Where did "love your neighbor and hate your enemy" come from (Matthew 5:43)?

The question of the scribe in Luke 10:29, "And who is my neighbour?" shows that the Jews had restricted the meaning of this commandment. They did not want to see a neighbour in every fellow-man, as God had intended, but only considered their own people (the Jews) as their neighbours. In this way the Gentiles, the "uncircumcised," were excluded from their love. The strict scribes and Pharisees went even further than that and did not want to consider the simple Jews as their neighbours. They considered them cursed because they did not know the law (John 7:49). Finally they also excluded personal enemies from this commandment so that only a very few "privileged" remained to be considered and treated as "neighbours."

In addition to this false restriction upon loving one's neighbour the Rabbis even concluded that if the neighbour was to be loved, the enemies, that is all other men (the nations, the unlearned Jews and also personal enemies) were to be hated. To support this they referred to passages such as Deuteronomy 7:2 where God forbids the people of Israel to join with the Canaanites and commands them not to show any mercy to them but to destroy them. This led to the conclusion "... and hate thine enemy" (which is not found in the Talmud, but is here referred to as a Jewish-made commandment by the Lord). Out of the commandment of love, which is the fulfilling of the law according to Romans 13:10, men had made the exact opposite. One only had to love the very few who shared the same views and could meet all others with arrogance, contempt and hatred.

Verse 43. "It has been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy." This latter clause was a deduction, the inference of an evil nature. The law said, "Love your neighbour"; but there was no instruction to hate an enemy. "But I say unto you, Love your enemies." No one could do this naturally or apart from the grace of God. Only in the knowledge of the grace of God that when we were enemies Christ died for us, can we do so. Very lovely is this instruction, when we think of Himself, and the unrighteous way He was treated — the crown of thorns, mocking, scourging, and nailing to the cross, and then the cry, "Father, forgive them."

But the Jews deliberately overlooked that God had also commanded them in the law to love their enemies (see Ex. 23:4-5; Lev. 19:33-34). By continuing, "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 Lord Jesus does not give new commandments to His disciples but judges the fleshly restriction of the old commandment and the human addition. According to God's thoughts every fellow human being with whom we have to do is our neighbour, even if he or she turns out to be our personal enemy. The Lord Jesus demands, not an emotional love, nor a friendly affection for enemies, but rather the much higher divine love (Greek: agapao).

But now a word as to what follows. It is the very pith and essence of that which concerns our relation towards others here below; the great active principle from which all right conduct flows. This is the question of the true character and limits of love. "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy" (ver. 43). This was the expression that the Jews drew from the general tenor of the law. There had been the sanction of God for the extermination of their enemies; and from that they drew the principle, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy. 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." Here was a thing that the law never could teach — it is grace. In a thousand practical instances, the question is not whether the thing is right. We often hear Christians asking, Is such a thing wrong? But this is not the sole question for the Christian. Suppose wrong is done him; what is to be his feeling then? If there is enmity to him in another, what is he to cherish in his own heart? "Love your enemies … do good to them that hate you … that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven;" thus they show in practical ways that they belong to such a parentage, "For He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust … Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect" (vers. 44-48).

This has no reference to the question of whether there is sin in our nature or not. There is always the evil principle in a man as long as he lives here below. But what the Lord insists on is this: Our Father is the perfect pattern in His ways with His enemies now, and He calls upon us to be thorough in that same grace and love in which our Father deals. It is in pointed contrast with the Jew, or with anything that had been enjoined before. Abraham was not called to walk in this way. He was, I believe, justified in arming his servants for the recovery of Lot; as were the Israelites in taking up the sword against the Canaanites. But we are called on (as a rule of Christian life, as that which governs our thoughts and feelings and ways) to walk on the principle of gracious long-suffering. We are in the midst of the enemies of Christ, of our enemies too because of Him. It may not come out at once, nor always. Persecution may pass out of fashion, but the enmity is always there; and if God were only to remove certain restraints, the old hatred would burst out as ever. Nevertheless, only one course is open to the Christian who desires to walk as Christ walked; "Love your enemies;" and this really not by a mere show of smooth ways or words. We know that, in certain cases, to go and speak to an angry person would only draw out bitterness of wrath, and there the right course would be to keep away; but under all circumstances there should be all readiness to seek the blessing of our adversary. To do real kindness to one who has injured me, even if it should never be known by a creature upon earth, is the only thing worthy of a Christian. The Lord thus gives us opportunities of showing love to those that hate us. When the provocation occurs, we should have it settled in our souls that the Christian is here for the purpose of expressing Christ; for indeed we are His epistle, known and read of all men. We ought to desire to reflect what Christ would have done under the same circumstances.

Loving one's neighbor applied to Israelites in Lev.19:18, but as regards enemies in the land of Canaan Israel was commended to destroy them. Ammonites and Moabites were refused acceptance into Israel to the tenth generation; and Jews were told, "Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days forever" (Lev.23:3-6). But the authority of the Lord Jesus is above that of law; and in introducing a new dispensation He says, "Love your enemies." This is contrary to our corrupted human nature, but it is a character perfectly seen in Him personally, who has while on earth blessed His enemies, has done good to them, and prayed for them (Mt.26:47-50; Lk.22:50-51; Lk.23:34) and has died to reconcile His enemies to Himself (Rom.5:10). In showing such kindness we shall be, in practical character, Sons of our Father who is in heaven. Believers are to be an exception to the common rule of loving those who love them. Love, respect, consideration of unbelievers as well as believers is the normal fruit of being partakers of the divine nature. The perfection of verse 48 implies maturity with no element lacking. In our Father this standard is fully seen: we are certainly allowed no lower standard.Verse 1 warns against practicing righteousness (margin) before men to attract their attention. This is self-righteousness, a mere show. How can we expect the Father to reward what we do merely to impress men? Again, the Lord searches our motives. This is applied in verse 2 specifically to the giving of alms, though verse 1 is of wider application. Hypocrites sounding a trumpet is a graphic expression, indicating their advertising the good they do in order to secure men's adulation. This is the reward they want, and all they will get.

To love our enemies, to pray for those that persecute, is wholly above the law or the duty of a people in the flesh. An Edomite or an Egyptian was not to be abhorred, and their children might enter into the congregation of Jehovah in the third generation; an Ammonite or a Moabite only in the tenth generation, like a bastard. But Christ brought in grace and truth. In the light of the Son of man all were lost, even the sheep of Israel. As He was come to seek and to save that which was lost, those that were His were to love their enemies and to pray for their persecutors. It was the mind of heaven for His saints on earth, applicable to them and to none but them. They receive life, His life, in receiving Him, and are called to show it thus. It is as incumbent now as when the Lord thus spoke; and His resurrection made it clearer and stronger, as the Holy Spirit when given made it of power. Thus were the disciples to be sons of their Father in the heavens.

But some one will say, I quite admit that we are not under the Law for justification; but we are under it as a "rule of life." Well, not under the Law for justification — so far we agree. But we are under the Law as a rule of life, you say. What are we taught by the Lord Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount? He puts in contrast what was given by Moses with the grace which He Himself now brings in. There have been attempts made to show that the Lord Jesus spiritualises the Law in that discourse. On the contrary, in that sermon, He puts what Moses said in contrast with that which He Himself teaches. He says that it had been said of old — "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth" (Ex. 21:24) — "but I say unto you, that ye resist not evil; … and if any man will sue thee at the Law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also" (Matt. 5:38, 40). The Law says — "Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy." The Lord says — "Love your enemies," "Bless them that curse you," etc., so that this sermon is not a spiritualising of the Law, but a putting of the Lord's own standard in grace and truth in contrast with it. In other words, the standard of the Sermon on the Mount was very much higher than anything that Moses ever said. The Law was given to the Jews, and is a divine standard for men, as men, before God; but here, as was just, when the Son came, we have a standard immeasurably higher for those who are to be introduced, in the knowledge of the Father's name, into the kingdom He came to set up — the kingdom of heaven. The fact is, they have different motives, because they have different relationships.

"Two tenth deals." Ten, as is well-known, is the number of responsibility in man. "Two tenths " would view that responsibility in a two-fold way. We understand it to mean love to God and love to man. In Genesis 3, we see in the failure of Eve, then Adam, sin against God. Then in Genesis 4 with Cain and Abel, sin against man. It is on this two-fold count man stands guilty before God. When the law was given to Israel, these two objectives were the summing-up of the law. Indeed, the Lord Himself said that on these two — love to God and love to man — "hang all the law and the prophets." Matt. 22:34-40. Of the ten commandments, four brought in their responsibility God-ward and six of them their responsibility man-ward. Agur had this in view in his prophecy, stealing from man and taking the name of his God in vain. Prov. 30:9. Yet another was given to see the truth of it in a vision. "For every one that steals shall be cut off as on this side according to it: and every one that swears shall be cut off as on that side according to it." Zech. 5:3. Here we see in vision the failure of Israel in relation to the covenant on both sides and judgment coming on them as a consequence. When our Lord was here we read of Him as the servant of Jehovah, "He will magnify the law, and make it honourable." So we read in the wonderful discourse on the mount as recorded in Matt. 5–7, fourteen times the Lord says "I say to you." "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time," — the law; but "I say to you" magnified. Or take this, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy" — the law; but "I say to you love your enemies" — magnified. He did not whittle it down and weaken it; He magnified and empowered it and then, having magnified it far beyond its original claims, met it in every part, kept it, honoured it, and glorified God in relation to it. "He will magnify the law, and make it honourable." Isa. 42:21.

In what follows He looks at the higher and deeper claims of grace. Instead of retaliation as in the law of "eye for eye and tooth for tooth," we hear "But I say to you, not to resist evil," etc. (38-42); and instead of "Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy," He urges "But I say to you, Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that ye may be sons of your Father that is in the heavens," to the point of your being perfect (i.e. in grace), as your heavenly Father is to evil and good, just and unjust (43-48).

Then again the law stipulated retribution of a very even kind for injury inflicted. It enjoined what we should call "tit for tat"; as also, while calling for love to one's neighbour, it permitted the hatred of an enemy. This the Lord reversed. He inculcated forbearance and the grace that gives, rather than the insistence upon one's rights; and also the love that will bless and do good to the enemy. And all this in order that His disciples may be quite distinct from the sinners of the world, and come out in the character of God Himself.