Love Your Enemies
Matthew 5:43-48
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Matt.5.43 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- Ηκουσατε: VERB,aor,act,ind,2,pl
- οτι: CONJ
- ερρεθη·Αγαπησεις: VERB,aor,pass,ind,3,sg+VERB,fut,act,ind,2,sg
- τον: ART,acc,sg,m
- πλησιον: NOUN,acc,sg,m
- σου: PRON,gen,sg,2
- και: CONJ
- μισησεις: VERB,fut,act,ind,2,sg
- τον: ART,acc,sg,m
- εχθρον: NOUN,acc,sg,m
- σου: PRON,gen,sg,2
Parallels
- Leviticus 19:17-18 (quotation): Contains the command to love your neighbor and prohibits hating a brother — the Old Testament basis Jesus is echoing ('you shall love your neighbor').
- Luke 6:27-35 (verbal): Parallel teaching in Luke's Sermon on the Plain urging love for enemies and doing good to those who hate you — closely parallels Matthew's antithesis and commands regarding enemies.
- Matthew 5:44 (structural): Immediate antithesis in the Sermon on the Mount: Jesus responds to 'you have heard' with 'But I say to you… love your enemies,' redefining the received saying.
- Proverbs 25:21 (thematic): Wisdom instruction to feed and give water to an enemy who is hungry/thirsty — a practical expression of treating enemies kindly, thematically aligned with loving enemies.
- Romans 12:20-21 (allusion): Paul echoes the ethic of treating enemies kindly ('if your enemy is hungry, feed him') and not being overcome by evil — reflecting the early Christian application of Jesus' teaching.
Alternative generated candidates
- You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
- You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
Matt.5.44 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- εγω: PRON,nom,sg,1
- δε: CONJ
- λεγω: VERB,pres,act,ind,1,sg
- υμιν: PRON,dat,pl,2
- αγαπατε: VERB,pres,act,imp,2,pl
- τους: ART,acc,pl,m
- εχθρους: NOUN,acc,pl,m
- υμων: PRON,gen,pl,2
- και: CONJ
- προσευχεσθε: VERB,pres,mid,imp,2,pl
- υπερ: PREP
- των: ART,gen,pl,f
- διωκοντων: VERB,pres,act,part,gen,pl,m
- υμας·: PRON,acc,pl,2
Parallels
- Matt.5.43 (structural): Immediate context/contrast: 'You have heard... hate your enemies' is the saying Jesus rebukes before issuing the command to love and pray for enemies.
- Luke 6:27-28 (verbal): Parallel teaching with nearly identical injunctions: 'Love your enemies... do good to them... bless them that curse you, and pray for them that despitefully use you.'
- Rom.12:14 (verbal): Paul echoes the ethic toward persecutors: 'Bless them which persecute you'—a direct moral correlate to loving and praying for enemies.
- Rom.12:17-21 (thematic): Develops the practical consequences of not repaying evil but overcoming evil with good (feed your enemy, do not be overcome by evil), aligning with loving enemies.
- Luke 23:34 (thematic): An enacted example: Jesus prays for those crucifying him ('Father, forgive them'), modeling love and prayer for persecutors.
Alternative generated candidates
- But I tell you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
- But I tell you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you.
Matt.5.45 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- οπως: CONJ
- γενησθε: VERB,pres,mid/pass,subj,2,pl
- υιοι: NOUN,nom,pl,m
- του: ART,gen,sg,m
- πατρος: NOUN,gen,sg,m
- υμων: PRON,gen,pl,2
- του: ART,gen,sg,m
- εν: PREP
- ουρανοις: NOUN,dat,pl,m
- οτι: CONJ
- τον: ART,acc,sg,m
- ηλιον: NOUN,acc,sg,m
- αυτου: PRON,gen,sg,m
- ανατελλει: VERB,pres,act,ind,3,sg
- επι: PREP
- πονηρους: ADJ,acc,pl,m
- και: CONJ
- αγαθους: ADJ,acc,pl,m
- και: CONJ
- βρεχει: VERB,pres,act,ind,3,sg
- επι: PREP
- δικαιους: ADJ,acc,pl,m
- και: CONJ
- αδικους: ADJ,acc,pl,m
Parallels
- Luke 6:35-36 (verbal): Parallel teaching in Luke: calls disciples to love enemies and notes that God 'is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked' — the same appeal to imitate the Father's indiscriminate kindness.
- Matthew 5:48 (structural): Closely linked conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount: command to 'be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect' picks up the model of the Father's character described in 5:45.
- Acts 14:17 (thematic): Paul's summary of God's providence to humanity: God 'did not leave himself without witness... giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons' — echoes the sun/rain imagery as signs of God's common grace to all people.
- Psalm 145:9 (thematic): Psalmic affirmation of God's universal goodness: 'The Lord is good to all; his compassion is over all his works,' reflecting the idea of God's impartial benevolence toward righteous and unrighteous alike.
- Job 5:10 (verbal): Job's poetic observation that God 'gives rain on the earth and sends waters on the fields' — a comparable image of divine provision appearing in Matthew's sun-and-rain formulation.
Alternative generated candidates
- So that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.
- So that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.
Matt.5.46 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- εαν: CONJ
- γαρ: PART
- αγαπησητε: VERB,aor,act,subj,2,pl
- τους: ART,acc,pl,m
- αγαπωντας: PART,pres,act,acc,pl,m
- υμας: PRON,acc,pl,2
- τινα: PRON,acc,sg,m
- μισθον: NOUN,acc,sg,m
- εχετε: VERB,pres,act,ind,2,pl
- ουχι: PART,neg
- και: CONJ
- οι: ART,nom,pl,m
- τελωναι: NOUN,nom,pl,m
- το: ART,nom,sg,n
- αυτο: PRON,acc,sg,n
- ποιουσιν: VERB,pres,act,ind,3,pl
Parallels
- Luke 6:32 (verbal): Near-verbatim parallel teaching: asks what reward there is for loving those who love you and notes even tax collectors do the same.
- Matt.5:47 (verbal): Immediate context parallel in the Sermon on the Mount: similar rhetorical question about greeting only brothers and doing no more than others.
- Luke 6:35 (thematic): Develops the same ethic of loving enemies and acting beyond common reciprocity, contrasting Jesus' call with ordinary behavior.
- Romans 12:20 (thematic): Paulic application of enemy-love ethics (feed your enemy, heap coals), reflecting the radical, non-reciprocal love Jesus contrasts with ordinary mutual affection.
Alternative generated candidates
- For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
- For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
Matt.5.47 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- και: CONJ
- εαν: CONJ
- ασπασησθε: VERB,pres,mid/pass,subj,2,pl
- τους: ART,acc,pl,m
- αδελφους: NOUN,acc,pl,m
- υμων: PRON,gen,pl,2
- μονον: ADV
- τι: PRON,acc,sg,n
- περισσον: NOUN,nom,sg,n
- ποιειτε: VERB,pres,act,imp,2,pl
- ουχι: PART,neg
- και: CONJ
- οι: ART,nom,pl,m
- εθνικοι: NOUN,nom,pl,m
- το: ART,nom,sg,n
- αυτο: PRON,acc,sg,n
- ποιουσιν: VERB,pres,act,ind,3,pl
Parallels
- Matthew 5:46 (verbal): Closely linked rhetorical question: 'If ye love them which love you, what reward have ye?'—same contrast with loving only those who love you as in v.47.
- Luke 6:32 (verbal): Near-verbatim parallel to Matthew's saying: 'For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye?'—part of Luke's version of the Sermon on the Plain corresponding to Matt.5:46–47.
- Luke 6:33 (verbal): Continues Luke's parallel: 'For if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye?'—echoes Matthew's point about doing no more than others (e.g., 'publicans').
- Luke 6:35 (thematic): Develops the Sermon on the Plain theme of loving/enemy-love and God's children showing uncommon mercy—the positive ethical implication of not limiting goodwill to one's in-group.
- Romans 12:20 (thematic): Paul's instruction to 'feed your enemy' and overcome evil with good echoes the New Testament ethic of going beyond reciprocal reciprocity found in Matt.5:47.
Alternative generated candidates
- And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
- And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
Matt.5.48 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- Εσεσθε: VERB,fut,act,ind,2,pl
- ουν: PART
- υμεις: PRON,nom,pl,2
- τελειοι: ADJ,nom,pl,m
- ως: ADV
- ο: ART,nom,sg,m
- πατηρ: NOUN,nom,sg,m
- υμων: PRON,gen,pl,2
- ο: ART,nom,sg,m
- ουρανιος: ADJ,nom,sg,m
- τελειος: ADJ,nom,sg,m
- εστιν: VERB,pres,act,ind,3,sg
Parallels
- Genesis 17:1 (verbal): Genesis 17:1 uses the phrase 'be thou perfect' (Heb. tamim) in God's charge to Abraham—an ancient verbal formula of blamelessness that Matthew echoes in Jesus' command to 'be perfect.'
- Leviticus 19:2 (thematic): Leviticus 19:2 commands Israel to 'be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.' This OT holiness ethic undergirds Jesus' appeal to conformity to God's character.
- 1 Peter 1:16 (quotation): 1 Peter 1:16 quotes Leviticus ('Be holy, because I am holy'), showing a direct New Testament use of the OT holiness demand that parallels Matthew's call to reflect God's moral standard.
- Luke 6:36 (verbal): Luke 6:36 ('Be ye merciful, as your Father also is merciful') parallels Matthew's construction and ethical logic: imitation of the Father's character as the norm for disciples.
- Ephesians 5:1 (thematic): Ephesians 5:1 urges believers to 'be imitators of God,' a Pauline formulation of the same ethical imperative implicit in Matthew's call to be like the heavenly Father.
Alternative generated candidates
- Be perfect, therefore, as your Father in heaven is perfect.
- Therefore be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect.
You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you: Love your enemies. Bless those who curse you; do good to those who hate you; and pray for those who persecute you. So that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
Be therefore perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.