The Gospel Of Matthew Chapter 5 Part 18 Love Our Enemies As God Loves Us

God said "Love your neighbor as yourself. The Jews added you must "hate your enemies."

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

Leviticus 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. 

Again, Jesus brings up another terrible alteration to the law of God given to Moses.

The law Jesus is dealing with is cited above and it plainly says that God commanded His people not to take revenge against any Israelite person.

Instead, they were commanded to love their neighbor as the loved themselves.

The idea is that you will not harm your own body or do wrong to yourself, so you must also love your neighbor.

However, look at the last portion of Matthew 5:43. 

The Jewish scribes and Pharisees added to what God actually commanded by saying you must "hate thine enemy."

What did God actually command them to do? To love their neighbors as they love themselves.

God did not give any specific command about their enemies, whether Israelites or pagan.

God has plenty to say about those who add to or remove from the Holy Spirit inspired scriptures.

Powerful commands against adding to or removing from the scriptures.  

Deuteronomy 4:2  Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

Deuteronomy 12:32  What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

Proverbs 30:5-6  Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. 6)  Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.   

God spoke very clearly and plainly through Moses and later, King Solomon. 

He told His people that they were never to add to His Word, because that is what Satan did when he caused Adam and Eve to sin.

God told Adam that if he ever ate the forbidden fruit, "thou shalt surely die" (See Genesis 2:17).

Satan added one small word to what God said by saying "ye shalt not surely die" (See Genesis 3:4).

In doing so, the Devil changed the truth into a lie. 

This is what he always does, so we must always be on guard against it.

Adding to the scriptures given to us by the Holy Spirit is strictly forbidden.

However, God also gave a plain and understandable command against taking away or removing any scripture.

Thus, it is a great sin to remove or add to the scriptures that God gave and preserved for us.

This means that every Pastor, church leader and parent must fully and accurately share all of the scriptures with those in our care.

The Jews violated this great commandment from God by saying in addition to loving your neighbor, you must hate your enemies.

God never said that and His heart toward humanity certainly does not reflect this false teaching.

God commanded that an Israelite's enemy be treated rightly. 

Exodus 23:4-5  If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again. 5)  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. 

This commandment given by God to Moses, specifies that an Israelite who sees his enemy's livestock wandering away must do the right thing and return the livestock to his enemy.

A second example is of an Israelite who sees his enemy's animal falling down because it is carrying a heavy load. 

Even though the Israelite may not want to assist his enemy, God commands him to help.

In that case, he is to come and help his enemy lessen the load carried by the animal, even if the Israelite must use his own ass to assist. 

Thus, it is an impossible interpretation of scripture for the Jews to teach that they must hate their enemies. 

Jesus honed in on this false teaching because it was spiritually detrimental to those who practiced it.

Love fulfills the law and demonstrates the Father's heart toward all mankind. 

Matthew 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; 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. 

This is the most sublime moral command ever given to man. 

Some may say this Jesus' command is unreasonable or even absurd. 

After all, it seems natural for a man to avenge himself, and seek revenge on those who wronged him.

Jesus Christ 's command will make men happy while the ones who hate others will be most miserable.

We are to love our enemies when they curse us or hate us.

We are to love our enemies when they are abusive and make false accusations against us.

We are to love our enemies when they relentlessly harass us.

Jesus then showed His Father's heart as the pattern for His disciples and His church to follow. 

A true child of God who has exercised repentant faith in Jesus Christ, will indeed love his or her enemies.

Why? Because our Father in heaven makes the life sustaining sun to shine upon good people who love Him, and on bad people who hate Him.

Because our Father in heaven sends His life sustaining rains upon good people who love Him and bad people who hate Him.

A wise man once said: “There is nothing greater than to imitate God in doing good to our enemies." 

"All the creatures of God pronounce the sentence of condemnation on the revengeful." 

"This sentence is written by the rays of the sun, and with the drops of rain, and indeed by all the natural good things, the use of which God freely gives to his enemies.” 

We were God's enemies and yet He loved us enough to send Christ to save us from our sins.

Romans 5:8-10  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9)  Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 10)  For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. 

If God had not loved us while we were His enemies, we could never have become His children. 

This is why we must follow the Father's example and love our enemies because this is His heart toward mankind.

Matthew 5:46-47  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? 

It is easy to love those who love us.

It is not especially hard to love those who are just like we are. 

Yet, there is no eternal value in this love.

He who loves only his friends, does nothing for God’s sake. 

He who loves for the sake of pleasure or interest, only loves himself. 

If you only love those that love you, you are selfish. 

Self love is not genuine love for another but is love only for what you get out of it.

Jews usually gave salutations to those of their own nation, countrymen, relatives, and friends.

They hated the publicans because they collected taxes for Rome and they viewed them as the dregs of society.

Thus, Jesus taught His disciples that they must love by having the Father's love in their hearts, seeing all people as lost souls, in need of salvation.

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

Jesus concludes this part of His teaching by commanding his disciples to be “perfect.” 

Rather than sinless perfection, this word  means finished, complete, pure, or holy. 

Originally, it was applied to a machine that is complete in its parts and able to function as it was intended to function. 

Applied to people, it refers to completeness of character and faith, such that we can love and serve God and others as Christ commands.

Jesus corrected wrong practices about anger, lust, divorce, making false promises, and seeking revenge.

All the wrong ideas taught by Jewish religious leaders had to be corrected.

Loving God as He commanded and loving others as ourselves.

Those who live according to this moral standard of God are those who are blessed, happy and joyful.

May we seek these things and live by the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God loved us while we were yet vile, unlovable sinners.

We must not see people as enemies but as souls for whom Christ died and rose again to give them eternal life.

Let us share the life changing gospel of Christ with others who do not yet know Him

Bob