The Sermon on the Mount: Love Your Enemies
27 August 2025 · 1 min read · Understanding the Bible
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. Everyone finds the second half reasonable. Jesus deletes it: love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.
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 logic of the command
The reasoning is family resemblance: that ye may be the children of your Father — who sends sun and rain on the evil and the good alike. Loving those who love you, Jesus notes dryly, is unremarkable; even the publicans do that. The Father's children are known by loving beyond the reciprocal.
Enemy-love is not approval of evil, nor absence of boundaries. It is the refusal to let another's hatred dictate your heart — blessing where cursing would be understood.
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.
Where the power comes from
This command is impossible from willpower and inevitable from grace: those who know themselves loved while enemies (as Romans puts it, when we were enemies, we were reconciled) have the raw material. You forgive downhill from the cross.
Start with the prayer — it is the entry-level obedience: pray for them. Names, needs, blessings. The heart tends to follow its prayers, and Christlikeness has no shortcut around this command.
