We’ve been going through the Sermon on the Mount, and in this post, we’re looking at Matthew 5:43–48:

**“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven;for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good,and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?Do not even the tax collectors do the same?If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others?Do not even the Gentiles do the same?Therefore, you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”(Matthew 5:43–48 NASB)

This passage is about how we are to love our enemies — and Jesus tells us that in doing this, we are to emulate God Himself. God causes the rain to fall on both the just and the unjust. He is merciful to those who love Him and also to those who hate Him. While we were still sinners, God loved us — and Jesus tells us that we are to be like that.

Our love should be teleios — complete, whole, mature. It should encircle everybody — not just the good people, but the bad people too.

Understanding “Love Your Neighbor”

Jesus follows a familiar pattern here. He quotes something from the Old Testament Law, then clarifies or corrects a misunderstanding about it.

In this case, He begins with “You shall love your neighbor.” That’s a direct quote from Leviticus 19:17–18, which says:

“You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart;you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him.You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people,but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.”(Leviticus 19:17–18 NASB)

So “neighbor” in this context refers primarily to “the sons of your people” — likely fellow Israelites and Gentile proselytes who had joined the covenant community. In other words, “neighbor” meant people inside the camp.

But notice something interesting in Leviticus: “You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart.” That’s a heart-level commandment.

Sometimes people think Jesus raised the moral bar when He said that hatred is like murder or lust is like adultery, but the truth is that heart-level commandments have always been in the Law. Even in Leviticus, hatred of another person was sin.

And it goes further: “You may surely reprove your neighbor, but you shall not incur sin because of him.” That means correction or rebuke must be done without hate or bitterness. It must be done with love — or not at all.

That’s a strong rebuke to those who justify anger as “righteous indignation.” If you hold grudges, harbor resentment, or relish outrage, Scripture says that’s sin. Even if it feels justified, if it’s born out of anger and not love, it’s sin.

“You Have Heard It Said... Hate Your Enemy”

So what about the second part — “and hate your enemy”?That phrase, “hate your enemy,” isn’t actually found in the Old Testament Law. So what was Jesus referring to?

There are two main ways interpreters understand it:

Some believe Jesus was referring to the Old Testament’s commands to destroy Israel’s enemies.For example, in God’s instructions concerning Amalek:

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this in a book as a memorial and recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” Moses built an altar and named it The Lord is My Banner; and he said, “The Lord has sworn; the Lord will have war against Amalek from generation to generation.”(Exodus 17:14–16 NASB)

And in Deuteronomy 7:1–6, God tells Israel to destroy the Canaanite nations and to “show them no mercy.” Those who interpret Jesus’ words this way believe these kinds of passages were essentially commands to “hate your enemies.”

There’s also Psalm 139:21–22, where David says:

Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord?And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?I hate them with the utmost hatred;They have become my enemies.(Psalm 139:21–22 NASB)

But even here, David concludes by saying:

Search me, O God, and know my heart;Try me and know my anxious thoughts;And see if there be any hurtful way in me,And lead me in the everlasting way.(Psalm 139:23–24 NASB)

So even David reflects on whether this hatred was righteous. It’s not a blanket endorsement of hatred—it’s a moment of inner wrestling before God.

The other major view — and the one I lean toward — is that Jesus was correcting a rabbinic or cultural tradition rather than quoting the Old Testament itself.

By the time of Jesus, certain Jewish sects and teachers — especially the Essenes at Qumran — had developed what might be called a theology of “sanctified hatred.” This was the idea that love and hate could both be sacred if directed at the right targets: love toward God and His people, and hatred toward sinners and outsiders.

This concept is clearly reflected in the Dead Sea Scrolls, particularly the Community Rule (1QS), which describes the Essene initiation oath:

“To love all the sons of light, each according to his lot in the counsel of God,and to hate all the sons of darkness, each according to his guilt in the vengeance of God.”(1QS 1:9–11)

Another Essene text known as the War Scroll (The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness, 1QM) uses the same dualistic imagery to describe an ongoing holy war between two opposing spiritual camps:

“The Sons of Light shall battle against the army of the Sons of Darkness… the men of the pit shall not prevail against them.”(1QM 1:1–3)

Meanwhile, rabbinic literature from later centuries also reflects similar sentiments about maintaining enmity under certain conditions. For example, Maimonides (12th century) wrote in Mishneh Torah, Hilchot De’ot 6:6 that a scholar may harbor resentment “until his offender asks pardon.” While written long after Jesus’ time, this reflects an enduring tradition in which hostility could be viewed as justified or even virtuous if directed toward the unrepentant.

So by the first century, the idea that hatred could be holy — that one should “love the sons of light and hate the sons of darkness” — was part of the religious culture.

That is the mindset Jesus could be confronting when He said:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

In other words, Jesus was overturning not Moses’ Law, but a living cultural tradition that had justified hatred as an expression of holiness.

Love Your Enemies and Pray for Those Who Persecute You

Jesus’ command isn’t just theoretical — it’s deeply practical.

For years I treated commands like this as idealistic advice. But once I started taking Jesus’ words literally — believing that His commands were meant to be done, not just admired — things began to change.

When I began to see “love your enemies” as a command to obey, not just an unreachable ideal, it became one of the clearest evidences that I was truly in the faith. The ability to love people I used to resent — even those who have wronged me — is a sign of transformation.

Jesus gives both the command and the method:“Love your enemies” — and how? “Pray for those who persecute you.”

It’s hard to hate someone you’re praying for.

Why Praying for Your Enemies Matters

Praying for your enemies does several things:

* It softens bitterness and ends the cycle of rumination.

* It re-humanizes those who’ve hurt you.

* It slowly transforms hatred into compassion.

If you find yourself replaying wrongs, take that thought captive and pray for that person instead.

Paul echoes this in Romans 12:14 —

“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.”

Jesus Himself prayed for those crucifying Him:

“Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”(Luke 23:34)

And Stephen did the same as he was being stoned:

“Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”(Acts 7:60)

When you pray for your enemies, don’t just pray that God would “fix” them or “open their eyes.” That’s good, but go deeper.Pray for their good — for their families, their health, their joy, their provision. That kind of prayer transforms your heart even more than it changes theirs.

And if you really want to accelerate forgiveness, keep them high on your prayer list.

Seeing Your Enemies Through Compassion

It helps to remember that everyone — even your worst enemy — was once a little child. Many have been deeply wounded or deceived by Satan.When you understand the tragedy of sin, and the horror of eternal separation from God, compassion naturally follows.

Scripture says:

“Do not rejoice when your enemy falls,and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles,or the Lord will see it and be displeased,and turn His anger away from him.”(Proverbs 24:17–18 NASB)

We’re told not to delight in the downfall of our enemies, because God Himself takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked:

“As I live,” declares the Lord God,“I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked,but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live.”(Ezekiel 33:11 NASB)

Why Love Your Enemies?

Jesus tells us plainly why:

“So 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.”(Matthew 5:45)

In other words, when we love our enemies, we’re acting like our Father. That’s what God is like — merciful, patient, compassionate.

“The Lord is compassionate and gracious,Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.”(Psalm 103:8)

“Do you not know that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?”(Romans 2:4)

“The Lord is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”(2 Peter 3:9)

And because this is who God is, this is who His children must become.

“Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”(Ephesians 4:32)

“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”(Luke 6:36)

Be Perfect as Your Father Is Perfect

Jesus concludes with this line:

“Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”(Matthew 5:48)

For years, I was told this verse meant we could never live up to God’s standard — that Jesus was simply showing us our need for grace. But nowhere in the Sermon on the Mount does Jesus say that. There’s no wink or nod implying, “I didn’t really mean all that.”

The Greek word for “perfect” here is teleios, which means complete or mature. It’s not about moral flawlessness but wholeness.

Paul uses the same word in 1 Corinthians 14:20:

“Brethren, do not be children in your thinking;yet in evil be infants,but in your thinking be mature (teleios).”

And in Ephesians 4:13:

“Until we all attain to the unity of the faith,and of the knowledge of the Son of God,to a mature (teleios) man,to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”

So when Jesus says to be teleios as your Father is teleios, He’s calling us to a complete, mature love — a love that includes even our enemies.

A love with no gaps.A love that mirrors God’s own.

Freedom on the Other Side of Obedience

When you begin to take Jesus seriously in this — to pray for your enemies, to stop ruminating on bitterness, to release hatred — you’ll find freedom.

This commandment is not just a rule; it’s a path to healing. On the other side of loving your enemies is release from bondage — freedom from the endless cycle of resentment and pain.

Final Thoughts

Jesus’ call to love your enemies is not optional advice; it’s the essence of discipleship. It’s how we know we’re maturing, how we reflect our Father, and how we’re set free.

Take these words seriously. Begin to pray for those who’ve wronged you. Take your thoughts captive. And remember:

“While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”(Romans 5:8)

That is the kind of love He’s calling us to.

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