Love Your Enemies
The radical call to love those who oppose us reflects God's indiscriminate love for all.
The command to love enemies is perhaps Jesus's most revolutionary teaching, overturning natural human instincts for revenge and tribalism. God makes his sun rise on evil and good alike—divine love is not earned or deserved. Loving enemies doesn't mean approving their actions but actively seeking their good. This teaching shatters the boundaries of love, extending it even to persecutors. Jesus attaches a practice, not a feeling: pray for the persecutor by name. It is something you can obey before you can feel it. Loving enemies transforms both the one who loves and the one who is loved.
But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.
Martin Luther King Jr. preached that 'darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.'
Gospel of Matthew
Written about in
- What Christianity says about love
The command to love enemies is grounded in an observation about the weather. The sun rises on good and bad alike, so love that has been earned is not the model.
- What Christianity says about forgiveness
Jesus attaches a practice rather than an emotion: pray for the one persecuting you, by name. You can obey that before you feel anything, which is the only reason the command is possible at all. The stated ground is that God's sun rises on the evil and the good alike.