Love your Enemies. Luke 6.27.35
When I read this statement “Love your enemies, ”I asked myself a question, “Is it really possible to love those who hate you?” But when I study a little bit this issue I came to a certain conclusion that word “love” actually means “do good,” and does not necessarily applies to love our enemies in full meaning of this word.
So, WHO ARE OUR ENEMIES?
Our enemies can be our neighbors, who are hostile and rude to us for whatever reason. But we shall not respond to them in the same way as they treated us, as our Lord had commanded us, we shall do good to them then the opportunity comes in order to show them that we are different, and prefer to do good and engage in disputes.
Our enemies can be our co-workers, who ridicule us at work or call us names for whatever reason. We shall not answer them in the same way, but to show them our intelligence and faith in One Who gave us a Commandment not to pay evil for evil.
Our enemies can be also those who disagree with our Christian principals and ideals, who challenge us for debate or to argument to prove their own point of view based on their own believes, faith, religion, tradition, or education. Our respond in this case shall be calm, without anger, and to the point in accordance with Biblical Scriptures.
Why they can be considered as OUR ENEMIES? Because they sin against us due to their own perception of us or our faith. They do not know GOD. If they knew GOD, they would not behave this way toward us, and so in this way they sin against us without knowing GOD and His Principals and His Ideals.
We should forgive them their contempt and hatred against us, because they do not know what they are doing. Just like Jesus Christ and Stephen forgave and prayed for those who executed them.
So in this sense such people sinned only against us due to the lack of knowledge and understanding of GOD, and so, they are our enemies and not necessarily the enemies of GOD. We shall treat them fairly, according to the Statutes of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Proverbs 14.21
21.Those who despise their neighbor are sinners, but happy are those who are kind to the poor.
Proverbs 25.21-22
21.If your enemies are hungry give them bread to eat, and if they are thirsty give them water to drink,
22.you will heap coals of fire on their heads, and the Lord will reward you.
Romans 12.17.21
17.Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all
21.Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
WHO ARE ENEMIES OF GOD?
Enemies of GOD are those who know about GOD but refuse to follow Him, to recognize Him, to acknowledge Him, listen to Him, or obey Him. By doing these things, they are enemies of GOD.
In their attitude and in their life, primarily they sin against GOD and not against us, and because of it they became the enemies of GOD. In this respect they are also and our enemies, and we cannot be nice to them, or helpful to them, or do good to them, or have any sort of association, friendship, or connection on any level of relationship with them.
As they rejected GOD, GOD also rejected them, and on our part we also shall reject them, and we cannot love or do good to these types of enemies because they lost to GOD and became his eternal enemies.
The Statute of GOD to love your enemies does not applies to such people, because they know that they are doing but do not feel remorse, sorrow, guilt, regret, or need to repent, and because of that GOD rejecting them, and so shall do we.
The point is that Our Enemies are people who do not know GOD and have no understanding of the Lord, but can be educated and instructed in the Lord, converted to GOD, and saved.
The Enemies of GOD on the other hand are people who completely rejected the Lord, His Statutes, His love, and His Sacrifice, no matter if they knew the Lord or not. In their souls there is no room for GOD, and they completely possessed and driven by their own desires and temptations, taking out of life as much as they could without any decency and regrets for their actions.
For such people the love of GOD, or our love for instance, has no effect, no influence, or place among them. They are lost sheep that have been consumed by their own indifference, indulgence, pleasure, excess, arrogance, foolishness, and greed.
Deuteronomy 23.5-6
5.Nevertheless, the Lord your GOD was not willing to listen to Balaam, but the Lord your GOD turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your GOD loves you.
6.You shall never seek their (Ammonites and Moabites) peace or their prosperity all your days.
Romans 9.13
13.As it is written, "I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau." (Malachi 1.2-3)
Malachi 2.16
16."I have hate divorce" (Deuteronomy 24.1-4), says the Lord, the GOD of Israel, 'And him who covers his garment with wrong,' says the Lord of hosts. So take heed to your spirit that you do not deal treacherously.
1Samuel 15.23
Words of Samuel to Saul.
23.Rebellion is no less a sin than divination, and stubbornness is like iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the Word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king.
John 3.36
36."Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure GOD’S wrath."
2John 1.9-11
9.Everyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ but goes beyond it, does not have GOD, whoever abides in the teaching has Both, the Father and the Son.
10.Do not receive into the house of welcome anyone who comes to you and does not brings this teaching,
11.to welcome is to participate in the evil deeds of such a person.
2Chornicles 19.2 (see also Revelation 18.4)
2.Jehu son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said to king Jehoshaphat (4th king of Judah), “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Because of this wrath has gone out against you from the Lord.
2Chronicles 20.37
37.Then Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat (4th king of Judah) saying, "Because you have allied yourself with Ahaziah (8th king of Israel, very wicked man), the Lord has destroyed your works." So the ships were broken and could not go to Tarshish.
Mark 7.21-23
21."It is from within, from the human heart that evil intentions come, fornication, theft, murder,
22.adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly.
23.All these evil things come from within and they defile a person.”
Proverbs 28.4
4.Those who forsake the Law praise the wicked, but those who keep the Law struggle against them.
1Peter 4.17-18
17.The time has come for judgment to begin with the household of GOD, if it begins with us, what will be the end for those who do not obey the Gospel of GOD?
18.And: "If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinners?" (Proverbs 11.31)
Exodus 20.5-6
5.”You shall not worship them or serve them (foreign gods), I the Lord your GOD, am a jealous GOD, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,
6.but showing loving-kindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments.
(See also: (Exodus 20.5-6, 34.6-7) (Numbers 14.18) (Deuteronomy 5.9-10, 7.9-11, 24.16) (2Kings 14.6) (2Chronicles 25.4) (Jeremiah 31.30, 32.18) (Ezekiel 18.1-29)
When I read this statement “Love your enemies, ”I asked myself a question, “Is it really possible to love those who hate you?” But when I study a little bit this issue I came to a certain conclusion that word “love” actually means “do good,” and does not necessarily applies to love our enemies in full meaning of this word.
So, WHO ARE OUR ENEMIES?
Our enemies can be our neighbors, who are hostile and rude to us for whatever reason. But we shall not respond to them in the same way as they treated us, as our Lord had commanded us, we shall do good to them then the opportunity comes in order to show them that we are different, and prefer to do good and engage in disputes.
Our enemies can be our co-workers, who ridicule us at work or call us names for whatever reason. We shall not answer them in the same way, but to show them our intelligence and faith in One Who gave us a Commandment not to pay evil for evil.
Our enemies can be also those who disagree with our Christian principals and ideals, who challenge us for debate or to argument to prove their own point of view based on their own believes, faith, religion, tradition, or education. Our respond in this case shall be calm, without anger, and to the point in accordance with Biblical Scriptures.
Why they can be considered as OUR ENEMIES? Because they sin against us due to their own perception of us or our faith. They do not know GOD. If they knew GOD, they would not behave this way toward us, and so in this way they sin against us without knowing GOD and His Principals and His Ideals.
We should forgive them their contempt and hatred against us, because they do not know what they are doing. Just like Jesus Christ and Stephen forgave and prayed for those who executed them.
So in this sense such people sinned only against us due to the lack of knowledge and understanding of GOD, and so, they are our enemies and not necessarily the enemies of GOD. We shall treat them fairly, according to the Statutes of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Proverbs 14.21
21.Those who despise their neighbor are sinners, but happy are those who are kind to the poor.
Proverbs 25.21-22
21.If your enemies are hungry give them bread to eat, and if they are thirsty give them water to drink,
22.you will heap coals of fire on their heads, and the Lord will reward you.
Romans 12.17.21
17.Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all
21.Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
WHO ARE ENEMIES OF GOD?
Enemies of GOD are those who know about GOD but refuse to follow Him, to recognize Him, to acknowledge Him, listen to Him, or obey Him. By doing these things, they are enemies of GOD.
In their attitude and in their life, primarily they sin against GOD and not against us, and because of it they became the enemies of GOD. In this respect they are also and our enemies, and we cannot be nice to them, or helpful to them, or do good to them, or have any sort of association, friendship, or connection on any level of relationship with them.
As they rejected GOD, GOD also rejected them, and on our part we also shall reject them, and we cannot love or do good to these types of enemies because they lost to GOD and became his eternal enemies.
The Statute of GOD to love your enemies does not applies to such people, because they know that they are doing but do not feel remorse, sorrow, guilt, regret, or need to repent, and because of that GOD rejecting them, and so shall do we.
The point is that Our Enemies are people who do not know GOD and have no understanding of the Lord, but can be educated and instructed in the Lord, converted to GOD, and saved.
The Enemies of GOD on the other hand are people who completely rejected the Lord, His Statutes, His love, and His Sacrifice, no matter if they knew the Lord or not. In their souls there is no room for GOD, and they completely possessed and driven by their own desires and temptations, taking out of life as much as they could without any decency and regrets for their actions.
For such people the love of GOD, or our love for instance, has no effect, no influence, or place among them. They are lost sheep that have been consumed by their own indifference, indulgence, pleasure, excess, arrogance, foolishness, and greed.
Deuteronomy 23.5-6
5.Nevertheless, the Lord your GOD was not willing to listen to Balaam, but the Lord your GOD turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your GOD loves you.
6.You shall never seek their (Ammonites and Moabites) peace or their prosperity all your days.
Romans 9.13
13.As it is written, "I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau." (Malachi 1.2-3)
Malachi 2.16
16."I have hate divorce" (Deuteronomy 24.1-4), says the Lord, the GOD of Israel, 'And him who covers his garment with wrong,' says the Lord of hosts. So take heed to your spirit that you do not deal treacherously.
1Samuel 15.23
Words of Samuel to Saul.
23.Rebellion is no less a sin than divination, and stubbornness is like iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the Word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king.
John 3.36
36."Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure GOD’S wrath."
2John 1.9-11
9.Everyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ but goes beyond it, does not have GOD, whoever abides in the teaching has Both, the Father and the Son.
10.Do not receive into the house of welcome anyone who comes to you and does not brings this teaching,
11.to welcome is to participate in the evil deeds of such a person.
2Chornicles 19.2 (see also Revelation 18.4)
2.Jehu son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him and said to king Jehoshaphat (4th king of Judah), “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Because of this wrath has gone out against you from the Lord.
2Chronicles 20.37
37.Then Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat (4th king of Judah) saying, "Because you have allied yourself with Ahaziah (8th king of Israel, very wicked man), the Lord has destroyed your works." So the ships were broken and could not go to Tarshish.
Mark 7.21-23
21."It is from within, from the human heart that evil intentions come, fornication, theft, murder,
22.adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly.
23.All these evil things come from within and they defile a person.”
Proverbs 28.4
4.Those who forsake the Law praise the wicked, but those who keep the Law struggle against them.
1Peter 4.17-18
17.The time has come for judgment to begin with the household of GOD, if it begins with us, what will be the end for those who do not obey the Gospel of GOD?
18.And: "If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinners?" (Proverbs 11.31)
Exodus 20.5-6
5.”You shall not worship them or serve them (foreign gods), I the Lord your GOD, am a jealous GOD, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me,
6.but showing loving-kindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments.
(See also: (Exodus 20.5-6, 34.6-7) (Numbers 14.18) (Deuteronomy 5.9-10, 7.9-11, 24.16) (2Kings 14.6) (2Chronicles 25.4) (Jeremiah 31.30, 32.18) (Ezekiel 18.1-29)
