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Luke 6:22–23, 26
“Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets” (v. 26).
What does it take to be a person with no enemies? Dr. R.C. Sproul argues in his commentary on Luke that having no enemies is possible only if one is a man-pleaser who tailors his positions to his audience and tells people only what they want to hear. The person who has no enemies has no convictions or principles; he changes what he believes depending on who he is talking to and adjusts his views to fit whatever is currently popular.
Christians, however, will surely have enemies. It is not that we should go looking for trouble, but true disciples of Jesus have firm, unshakable convictions because they are people of the truth. They follow truth incarnate—the Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:6)—and since He does not change (Heb. 13:8), neither does the truth. There are some matters on which believers simply will not compromise because they are matters of unchanging truth. Consequently, those who refuse to love the truth will hate Christians (2 Thess. 2:9–12).
The final beatitude-woe pairing in Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain is an application of this principle. Our Savior pronounces a blessing on those who are hated on account of Him (Luke 6:22). This assumes that it will be the normal lot of Christians to be hated by at least some people in this world. Note that the hatred is connected to our representation of Jesus and our standing for His truth. We are blessed by God not for being rude or pointlessly disagreeable but only for being true to Christ and His Word. Our natural inclination is to think that being hated by others is a sign that we are doing something wrong, but this is not so when others hate us for our faithfulness to Christ. Their hatred demonstrates that we stand in line with the faithful prophets of old who proclaimed God’s truth and often suffered for it, and it is a sign of persevering faith that will be rewarded (Luke 6:23).
Jesus then pronounces a woe on people about whom nothing ill is ever said (Luke 6:26). The false prophets who told the people what they wanted to hear and not the truth were similarly praised by everyone, and God brings false prophets ultimately to destruction because they hate His truth (see Jer. 27:15). If no one ever has anything bad to say about us, we are likely not standing for the truth, or we are doing so with such timidity that no one knows what we actually believe. One way that we can keep ourselves from falling in this regard is to remember what Dr. Sproul says: “If you’re going to be a disciple of Christ, all men will not speak well of you.”
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
John Chrysostom comments, “It is not possible for a virtuous person who travels by the straight and narrow path and follows Christ’s commands to enjoy the praise and admiration of all people—so strong is the impulse of evil and the resistance to virtue.” If no one ever raises an objection to what we believe, we need to ask ourselves whether we are being faithful to God’s Word. True commitment to Jesus always invites opposition.
for further study
- Psalm 69
- Jeremiah 28
- Matthew 5:11–12
- 1 Peter 3:14–16
the bible in a year
- Joshua 9–10
- Luke 3