***This is Part 2 of a series of articles on the necessity of Christian Love in the Political Arena. Part 1 is here.***

Enemies? Love Them

So, we find ourselves in a social and political environment that fosters not merely disagreement, but fighting. We are in a mood that demands not contests, but wars. Since we are at “war,” we must have an enemy. The Bible has something to say about how to treat enemies. Even if you are convinced that Republicans (or Democrats) are the tool of the devil, Christians are commanded to love them. If you believe that conservatives (or progressives) are out to destroy the nation you cherish, your only option is to love them. There appears to be no wiggle room in these clear, obvious biblical commands.

In Matthew 5, we see the Beatitudes, a snippet of Scripture etched onto the hearts of believers. We find blessings that God will pour forth on his followers. The meek, poor in spirit, those who mourn, make peace, or are merciful, or persecuted will be blessed. These characteristics indicate God’s approval and the blessings that will flow from his approval. Such blessings, however, are not promised in the here and now. The structure of the Beatitudes suggests these will be blessed because God will remedy their conditions or grant them favor when his Kingdom is fully manifested.

Later in the passage, Christ calls on his disciples to be salt and light as they walk in the world. Salt must maintain its saltiness to be useful. Lights must shine and cannot be hidden. As Turner puts it, “Perhaps the dual images of salt and light are intended to portray two aspects of witness that are not easy to balance: engagement and distinctiveness.”* Being salty requires us to be different, while shining the light demands a proximity to darkness to matter.

Christ then gets to perhaps the most confusing part of the sermon. He gives his audience his expectations for them based upon the commandments of the Old Testament. In brief, he tells them that merely keeping commandments is not enough. He declares that a legalistic obedience is insufficient to both earn God’s grace, for that cannot be earned, and that such behavior may mask attitudes and desires that reveal a sinful heart. Put a bit differently, why we do things is as important as what we do. So, while we are right to refrain from murder, if we are perpetually angry and hateful, we are still not like Christ. Though we abstain from adultery, if we are consumed by lust, we are still failing to see women and men as God sees them. Keeping the letter of the law cannot by itself obscure a sinful heart and a twisted mind.

In verse 43, Christ turns to the matter at hand. Following the themes of distinctive engagement and the higher calling of personal transformation, as opposed to legalistic obedience, Christ commands his audience to love their enemies. Loving our neighbor is good and righteous, but loving our enemies is divine. It is easy to imagine neighbor love. Neighbors are often friends or at least part of the same community. Lev. 19:18 commands neighbor love and Christ calls neighbor love, along with loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, the greatest commandments (Mark 12:30-31).

Based on Christ’s comment, “you have heard it said ‘you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemies,’” there must have been a persistent sentiment or teaching that neighbor love did not necessarily require God’s followers to love those who are not neighbors, especially enemies. He teaches against this directly, extending love of neighbor into a much larger circle that includes enemies.

Why do we love our enemies? This passage gives us three simple reasons. First, we are commanded to do so. Christ’s words are not conditional or equivocal. Second, we love our enemies because we are to emulate God. Christ tells us that God shows love even to those who hate him. He provides the sun and the rain for the just and the unjust alike. God’s basic gifts, like warmth, growth, and water, do not depend on the position or condition of the receiver. Our love should function the same way, even for our enemies.

Think of walking in a spanning metropolis burgeoning with towers that aim for the sky. As you walk down some streets, the buildings reach so high they obscure the sun. There is a chill in the darkness as you amble toward your destination, almost as if you are in a dank cave. But then comes the corner that turns onto a wide boulevard, where the buildings part, the way grows wide, and the sun bathes you as you tip-toe into the bright of day. The warmth and the glow bring energy and vibrancy. It is an unadorned, human pleasure for me, a disciple of Christ, and the lost sinner who walks beside me. Why? Because God has constructed a reality where we can both find that joy in spite of our eternal destinations.

Our love for even those who hate us should illuminate and warm them because love should spill from us, comforting them on first contact. Our love should be as obvious as the transition from the black of midnight to the blinding brightness of the noon. Our love should be unavoidable, unmistakable, and self-evident to all with eyes to see and ears to hear. This kind of love is abnormal in a fallen world.

The third reason that Christ gives for loving our enemies is because it will make us stand apart from the crowd. As he says, even pagans love those who love them. Even tax-collectors greet those who greet them. Loving those who are lovable is expected. Loving those who hate us or persecute us puts us at odds with a world that seems bent on personal vengeance and victory. Instead of these things, we are commanded to love.

Given Christ’s audience, who would the “enemy” be? At one level, Christ is talking about personal slights, insults, and rebuke. In this way, our enemies may be private. But there is good reason to think Christ also means a political enemy. The context strongly suggests he is speaking, at least, about his audience’s Roman oppressors. The Romans could force Jews into labor to perform some tasks, like carrying burdens. Also, Matthew uses the Latin term for “mile” when Christ commands us to walk the extra mile. It seems reasonable to conclude that Christ is most directly calling on his followers to love the Romans all about them.** In heartbreaking, divine foreshadowing, Christ here calls on his followers to love even those about to execute him as an enemy of the state. Can we imagine an evil graver than the murder of Christ? In the face of such evil, persecution, and oppression, Christ calls for love, prayer, and good deeds. As Plummer encapsulates, “To return evil for good is devilish; to return good for good is human; to return good for evil is divine.”***

The same message comes through clearly in Romans 12:14-21. The Apostle Paul is in the midst of discussing our appropriate response, as Christians, to all that God has done for us. God makes our salvation possible, so, in essence, we should behave accordingly. We offer ourselves as a “living sacrifice” to God. As Moo puts it, “It is not only what we can give that God demands; he demands the giver.”+ Our sacrifice is given daily as we live in recognition of God’s work on our behalf. Our sacrifice is “holy and acceptable” if it does not conform to the world. We conform, instead, to the will of God and into the likeness of Jesus Christ, his son.

How do we do this? Paul’s consistent answer in this passage is to love. Our love must be sincere as we are part of the body of Christ. Our love must be genuine as we “abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” This love moves past our familial and Christian relationships and into the world itself. We bless those who persecute us instead of cursing them. We pursue peace. Instead of rewarding evil with evil, we are to “do what is honorable in the sight of all” (12:17). In the face of evil, we do not seek vengeance or even justice for ourselves, for those belong to God (vs. 19) and government, his instrument (13:1-7).

Instead, we show love. As Paul writes, “To the contrary, ‘if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (12:20-21). We are tempted to show evil for evil, but giving in to that temptation will allow evil to overcome us. We show Christian love. As Hodge reminds us, we are to “love and pray for the good of our enemies…” for this is “Christian duty; such is the spirit of the gospel.”++

*David L. Turner, Matthew, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008), 156.

**Craig S. Keener, A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999), 199–200.

***Alfred Plummer, An Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to St. Matthew (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1956), 89.

+Douglas J. Moo, The Epistle to the Romans, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1996), 750.

++Charles Hodge, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1944), 404.