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Luke 6:27–31
“I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you” (vv. 27–28).
Christian love is the next major subject that Jesus covers in the Sermon on the Plain. As today’s passage makes clear, the kind of love required of Jesus’ disciples is a love that is willing to suffer all kinds of wrongs rather than seek vengeance.
Before looking at specifics, let us first note that Jesus’ instruction concerns personal relationships and is not a manifesto regarding the behavior of the state. Scripture tells us that God has tasked the civil magistrate with bearing the sword of divine wrath against wrong-doers (Rom. 13:1–7), so it is not wrong for the state to prosecute criminal behavior or for Christians to appeal to law enforcement in appropriate instances. The text also does not call believers to be unwise or to intentionally put themselves in situations of severe abuse or in which their lives will be threatened. Jesus mainly has in view everyday personal interactions and what to do when we have been slighted.
Jesus summarizes the entire section in Luke 6:27–28 when He says to love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, and bless those who persecute us. Christians are called to go out of our way to distinguish ourselves from the world in encountering malice. The world tells us to repay evil for evil, advising us, “Don’t get mad; get even.” We live by a different ethic declaring that there are times not only to endure maltreatment but to repay it with blessing, not cursing.
How far are we to go in blessing our enemies? Much further than we are normally inclined to go. Jesus gives a number of examples to make His point. If someone strikes us on the cheek—a euphemism for a personal insult—then we are not to strike or insult in return. We are to offer ourselves up for further insult. If someone takes our cloak, we are to offer our tunic, or undergarment, as well. If someone takes from us, we are not to seek repayment for our loss (Luke 6:29–30). Note that Jesus engages in hyperbole, so we are not to take His words in a woodenly literal fashion. For example, since the tunic is akin to our underwear, a literal application of His words in that instance would mean that we would be going about naked. Jesus speaks with exaggeration so that we get His point—we should not give in to our first impulse to exact revenge when we have been wronged but should look to benefit those who hate us (Luke 6:31).
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Applying Jesus’ teaching on loving our enemies takes wisdom, but we will do well if we refrain from imagining vengeance as the first response to every minor wrong done to us. Instead, let us seek to bless those who hate us, for in so doing we are living as children of our heavenly Father (Matt. 5:43–45).
for further study
- Exodus 23:4–5
- Luke 6:35
the bible in a year
- Joshua 11–13
- Luke 4:1–30
- Joshua 14–17
- Luke 4:31–5:26