5:43 Jesus quoted the Old Testament again (Lev. 19:18), but this time He added a corollary that the rabbis, not Moses, provided. Nowhere does the Old Testament advocate hating one's enemies. However this seemed to many of the Jewish religious teachers to be the natural opposite of loving one's neighbors.293
5:44-47 Jesus answered the popular teaching by going back to the Old Testament that commanded love for enemies (Exod. 23:4-5). Love (Gr. agapao) here probably includes emotion as well as action.
"To love one's enemies, though it must result in doing them good (Luke 6:32-33) and praying for them (Matt. 5:44), cannot justly be restricted to activities devoid of any concern, sentiment, or emotion. Like the English verb to love,' agapaoranges widely from debased and selfish actions to generous, warm, costly self-sacrifice for another's good. There is no reason to think the verb here in Matthew does not include emotion as well as action."294
The word "enemies"also has a wide meaning and includes any individuals who elicit anger, hatred, and retaliation from the disciple.
Prayer is one specific manifestation of love.
"Jesus seems to have prayed for his tormentors actually while the iron spikes were being driven through his hands and feet; indeed the imperfect tense suggests that he kept praying, kept repeating his entreaty, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do' (Luke 23:34). If the cruel torture of crucifixion could not silence our Lord's prayer for his enemies, what pain, pride, prejudice or sloth could justify the silencing of ours?"295
Liberal interpreters have concluded that Jesus meant that we become God's sons by loving and praying for friend and foe alike. However, consistent with other Scriptural revelation, Jesus did not mean His disciples can earn their salvation (v. 45). Rather by loving and praying for our enemies we show that we are God's sons because we do what He does.
"They showtheir parentage by their moral resemblance to the God who is Love . . ."296
Theologians refer to the blessings God bestows on His enemies as well as on His children as common grace. Disciples, as their Father, should do good to all people as well as to their brethren (Gal. 6:10).
Loving one's enemies is something God will reward (v. 46). This should be an added inducement to love the antagonistic. Tax gatherers were local Jews who collected taxes from their countrymen for the Romans. The whole Roman system of collecting taxes was very corrupt, and strict Jews viewed these tax collectors as both traitorous and unclean because of their close association with Gentiles. They were among the most despised people in Palestine. However even they, Jesus said, loved those who loved them.
Proper salutations were an evidence of courtesy and respect.297However if Jesus' disciples only gave them to their brethren, they did no more than the Gentiles, most of whom were pagans.
