![]() For he is gracious to the ungrateful and evil.īut love your enemies, do what is good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High. “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.īut love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return for your reward will be great (rich, abundant), and you will be sons of the Most High because He Himself is kind and gracious and good to the ungrateful and the wicked.īut love your enemies, do what is good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.īut love your enemies and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil people. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High for He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.īut love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High for He is kind to the ungrateful and evil.īut love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.īut love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked.īut love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.īut love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them, expecting nothing in return. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Jesus will escalate the difficulty of His command in the following verses.But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Offering prayers to God for people who are actively hurting you, especially for being associated with Christ, requires looking at the world in a completely different way. This kind of love is meant to be expressed in action. This is not described as emotional love, or affection. This is hard enough to grasp today, but at the time the words were first spoken they would have been shocking.Ĭhrist does nothing to take the edge off this command, either. Worse, He equated this with the righteous living needed to enter the kingdom of heaven. #Love your enemies kjv free#The Jewish people understandably viewed Rome as their enemy.Īnd yet, a man thought by many to be the Messiah, the Savior who was supposed to free Israel from her enemies, has just commanded His disciples to love and pray for their enemies. The Roman tax burden left many people in near poverty. Roman soldiers enjoyed privileges and took liberties with Jewish citizens under their thumb. Dissent beyond the established limits was savagely punished. That said, Rome ruled over conquered nations absolutely and severely. Israel continued to function as Israel in many ways, and they experienced a form of peace under Roman rule. Rome typically did not destroy those they conquered-rather, they allowed relative freedom with a set of conditions. On one hand, becoming part of the Roman empire brought benefits. That makes it easy to forget how radical the claim was, especially for those who live with daily threats from dire enemies, as did the first-century Israelites. Many modern people have heard this teaching, or variations on it, all our lives. Though few people live this out, in a meaningful way, the idea is deeply ingrained in western culture. Instead of only acting in love towards neighbors, Jesus tells His disciples to love their enemies and even to pray for those who persecute them. It implies something much more difficult and more like God Himself. Jesus again declares that God's intent for the righteousness of His people goes beyond selfishness and legalism. However, it seems that the religious leaders were also teaching that it was permissible-possibly even mandatory-to hate one's enemies (Matthew 5:43). God's Word does, indeed, command us to love our neighbor as our self (Leviticus 19:18). His listeners had grown up under a partly correct teaching. Jesus' long list of reversals in chapter 5 concludes with this one. ![]()
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