Jesus strikes the note with which He began His teaching of His disciples’ ‘righteousness’; but very significantly He does not now point to Pharisees, but to publicans, as those who were to be surpassed. The former, no doubt, were models of ‘righteousness’ after a rigid, whitewashed-sepulchre sort, but the latter had bigger hearts, and, bad as they were and were reputed to be, they loved better than the others. Jesus is glad to see and point to even imperfect sparks of goodness in a justly condemned class. No doubt, publicans in their own homes, with wife and children round them, let their hearts out, and could be tender and gentle, however gruff and harsh in public. When Jesus says ‘ even the publicans,’ He is not speaking in contempt, but in recognition of the love that did find some soil to grow on, even in that rocky ground. But is not the bringing in of the ‘reward’ as a motive a woful downcome? and is love that loves for the sake of reward, love at all? The criticism and questions forget that the true motive has just been set forth, and that the thought of ‘reward’ comes in, only as secondary encouragement to a duty which is based upon another ground. To love because we shall gain something, either in this world or in the next, is not love but long-sighted selfishness; but to be helped in our endeavours to widen our love so as to take in all men, by the vision of the reward, is not selfishness but a legitimate strengthening of our weakness. Especially is that so, in view of the fact that ‘the reward’ contemplated is nothing else than the growth of likeness to the Father in heaven, and the increase of filial consciousness, and the clearer, deeper cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ If longing for, and having regard to, that ‘recompense of reward’ is selfishness, and if the teaching which permits it is immoral, may God send the world more of such selfishness and of teachers of it!

But the reference to the shrunken love-streams that flow among men passes again swiftly to the former thought of likeness to God as the great pattern. Like a bird glancing downwards for a moment to earth, and then up again and away into the blue, our Lord’s words re-soar, and settle at last by the throne of God. The command, ‘Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect,’ may be intended to refer only to the immediately preceding section, but one is inclined to regard it rather as the summing up of the whole of the preceding series of commandments from Mat 5:20 onwards. The sum of religion is to imitate the God whom we worship. The ideal which draws us to aim at its realisation must be absolutely perfect, however imperfect may be all our attempts to reproduce it. We sometimes hear it said that to set up perfection as our goal is to smite effort dead and to enthrone despair. But to set up an incomplete ideal is the surest way to take the heart out of effort after it. It is the Christian’s prerogative to have ever gleaming before him an unattained aim, to which he is progressively approximating, and which, unreached, beckons, feeds hope of endless approach, and guarantees immortality.

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat 5:43-48

43″You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’44But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Mat 5:43 The quote referred to by Jesus is a composite.

1. “You shall love your neighbor” is from Lev 19:18. Jesus seems to see this as a crucial text, even listed with the Ten Commandments in Mat 19:18-19. In Mar 12:31, it is the second greatest commandment after Deu 6:4-5, and in a similar way in Luk 10:25-28.

Paul uses this text as a summary of the entire Law in Rom 13:8-10.

2. “And hate your enemy” is not a quote from the OT, but a commonly drawn inference by Jewish, exclusivistic religionists (i.e., Sadducees, Pharisee, Essenes).

How different is the new Kingdom ethic from the fallen world model of ” self,” ” more for me at any cost,” ” what’s in it for me” ! Knowing God changes everything (cf. Mat 5:20; Mat 5:48)!

Mat 5:44 The KJV adds a phrase from Luk 6:27-28. It does not appear in ancient Greek uncial manuscripts or B or several other geographically separated early manuscripts.

In Mat 5:44 there are two present imperatives: ” keep on loving and praying” and one present participle, ” the one who keeps on persecuting.” These presents speak of ongoing commands both of loving and forgiving on the part of the believer as well as the possibility of ongoing persecution.

The Kingdom is radically different from the current world order!

Mat 5:45 “that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven” Believers’lifestyles clearly reveal whose family they belong to: God’s or Satan’s. Children act like their fathers (cf. Lev 19:2).

Mat 5:46-47 The actions of believers must go beyond the expected social acts of unbelievers. These verses contain two third class conditional sentences which implied probable future action.

Mat 5:46 “rewards” This was a recurrent theme in the Sermon on the Mount (cf. Mat 6:1-2; Mat 6:4; Mat 6:6). See Special Topic at Mat 5:12.

Mat 5:48

NASB”you are to be perfect,”

NKJV”you shall be perfect”

NRSV”be perfect”

TEV, NJB”you must be perfect”

This is an allusion to Lev 11:44-45; Lev 19:2; Lev 20:7; Lev 20:26. This term literally meant “mature” or “fully equipped.” This is a strong statement that God’s ultimate standard of righteousness is Himself (cf. Deu 18:13). Humans cannot achieve perfection except in Christ (cf. 2Co 5:21). However, believers must strive for it in their daily lives. There must be a theological balance between (1) salvation being accepted as a free gift of God through Christ, which is called positional sanctification and (2) striving toward Christlikeness, which is called progressive sanctification.

Some interpreters see this verse as a summary of the immediate paragraph only. If so, it would focus on the inclusive love of God that His children should emulate.

SPECIAL TOPIC: NEW TESTAMENT HOLINESS/SANCTIFICATION

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

THE LAW OF LOVE. it hath been said = it was said. Quoted from Lev 19:18.

thine enemy = thy foe. Personal, political, or religious.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

43-48.] SIXTH EXAMPLE. The law of love and hatred.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Mat 5:43. Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.

In this case a command of Scripture had a human antithesis fitted on to it by depraved minds and this human addition was mischievous. This is a common method, to append to the teaching of Scripture a something which seems to grow out of it, or to be a natural inference from it, which something may be false and wicked. This is a sad crime against the Word of the Lord. The Holy Spirit will only father his own words. He owns the precept, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, but he hates the parasitical growth of hate thine enemy. This last sentence is destructive of that out of which it appears legitimately to grow, since those who are here styled enemies are, in fact, neighbors. Love is now the universal law; and our King, who has commanded it, is himself the pattern of it. He will not see it narrowed down, and placed in a setting of hate. May grace prevent any of us from falling into this error!

Mat 5:44-45. 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; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Ours it is to persist in loving, even if men persist in enmity. We are to render blessing for cursing, prayers for persecutions. Even in the cases of cruel enemies, we are to do good to them, and pray for them. We are no longer enemies to any, but friends to all. We do not merely cease to hate, and then abide in a cold neutrality, but we love where hatred seemed inevitable. We bless where our old nature bids us curse, and we are active in doing good to those who deserve to receive evil from us. Where this is practically carried out, men wonder, respect, and admire the followers of Jesus. The theory may be ridiculed, but the practice is reverenced, and is counted so surprising that men attribute it to some Godlike quality in Christians, and own that they are the children of the Father who is in heaven. Indeed, he is a child of God who can bless the unthankful and the evil; for in daily providence the Lord is doing this on a great scale, and none but his children will imitate him. To do good for the sake of the good done, and not because of the character of the person benefited, is a noble imitation of God. If the Lord only sent the fertilizing shower upon the land of the saintly, drought would deprive whole leagues of land of all hope of a harvest. We also must do good to the evil, or we shall have a narrow sphere, our hearts will grow contracted, and our sonship towards the good God will be rendered doubtful.

Mat 5:46. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

Any common sort of man will love those who love him; even tax gatherers and the scum of the earth can rise to this poor, starveling virtue. Saints cannot be content with such a groveling style of things. Love for love is manlike, but love for hate is Christlike. Shall we not desire to act up to our high calling?

Mat 5:47. And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

On a journey, or in the streets, or in the house, we are not to confine our friendly greetings to those who are near and dear to us. Courtesy should be wide, and none the less sincere because general. We should speak kindly to all, and treat every man as a brother. Anyone will shake hands with an old friend, but we are to be cordially courteous towards every being in the form of man. If not, we shall reach no higher level than mere outcasts. Even a dog will salute a dog.

Mat 5:48. Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

Or, Ye shall be perfect. We should reach after completeness in love, fullness of love to all around us. Love is the bond of perfectness; and if we have perfect love, it will form in us a perfect character. Here is that which we aim at, perfection like that of God; here is the manner of obtaining it, namely, by abounding in love; and this suggests the question of how far we have proceeded in this heavenly direction, and also the reason why we should persevere in it even to the end, because as children we ought to resemble our Father. Scriptural perfection is attainable, it dies rather in proportion than in degree. A mans character may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing; and yet such a man will be the very first to admit that the grace which is in him is at best in its infancy, and though perfect as a child in all its parts, it has not yet attained to the perfection of full-grown manhood. What a mark is set before us by our Perfect King, who, speaking from his mountain-throne, saith, Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect! Lord, give what thou dost command; then both the grace and the glory will be thine alone.

This exposition consisted of readings from Mat 5:43-48; and Mat 6:1-4.

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Mat 5:43. , Thy neighbour) Gataker[227] in his Adversaria miscellanea posthuma, ch. 10. f. 527, remarks, that in Sophocles and Aristotle, all men are indiscriminately called [228]- ,[229] thou shalt hate thine enemy) The Jews abused the precept which had been given in reference to certain accursed nations, as in Deu 23:7; for they had also been commanded to love even their enemies. Christopher Cartwright[230] cites decrees of the Jews concerning the hatred of enemies.-See Book 2; Mellif. Heb. ch. 1.

[227] Thomas Gataker was born in London 1574; became Preacher of Lincolns Inn in 1601, Rector of Rotherhithe 1611, and died 1654. He was one of the most learned theologians of his time. He subscribed the Covenant, but declared in favour of Episcopacy, and during the Commonwealth preferred the Presbyterians to the Independents. His works are many and various.-(I. B.)

[228] i.e. neighbours.-(I. B.)

[229] A most vile gloss.-B. G. V.

[230] Christopher Cartwright, a learned English divine; born 1602; died 1658. The work here cited is Mellificium Hebraicum, sive observationes ex Hebrorum antiquiorum monumentis desumpt.-(I. B.)

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Mat 5:43-48

10. THE PRINCIPLE OF LOVE

Mat 5:43-48

43, 44 Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy.-Again Jesus refers to another section of the law of Moses; he does not combat what the law taught, but their interpretation and application of it. The Old Testament in many places did teach abhorrence of heathen character and heathen habits (Deu 7:1-2; Deu 7:16; Deu 7:23-26; Deu 12:27; Deu 12:32; Jos 23:12-13; Psa 139:21-22); and the law of love as revealed in the Old Testament had an appearance of being confined to the Israelites (Lev 19:17-18; Deu 23:3-6) but God has never taught his children to hate each other or to hate any one else. They are taught to hate sin and every evil way, but they are not to hate the sinner. The Jews made no distinction between the sinner and his sin; they interpreted God’s abhorrence for idolatry and wicked ways as an abhorrence of the people. Jesus here enlarges upon the principle of love.

“Neighbor” is another word to which the New Testament has given a broader and deeper meaning; literally it means the one near (neighbor equals “nighbor”), indicating a mere outward nearness of proximity; in this sense a neighbor might be an enemy. The Old Testament meaning covers national or tribal fellowship, and in this sense Jesus gave the quotation here. The Christian sense is expounded by Jesus in the parable of the Good Samaritan and includes the whole brotherhood of man, as founded in love for man. (Luk 10:29-37.) The law of Moses taught love for the neighbor, but it did not teach them to hate their enemy, but on the contrary it taught, “Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart . . . Thou shalt not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people; but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” (Lev 19:17-18.)

But I say unto you, Love your enemies.-Jesus again puts his teaching in contrast with their perverted interpretation and practice of this principle. Jesus emphasizes that love has a much broader application than they were making of it; they “loved their neighbor,” but “hated their enemies” , Jesus teaches now that they are to “love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you.” The disciples of Jesus are to love those who personally hate, curse and despise them; they are to do this because it is enjoined by the great principle of love. We are to love with a love of benevolence even our enemies; we may thus love our most deadly foes, those whom we cannot love with any affection of gratitude or esteem. To love is to do good; it is to seek the highest good and welfare of others; in this sense we can love our enemies. Again Jesus’ life illustrates the principle of love; he sought the highest good even of his enemies, and prayed for them while they were crucifying him.

45 That ye may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.- The principle of love helps to make the disciples of Jesus lovable; it helps to make them like Jesus; hence it makes them indeed sons of God. God makes no distinction so far as his benevolence is concerned; he “maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good”; he makes no distinction, for he “sendeth rain on the just and the unjust.” As God first created the sun to shine upon the earth, so he still controls it; it shines upon the good and the bad with the same glory and warmth; his rain falls on the just and the unjust with no distinction; if we would imitate God, we must bless those that curse us and do good to them that would injure us. To be Godlike is to do as God does, and since he makes no distinction with his material and physical blessings, neither should we when it comes to doing good. God loves all regardless of their attitude toward him; however there is a special sense in which he loves those who adjust their lives to his will. Jesus, here in enforcing the principle of love, refers his disciples to the example of his Father, in order to show the nature and universality of the principle of love.

46 For if ye love them that love you, what reward have ye? -What reward have those whose love goes no further than to love those who love them? This would be only a reciprocal love and would be from its very nature selfish; but to extend love to those who do not love us makes us Godlike. “The publicans” love those who love them, and if the disciples of Jesus only love those who love them, they are no better than the publicans. “Publican” is a Latin word and designates those who hired themselves to the Roman government to collect taxes for it. The publican was odious in the sight of the Jew; Jews aid not like to pay taxes to the Roman government, and any Jew who would hire himself to the Roman government to collect taxes from Jews was a wicked wretch in the sight of the Jew. With this conception of the publican, Jesus says that if his disciples do not take the general principle of love and let it have it have its broad application, they are no better than the publican.

47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others?-The Greek word for “salute” here may mean “embrace,” say some; it is a word which expresses a strong degree of kind feelings. Jews did not salute Gentiles as a rule; the oriental custom of salutation or greeting was to lay the right hand on the breast and bow the body low; to persons of great rank they would bow nearly to the ground and kiss the hem of their garment, and sometimes the feet and the knees. Jews would not salute Gentiles, except occasionally for policy’s sake. The principle of love as laid down by Jesus causes one to go beyond merely saluting those who salute them; it forces one to salute every one without prejudice or distinction. It is another way of saying that his disciples must regard the principle of love as being universal. “Gentile” means any one who was not a Jew or a proselyte to the Jewish religion; they were regarded by the Jew as being beneath salutation.

48 Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.-The “ye” here is emphatic and means the disciples of Jesus in contrast with publicans and Gentiles. “Therefore” introduces the deduction that Jesus himself has made from that which precedes; the universal principle of love only can make one perfect as God is perfect. The term rendered “perfect” is used in a variety of connections, and its precise meaning must always be determined by the context; sometimes it simply means “complete” without any moral element (Heb 9:11), and in other instances it means complete in growth of body or mind, “fullgrown” (1Co 14:20; Eph 4:13; Heb 5:14; Heb 5:6; Hebrews 1). Again it may mean complete morally. (Mat 19:21; Col 1:28; Col 4:12 Jas 1:4; Jas 1:25; Jas 3:2.) There are scriptures in which it seems to mean complete in both knowledge and moral excellence. (Php 3:15.) “Perfect” does not mean “sinless”; when Christians love their enemies, even those who revile and curse them, it is a long step toward perfection. When God’s children love their enemies and bless those who curse them as God does and because he does, they are perfect in their sphere even as their Father is in his, which standard is the highest possible standard of perfection. The meaning that Jesus gives to the principle of love is that his disciples are to let their love be universal, unconfined by partialities, and with respect to its objects as large as God’s; not that their love, either to enemies or friends, can be supposed in other respects to be in proportion to the divine love.

[These teachings of Jesus were to make his disciples pure, holy, true, doers of good “that ye may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” What it took to make them good, it takes to make us good. There is no reason we should not be required to seek as high standard of holiness as was required of these early Christians. All effort to set aside one or another moral requirement as not applicable to us is derogatory to the authority and integrity of the Bible.]

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Thou: Mat 19:19, Mat 22:39, Mat 22:40, Lev 19:18, Mar 12:31-34, Luk 10:27-29, Rom 13:8-10, Gal 5:13, Gal 5:14, Jam 2:8

and hate: Exo 17:14-16, Deu 23:6, Deu 25:17, Psa 41:10, Psa 139:21, Psa 139:22

Reciprocal: Lev 19:34 – General Deu 4:2 – General Job 31:30 – have Mal 2:9 – but Mat 5:21 – it Luk 6:27 – Love Luk 10:29 – And Luk 10:34 – went Gal 6:10 – do good 1Jo 2:7 – but

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

The Sermon on the Mount (Continued)

Mat 5:43-48; Mat 6:1-15

INTRODUCTORY WORDS

I. A FOURFOLD COMMAND

1. “Love your enemies.” The whole world loves those who love them. That is only natural. But the Lord asks us to go a step farther. He wants us to be better than the world. He wants us to actually love our enemies. Many people try to evade this command by saying that it is not for today. Of course this Scripture is applicable directly to the Kingdom age, but if it is for today, as well as for tomorrow God’s people should practice this perfect standard today.

After all, did not Christ love us all while we were yet in sin, and die that we might be saved? Does He not want all men to be saved? Has He not intrusted us with the preaching of the Gospel to the lost? Can we ever win men, until we have first learned to love them?

After all, if we can love our enemies, they will soon love us, and love our Lord; and we will have no enemies. If we have enemies it is our fault. We have not loved them enough.

2. “Bless them that curse you.” The natural man immediately seeks to cast slander upon the man who curses him. He wishes to get even. He seeks for vengeance. One curse, with them, brings another curse. They forget that “a soft answer turneth away wrath.” There would be no wars, if nations would bless when they are cursed. There would be no hatred, if men would bless when cursed. After all, can men hurt you by cursing you? No. Only God can curse a man. Therefore if a man curses you, remind yourself that he can do you no lasting harm by cursing you. He is merely uncovering the hatred of his heart toward you. You are merely reminded that you have an enemy to win as a friend. Bless him. Speak kindly to him, and of him. Love your enemy. “A soft answer turneth away wrath.”

3. “Do good to them that hate you.” Two farmers who lived on adjoining farms quarreled continuously, until they actually hated one another. They did all that they could to cause trouble, one for the other. One of them went so far as to deliberately turn his cows loose into his neighbor’s truck garden. He was fined, time and again, and gladly paid for the damage done simply because of the satisfaction it gave him to see his neighbor’s farm damaged.

The one farmer was saved and began to show kindness to this atheist who hated him so much. One day when the cows were turned into his truck garden, he carefully herded them and took them home, putting them in their barn. He proceeded to water and feed them. He then told the atheist that he had returned his cows for him. The atheist pulled out his check book to write out a check, but the Christian refused to accept it. He had returned good for evil and refused to even demand damages or accept them. The atheist said, “You must take this check or else you will compel me to become a Christian.” “Do good to them that hate you.” They will soon love you. They will soon love your Christ.

4. “Pray for them which despitefully use you.” Pray for their souls. Men who spitefully use you need to know God. They need to know more of God’s love. They would not do what they do if they were saved, and living close to the Saviour. Only carnal Christians spitefully use a brother. Then they need your help in prayer. Do not sin against them in failing to pray for them. They will never be different until you pray for them.

II. THE REASON FOR THE COMMAND

1. Like father like son. Does not our Heavenly Father cause the rain to fall both upon the good and the bad? “When the infidel curses God, our Father is too big to try to retaliate. He continues to shower good upon the evil one in hope that he might repent and be saved. If our Heavenly Father sets such an example of love, how can we do otherwise?

2. A reward in Heaven is offered unto those who show kindness in return for evil. If we should try to retaliate, and give vengeance, we cannot really give it, as it is deserved. “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” The Lord “will repay” in a way in which we cannot. There is a time of judgment coming and God will seek vengeance upon those who have wronged us. At the judgment seat the Lord will reward and make good any damage we have suffered.

3. A long way to perfection. Perfection, as it is used here, means “full growth.” But how many of us there are who act like little babies, little infants. We cry and squeal fuss and fight, fume and sputter, as if we were but children. Babies taking bottles! Let us grow until we are full-grown, too big to be ruffled by the trials of life.

I. GIVING ALMS (Mat 6:1-3)

1. Not to be seen of men. What is the motive of your gift when you bring your tithes to the House of God? Are you giving because you love the Lord? Are you giving because God’s Word commands it? Are you giving as a steward of the Lord’s funds, for which you are accountable?

It is a known fact that the church that takes up their offering in a way in which the public is cognizant of the amounts given, and the donors who give, that that church receives more funds than they would otherwise. Is not this a confession that we do not give out of love for the Lord Jesus Christ and His Gospel, when such methods are necessary?

When we are filled with the love of Christ for the lost, when we once catch a vision of the gift of Calvary in all its fullness and sacrifice, we will give because our love for the Saviour compels us to do so.

2. Not sounding a trumpet. In the day of Christ wealthy men gave in the synagogues, in order that their names might be proclaimed in the markets and in the Temple. They wanted to be recognized as great philanthropists. Not only did they have a wrong motive; they had a wrong objective. They appeared to be giving to the poor, while, in reality, they were giving to buy popularity for themselves. When you give, give to pay a debt to the lost. Give to lay up treasures in Heaven. Give to the Lord as a token of your worship.

3. But in secret. If our gifts are given in secret then we may safeguard ourselves against false motives, and false objectives. Many people use this method of giving as an excuse to escape giving. They give the Lord, secretly, a dime, knowing that if they gave publicly they would have given a dollar. Let us not do that, but instead let us give in secret more than we would have given otherwise, that Christ may be glorified.

II. PRAYING (Mat 6:5-7)

1. Not to men. Prayer is talking with God. It includes not only our talking to Him, but also His talking to us through the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. Many, many times, however, men pray to men rather than to God. “Was not that a beautiful prayer?” is the remark we often hear. Prayers that are prayed for the sake of their beauty in the ears of men do not reach God.

How often men pray a sermon. God knows more about the Bible than you do. When you pray a sermon, surely you are not talking to God but to men.

2. Not with vain repetition. The heathen pray in vain repetition. Some pray a prayer that has been written out. They read it, but do not mean what they read. It is vain repetition. Still others say grace daily out of force of habit, or pray before retiring at night, merely repeating words, but not meaning or even so much as comprehending what they are saying. It is vain repetition. They pray for food when their cellars and pantries are full. This prayer was given as a model with strict instructions that it should not be prayed in vain repetition.

3. But in secret to the Father. Public prayer is a good thing of course. But the public is no place for long prayers. There is always the temptation to pray to men, rather than with men to God. The secret closet is the true place for prayer. Public prayer is not enough. We need to pray in a united body. There is power in united prayer, but the secret prayer closet is the place where we uncover the innermost secrets and problems of our hearts.

The secret prayer must not be neglected nor overlooked. Be sure that you spend much time alone with God every day, for the sake of fellowship; and also that you might uncover those things that otherwise would never be brought before the Lord in public.

III. A MANNER OF PRAYING (Mat 6:9-11)

1. Hallowing God’s Name. In the model prayer the Lord Jesus Christ set down in order the topics that should be the theme of our conversation with God. The first thing that we should observe in our conversation with our Heavenly Father is a reverence for His Name and Person. We cannot enter into His presence until we have first removed our shoes from our feet, as did Moses before the burning bush. In approaching the Father, we approach Him, through the Blood of Christ, in all reverence. If we truly revere His Name, we truly love Him.

How many of us limit our prayers to asking God for our temporal needs. Sad to say, some people never pray until they are in need. Before you discuss yourself and your own needs and the needs of this earth, be sure to tell the Father that you love Him. He likes to be loved and revered. He appreciates your reverence and passion for Him.

2. For the coming Kingdom. More important than the things and problems of earth are the problems of the spiritual realm. The one thing that Christ talked most about after His resurrection, was the Kingdom. He wore a crown of thorns that He might reign. The Kingdom is of vital interest to the King. Then in our conversation with God let us talk to Him about His chief interest, of which we are a part. Invite the King to take His Kingdom.

3. After we have prayed to the Father about that which is of foremost interest in His life, then it is time enough to present that which is most important in our temporal welfare, namely, our personal needs. The Father causes the wheat to grow. Then why not ask the Father for bread, and thank Him for it. The Lord wants us to ask Him for our needs and has definitely promised to supply all our needs. Certainly bread is a primary need.

IV. A MANNER OF PRAYER (Mat 6:12-13)

1. Prayer for forgiveness demands that we forgive. How can we ask to be forgiven, when we do not forgive? After we have taken Christ as our personal Saviour, and have become the sons of God, we will never be judged as sinners. Our sins are forgiven. But as sons of God, we are punished as children for our sins. Therefore we need to be forgiven when we do evil, lest our Father punish His wayward child. There are times when we all need to be forgiven, therefore, we need to ask forgiveness.

Read the parable of Mat 18:21-35. The lesson there is this: If we do not forgive, our Father will not forgive us as His children; and will punish us. “Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth” (Heb 12:5-11).

2. Paying for deliverance. The word temptation here means “trial” or “testing.” It undoubtedly has a particular reference to the Great Tribulation that is about to come upon this earth. But every day there are temptations which we face. The Lord does not permit us to enter into any temptation beyond that which we can withstand. Our testings are our purifying stones. Satan is only the pumice stone with which the Lord polishes His saints. Let us thank God for our troubles, and at the same time pray that we might live so close to the Lord that we will not have to be purified by the fires of trial.

3. Praying with adoration. The theme song of our lives should be the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we begin our prayer with reverence, let us close it with adoration. That Christ might be first and last always. Never close a prayer until you have expressed your love and appreciation as well as adoration for all that the Lord has done for us.

V. FASTING (Mat 6:16-18)

1. The bane of affected piety. Fasting was practiced as a means of expressing the deep distress of the hitman heart before God in prayer. It was sacrificial praying. Many of the people in that day fasted that they might appear to be very pious in the eyes of the people. They wanted others to think that they were religious and deeply spiritual.

The whited sepulcher on the outside, makes people forget the terrible corruption within. Christians, today, seldom fast to cover up the true condition of their sinful lives and hearts. However, they use other methods, such as taking active positions in churches and Sunday Schools. They make loud their testimonies in meetings that people might not suspect their evil deeds and hearts.

2. The sham of mere appearance. Mere appearance is no guarantee of genuineness. All that sparkles is not a diamond. Friendly words do not make a friendly heart. A wise person will not be deceived. Words do not make character. A Sunday cloak will not make a good Christian. Let your life be an open book before God, and pleasing to Him, and men will approve.

3. The test of the genuine. An inexperienced eye may be deceived into thinking that a piece of glass, cut as a diamond is cut, is a genuine diamond; but the trained eye will immediately detect the difference. Human eyes may be deceived by outward appearances, but never will God’s expert eye be deceived. You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time but you cannot fool God any of the time.

VI. LAYING UP TREASURES (Mat 6:19-21)

1. Earthly treasure. “The stocks have crashed!” That was the cry that rang through the nation one day. “The banks have closed!” was the cry that followed. “I have been robbed,” was the cry of others. Will people never learn that the things on this earth are only a passing mirage? We cannot pin our hopes and lives on dreams of air castles that crumble. Do not feel badly if you have lost earthly possessions. You will soon leave them all behind, when you go to Heaven. “The present world” for which Demas forsook Paul has long since fallen into ashes. Nothing is lasting on this earth. The entire earth will eventually flee away and be melted with a fervent heat. Do not invest your life and hopes down here. It is not a safe place to make an investment.

2. Heavenly treasures. A man in Germany shed tears because he had owned six homes and refused to give them to God. He gave only one to God. Within a few days the crash came and he lost the other five. The one he gave to missions is an everlasting investment in Heaven where thieves do not break through and where the wood will not deteriorate.

The rich young ruler was foolish. He turned away from Christ and retained his wealth for a few days. Today he owns nothing. Had he been poor then, he would have fabulous wealth in Heaven for eternity. Christ said the foxes have their holes, and the birds their nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head. Yet Christ owns the universe!

3. Feeling the pulse. We generally give to that which interests us. Likewise, our interests generally center about that upon which we have invested our riches. The man who reads the stock reports is the man who has invested in stocks. The man who gives to Heaven is interested in Heaven. The man who gives to Heaven is the man who is living for “Heaven.

If we live for earthly investments our eye will not be on Christ but on our money. It will not be singled on the Lord. Make all you can but do not “can” all you make. Work for God.

VII. THE FATHER CARETH (Mat 6:25-33)

1. Be without anxious thought. The man who worries does not trust. You cannot live a life of faith and worry at the same time. That is not trusting God. The life of faith is the best life. Worry never helped anybody. Worry never paid a bill. Worry never solved a problem. But worry has placed many a person in the cemetery, and made many others sick.

Trust instead of worrying. You will be happier. You need not worry because your Heavenly Father has never failed you, and never will. He knows what is best for your life and for you. You should be content to take it as it comes and thank Him for it, whether it be seemingly good or bad (Rom 8:28).

2. Take for example the fowls of the air. Their food is sufficient. Their clothing is gorgeous. The Heavenly Father cares for them. Did you ever see a dog worrying? No. Let us learn a lesson from God’s creation.

3. The supreme quest. “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Whenever we see anyone in need we cannot help but feel that they have not learned the secret of prayer and faith. For our God is “Able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.” If only people would learn to love the Lord, and to know Him they would find the answer to every need in life. And whether we have earthly things or not, if we have Christ, Himself, we have the supreme need of our souls. When His Kingdom is established after His Coming, they will neither hunger nor thirst.

AN ILLUSTRATION

How many there are, alas, who have no eyes to see the great spiritual truths of the “Sermon on the Mount.”

“Alas, how often we come upon those who say they can see nothing in the Christian’s Bible nor in the Christian religion. But neither the Bible nor the Christian religion is on trial today before such individuals after twenty centuries of triumphant history, during which the swelling chorus of numberless souls has lent testimony to the power of the Gospel as found in the one and to the satisfying worth of Christian experience as lived in the other. If one can see nothing in these things, there is a reason.

“When a man stood before one of Turner’s unrivaled paintings and said, ‘I can see nothing in it,’ the great artist replied, ‘Don’t you wish you could?’

“Yes, there is a reason.

“There went one day into the famous Tribuna of the Uffizi Gallery of Art at Florence a tourist armed with his Guidebook that gave him at least an air of discernment. He went up to the Curator and said, ” ‘Are these your masterpieces?’

“‘They are, Sir,’ said the Curator.

“‘Well, I certainly do not see much in them myself,’ said the tourist.

“‘Sir,’ replied the Curator, ‘these pictures are not on trial; it is the visitors who are on trial.'”-(Unknown.)

Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water

5:43

The passages that were cited for the saying in this verse are Lev 19:18 and Deu 23:6. Jesus is still on the line of contrasts between his teaching and the old, and that introduces the subject of love which has caused some difficulty with students of the Bible. They think that Christians are required to have love in cases where it seems impossible. The difficulty lies in not understanding that the English word love comes from two words in the Greek New Testament which have different meanings. I shall give the information gleaned from the lexicons and the reader should make note of it for reference.

One of the Greek words in verb form is AGAPAO, and it is defined in part as follows: “To love, to be full of goodwill and exhibit the same: Luk 7:47; 1Jn 4:7; with accusative [objective] of a person, to have a preference for, wish well to, regard the welfare of: Mat 5:43; Mat 19:19; Luk 7:5; Joh 11:5; Rom 13:8; 2Co 11:11; 2Co 12:15; Gal 5:14; Eph 5:25; Eph 5:28; 1Pe 1:22, and elsewhere; often in the epistle of John of the love of Christians towards one another; of the benevolence which God, in providing salvation for men, has exhibited by sending his Son to them and giving him up to death, Joh 3:16; Rom 8:37; 2Th 2:16; 1Jn 4:11 . . . of the love which led Christ, in procuring human salvation to undergo sufferings and death, Gal 2:20; Eph 5:2; of the love which God has for Christ, Joh 3:35; Joh 10:17; Joh 15:9; Ephe-sians 1:6. When used of love to a master, God or Christ, the word involves the idea of affectionate obedience, grateful recognition of benefits received: Mat 6:24; Mat 22:37; Rom 8:28; 1Co 2:9; 1Co 8:3; Jas 1:12; 1Pe 1:8; 1Jn 4:10; 1Jn 4:20, and elsewhere. With an accusative [objective] of a thing AGAPAO denotes to take pleasure in the thing, prize it above other things, be unwilling to abandon it or do without it; . . . to welcome with desire, long for; 2Ti 4:8.”–Thayer. “To love (in a social or moral sense).”–Strong. In the noun form it is from AGAPE and defined in part as follows: “a purely biblical word. . . . In signification it follows the verb AGAPAO; consequently it denotes 1. affection, good-will, love, be nevolence: Joh 15:13; Rom 13:10; 1Jn 4:18. Of the love of men to men; especially of that love of Christians toward Christians which is enjoined and prompted by their religion, whether the love be viewed as in the soul or as expressed; Mat 24:12, 1Co 13:4-8; 2Co 2:4; Gal 5:6; Phm 1:5; Phm 1:7; 1Ti 1:5; Heb 6:10; Heb 10:24; Joh 13:35; 1Jn 4:7; Rev 2:4; Rev 2:19, etc. Of the love of men towards God; . . . of the love of God towards Christ; Joh 15:10; Joh 17:26. Of the love of Christ towards men: Joh 15:9; 2Co 5:14; Rom 8:35;Eph 3:19.

2. Plural AGAPAI, agapae, love-feasts, feasts expressing and fostering mutual love which used to be held by the Christians before the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, at which the poorer Christians mingled with the wealthier and partook in common with the rest of food provided at the expense of the wealthy: Jud 1:12.” Thayer. “From AGAPAO; love, i. e. affection or benevolence; specifically (plural) a love-feast.”–Strong. The other word for love is PHILEO, a verb, and is defined in part as follows: “1. To love; be friendly to one, Mat 10:37; Joh 5:20; Joh 11:3; Joh 11:36; Joh 15:19; Joh 16:27; Joh 20:2; Joh 21:15-17; 1Co 16:22; Rev 3:19; . . . to love, i. e. delight in, long for, a thing . . . to love to do with pleasure:3. As to the distinction between AGAPAN and PHILEIN: the former by virtue of its connection with AGAMAI, properly denotes a love founded in admiration, veneration, esteem, like the Latin diligere, to be kindly disposed to one, wish one well: but PHILEIN denotes an inclination prompted by sense and emotion, . . . Hence men are said AGAPAN God, not PHILEIN; and God is said AGAPESAI TON KOSMON (Joh 3:16), and PHILEIN the disciples of Christ (Joh 16:27); Christ bids us AGAPAN (not PHILEIN) TOUS ECHTHROUS (Mat 5:44), because love as an emotion cannot be commanded, but only love as a choice . . . As a further aid in judging of the difference between the two words compare the following passages: Joh 11:5; Joh 11:36; Joh 21:15-17 . . . From what has been said, it is evident that AGAPAN is not, and cannot be, used of sexual love.”–Thayer. “To be a friend to (denoting personal attachment, as a matter of sentiment or feeling: while AGAPAO is wider, embracing especially the judgment and the deliberate assent of the will as a matter of principle, duty and propriety).”–Strong.

These definitions are somewhat detailed, and for the convenience of the reader, I shall condense the two and the information of the lexicons will be the authority for the statements. One word means that sentiment of feeling such as a man will have for his wife or other close friend. The other is that feeling of interest that a man can have in another’s welfare that would prompt him to try to save him if possible, regardless of his unpleasant disposition that might naturally provoke a feeling of dislike.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

[Thou shalt hate thine enemy.] Here those poisonous canons might be produced, whereby they are trained up in eternal hatred against the Gentiles, and against Israelites themselves, who do not, in every respect, walk with them in the same traditions and rites. Let this one example be instead of very many, which are to be met with everywhere: “The heretical Israelites, that is, they of Israel that worship idols, or who transgress, to provoke God: also Epicurean Israelites, that is, Israelites who deny the law and the prophets, are by precept to be slain, if any can slay them, and that openly; but if not openly, you may compass their death secretly, and by subtilty.” And a little after (O! the extreme charity of the Jews towards the Gentiles); “But as to the Gentiles, with whom we have no war, and likewise to the shepherds of smaller cattle, and others of that sort, they do not so plot their death; but it is forbidden them to deliver them from death if they are in danger of it.” For instance; “A Jew sees one of them fallen into the sea; let him by no means lift him out thence: for it is written, ‘Thou shalt not rise up against the blood of thy neighbour’: but this is not thy neighbour.” And further; “An Israelite, who alone sees another Israelite transgressing, and admonisheth him, if he repents not, is bound to hate him.”

Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels

Mat 5:43. Thou shalt love thy neighbour. (See Lev 19:18). The original precept referred to Israelites, and obedience to it helped to keep them distinct from other nations. But the Pharisees, to increase the distance between the Jews and Gentiles, added the converse precept: and hate thine enemy, meaning by enemy the Gentiles (comp. Deu 23:6). Latin authors speak of this as a distinctive feature of the Jewish character. Personal hatred also was probably justified by this assumed meaning of the words of Moses. Our Lord (a light to lighten the Gentiles) opposes this interpretation. Separatism was necessary to preserve the Jews from heathen influence, but this addition was contrary to prophecy and to the purpose of God in sending the Messiah. (Whom He meant by neighbor, we learn from Luk 10:27 ff.)

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Another corrupt gloss which the Pharisees had put upon the law of God, our Saviour here takes notice of: the law said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, Lev 19:18. This they interpreted to relate only to their own countrymen, the Jews; concluding, that they might hate all the uncircumcised nations, as enemies; but, saith our Saviour, I require you to love all men; for if enemies must not be shut out of your love, none must.

Love your enemies: here the inward affection is required.

Bless them that curse you; there outward civility, and affability is required.

Do good to them that hate you; here real acts of our bitters and most malicious enemies.

Pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you: these are the highest expressions of enmity that can be, calumny and cruelty; yet are we commanded to pray for those that touch us in these two tenderest points, our reputation and sincere affection towards our most malicious enemies; to be ready upon all occasions to do good unto them, and pray for them.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Mat 5:43. Ye have heard that it hath been said In this, as is in the former instances, our Lord, intending to comprehend not only the law itself, but the explications of it given by the Jewish doctors, and said to be derived by tradition from the mouth of Moses, does not say, Ye know, but, Ye have heard, that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy God enjoined the former part of this precept, Lev 19:18, and the scribes added the latter, abusing, it seems, the commands for destroying the Canaanites, to countenance such an addition, though this was in direct contradiction to many other scriptures. See Exo 24:4-5; Lev 19:17; Pro 25:21. But I say unto you, Love your enemies To the narrow charity of the Jews, confined to their own brethren and men of their own religion, Christ here opposes his admirable precept, enjoining us, if we would be his genuine disciples, to love even our enemies; and that, by showing a sincere affection and good will to them who bear enmity or ill will to us; by manifesting our beneficence to them who, by their actions, show their hatred to us; by doing good to them for evil; by blessing them who with their mouths curse us; and by praying for Gods blessing upon them who revile and persecute us, as his followers. And this love he recommends, 1st, from the manifest absurdity of the Jewish doctrine, which made them no better, in this respect, than those sinners, publicans, and heathen, whom they allowed themselves to hate, &c.; 2d, that they, who boasted of it as their peculiar glory that they were the sons of God, might show that they really were so by their imitating His goodness who is kind to the unthankful and evil; 3d, because this would render his followers complete in the great duty of love and mercy to others, as he adds in the last clause. The following paraphrase on the different clauses of the passage may, perhaps, give the reader a clearer and fuller view of its meaning. Explaining what he intends, when he says, Love your enemies, he adds, Bless them that curse you Give them kind and friendly language who rail, act, or speak evil of you; say all the good you can to, and of them. Do good to them that hate you Repay love in thought, word, and deed, to those who really bear ill will to you, and show it both in their words and actions; and embrace every opportunity of promoting their welfare, both temporal and spiritual. And pray for those which despitefully use you, &c. Besides doing all in your own power to advance their happiness, endeavour, by your prayers, to engage God also to befriend and bless them. The expression , is by some rendered, who falsely accuse, or traduce you; but more properly by Dr. Doddridge, who insult over you. The word is plainly used by St. Peter, (1Pe 3:16, the only other place in Scripture where it occurs,) to express abusive language. Both it and the other terms here used express the highest degree of enmity, for what can be worse than cursing, and calumny, and insults, and persecutions; yet we are commanded to love, and bless, and do good to those who express their enmity to us even by these things; and this doctrine Christ enforces from the noblest of all considerations, that it renders men like God; for he adds, that ye may be the children of your Father As if he had said, Being thus benevolent toward all the bad as well as the good, ye shall be like God, and so prove yourselves to be his genuine offspring; for he maketh his sun common to them who worship and them who contemn him; and lets his rain be useful both to the just and to the unjust; alluring the bad to repentance, and exciting the good to thankfulness, by this universal and indiscriminate benignity of his providence. For if ye love them which love you, &c., and salute your brethren only, &c. These are common things, practised by people of the worst character; which therefore do not distinguish you from others, nor prove you to be of a truly pious and virtuous disposition, but as being only indued with the essential principles of human nature, so that no peculiar reward can await you for doing them. The phrase , rendered in our translation, What do ye more than others? but which Dr. Campbell renders, Wherein do you excel? is thought by him to refer to what our Lord had declared, Mat 5:20, concerning the necessity of our righteousness excelling, or abounding more than that of the scribes and Pharisees. Thus, he thinks, our Lords expostulation is rendered more energetical by the contrast; as if he had said, I told you your righteousness must excel that of the scribes and Pharisees, but if you do good to your friends only, it will not excel even that of the publicans and pagans. Perhaps, in the phrase, If ye salute your brethren only, our Lord might glance at those prejudices which different sects had against each other, and might intimate that he would not have his followers imbibe that narrow spirit. And would to God, says a pious divine, that the hint had been more attended to, among the unhappy subdivisions into which his church has been crumbled; and that we might at least advance so far as cordially to embrace our brethren in Christ, of whatever party or denomination they are! Be ye therefore perfect, as your Father, &c. Imitate especially the divine goodness, as it is promiscuous, and extends to the evil as well as the good. This seems to be chiefly what is here intended; the love to friends, brethren, and countrymen implying only a very imperfect imitation of God; we are to labour after a more complete resemblance to him, in loving enemies. Our Lord, therefore, afterward expressed himself in a parallel discourse on the same subject in a rather different manner, saying, Be ye merciful, as your Father also is merciful, Luk 6:36. But, it is probable, he used a greater latitude of expression here, to remind us of our obligations to imitate the blessed God in all his moral perfections. The exhortation undoubtedly refers to all that holiness which is described in the foregoing verses, which our Lord, in the beginning of the chapter, recommends as happiness, and in the close of it as perfection. And it must be observed, that the words in the original, , express a promise, rather than a precept: Ye shall therefore be perfect, as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. And how wise and gracious is this, to sum up, and, as it were, to seal all his commandments with a promise! even the proper promise of the gospel, that he will put those laws in our minds and write them in our hearts! He well knew how ready our unbelief would be to suggest, This is impossible! And therefore stakes upon it all the power, truth, and faithfulness of Him to whom all things are possible.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Mat 5:43-48. Loving Ones Neighbour (cf. Luk 6:27 f., Mat 5:32-36).Thou shalt love thy neighbour (i.e. fellow Israelite) is the precept of the Law (Lev 19:18); and hate thine enemy is a Rabbinic inference from, e.g. Deu 23:3-6, which found much support in apocalyptic writings (cf. pp. 623f.). As in the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus sweeps away all distinctions. The additions to Mat 5:44 in AV are due to Luk 6:27 f.

Mat 5:45. Sons are those who share their Fathers character. If God were to give natural blessings like sun and rain to His friends and withhold them from His enemies, the natural world would be a chaos: in so far as His sons fall short of His nature the spiritual world is a chaos. Those who love only their friends miss the Divine reward (Luk 6:35), the attainment of the Fathers character.

Mat 5:46. What reward have ye? Justin Martyr has, Are you doing anything new? which is perhaps derived from an older text than ours.publicans: i.e. customs officers of inferior rank, the underlings of the publicani proper (p. 615); they exercised gross oppression and took money for an alien power, so that the Jews regarded them as outcasts, cf. p. 622.

Mat 5:47 b. brethren may mean pious law-keeping Jews in view of early readings the godless, or tax-gatherers, in place of Gentiles.

Mat 5:48. therefore sums up the teaching of Mat 5:17-47; ye (my disciples) is emphatic; the future (shall be) has the force of a command. The comparison with the Divine character is far in advance of that noted in Lev 11:44; Lev 19:2 ff.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

God’s will concerning love 5:43-47 (cf. Luk 6:27-36)

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Jesus quoted the Old Testament again (Lev 19:18), but this time He added a corollary that the rabbis, not Moses, provided. Nowhere does the Old Testament advocate hating one’s enemies. However this seemed to many of the Jewish religious teachers to be the natural opposite of loving one’s neighbors. [Note: Morison, p. 83.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)