The enemies mentioned in Luke 6:27 are specifically those who hate God's people for Christ's sake. How are we to respond to those who hate, curse, despitefully use, and smite us? We are to love. Christ's message here is addressing the identity of the disciples of Christ, and Jesus has expectations of his followers.
1. An unexpected expectation This expectation was unexpected in the ears of the initial audience. Most people in this day thought they should love their neighbor but hate their enemy because of the teaching scribes and Pharisees. The idea of loving your enemies was taught in the Old Testament as well as the idea of loving your neighbor. Therefore, those not loving their enemies were only partially following God's Word. Love is a duty, not an emotional feeling. We may not be able to control all of our feelings, but we can control what we do about our feelings.
2. A qualified expectation - when we love our enemies, we are not overlooking their sin We are to love our enemies by not treating them as they deserve. Our love for our enemies ought to be as Christ's love for us is. Though we don't deserve it, Christ loves us. - we are not denying the believer's right to vengeance We will receive eternal vengeance when Christ comes back. We also have the right to vengeance to God's appointed exacter of temporary vengeance, which is the government. But we are not to seek personal vengeance by ourselves. We are to let Christ take vengeance.
3. An applied expectation - we are to do good - we are to bless - we are to pray It's easy to say that we love our enemies, but it is very hard to actually love them. But we must take action.
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