Bible Study series: Matthew 5:43-48. Kingdom citizens are called to a higher ethic. Don’t command the unbelieving world to do this, unless you can persuade a willing person.
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In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Matthew 5:43-48
43 You have heard that it has been said, “You shall love your neighbor” [Lev. 19:18] and hate your enemy. 44 But I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. 45 In this way you will be children of your Father who is in heaven because he causes his sun to rise on the bad and the good and sends rain to fall on the righteous and unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same thing? 47 And if you greet your brothers and sisters only, what have you done to surpass this? Don’t even the pagans do the same thing? 48 Therefore, you shall be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48)
Comments
Sixth and Final Antithesis: “You have heard … but I say to you.” And it is very important one, for it is about love. As noted, the antitheses are the intensification of some elements of the Torah (Osborne, p. 189). Osborne also points out that the Qumran community, out in the desert, taught hatred for the “sons of darkness” (comment on 5:43 and 1QS 1:4; 2:4-9; 9:16, 21-23; 1 QM 15:6), which means anyone who did not agree with them or lived as holy as they did was to be hated. Jesus says no.
Jesus is going right to the heart, which is better than the Sinai Covenant.
43:
The first half come from Lev. 19:17-18:
17 “‘Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt. 18 “‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. (Lev. 19:17-18, NIV)
Those two wonderful verses teach us to reason things out with a kingdom citizen (or anyone else) and then to let things go; don’t hold a permanent grudge against your neighbor. Jesus seizes on the last main clause. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Here are verses that teach Israelites to do right by one’s personal enemies:
4 “If you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return it. 5 If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help them with it. (Exod. 23:4-5, NIV)
So do good to your neighbor in such simple things as helping his livestock or his business.
However, other texts teach that devotion to God may involve hatred of those who opposed commitment to God.
19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
O men of blood, depart from me!
20 They speak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies take your name in vain.[b]
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies. (Ps. 139:19-22, ESV)
Further, piety in the contemporary Qumran community required community members to take an oath to “hate the children of darkness” (Keener, p. 202).
The second half of Jesus’s summary of morality also came from popular culture or even more intellectual culture. Commentators point out that Galilean villages had hatred for each other; apparently the rivalry was intense. More intellectual moral philosophers in the Roman empire said hatred for enemies was appropriate, though many said it was not (Keener p. 203, note 125). Surely the more intellectual Romans living in Galilee heard of teaching from Plato’s Republic that hating one’s enemies and taking revenge on them without getting caught is justice (so says a deficient moralist in the dialogue). For intellectual Romans, knowing Plato’s writings was a must. Yes, Jesus’s ethics comes from the Torah and Jewish life generally, though he improved on and rehabilitated them, but what if he, as a young man working as a craftsman, overheard Romans discussing moral philosophy, since many Romans lived in Galilee? It is a sure thing that he did.
44:
Here comes the final antithesis. “But I say to you” that kingdom citizens should love even their enemies. Jesus is changing the rules of our relationship with other people and, hence, our relationship with God. This is not a “fortune-cookie” statement. There is nothing more adult than his game-changing statement. Only the kingdom entering the heart of its subjects can enable its citizens to love one’s enemies. God has to empower his subjects to succeed in doing this.
Praying for those who persecute kingdom citizens also requires God’s empowerment. Note that we don’t have to pray for them to get three cars and a second house. But we can pray for their souls, so that they can get saved or see the injustice of persecuting those with whom they disagree.
Let’s look at love more closely.
It is the verb agapaō (pronounced ah-gah-pah-oh). BDAG says that the verb means, depending on the context: (1) “to have a warm regard for and interest in another, cherish, have affection for, love”; (2) “to have high esteem for or satisfaction with something, take pleasure in; (3) “to practice / express love, prove one’s love.” In most instances this kind love in Scripture is not gooey feelings, though it can be a heart-felt virtue and emotion, as we see in the first definition. Rather, mostly love is expressed by action. If you have no gooey feelings for your enemy, do something practical for him.
Both the noun agapē (pronounced ah-gah-pay) and the verb mean a total commitment. For example, God is totally committed to his church and to the salvation of humankind. Surprisingly, however, total commitment can be seen in an unusual verse. Men loved darkness rather than light (John 3:19), which just means they are totally committed to the dark path of life. Are we willing to be totally committed to God and to live in his light? Can we match an unbeliever’s commitment to bad things with our commitment to good things?
Agapē and agapaō are demonstrative. This love is not static or still. It moves and acts. We receive it, and then we show it with kind acts and good deeds. It is not an abstraction or a concept. It is real.
It is transferrable from God to us. God can pour and lavish it on us. And now we can transfer it to our fellow believers and people caught in the world.
Please see my word study on the different loves in the NT:
45:
Jewish sages believed rain was a sign of God’s generosity (Keener, p. 204). God shows mercy on everyone by causing the sun to rise and the rain to fall on everyone, whether good or bad.
Theologically, some interpreters read those verses ultra-literally and claim that God literally makes the sun come up (or makes the earth turn on its axis) and makes the rain fall, while other see this as just a Hebraism for God allowing it. One thing is for certain, however. God commanded the universe to come into existence by one decree and one command (Ps. 148:5-6). At that moment he allowed the universe or more specifically, our solar system, to work by natural laws that he sustains by the word of his power (Heb. 1:3). But directly causing natural phenomena is another matter, which people like me do not interpret ultra-literally.
If God is generous enough to allow his sun (I noticed for the first time it is his sun!) and rain to fall on everyone, even the bad and unrighteous, then we should follow his moral example and be generous towards the bad and the unrighteous. His generosity of character adds up to generous actions (the sun shining and the rain falling), which are acts of love. We should also do acts of love towards the unlovable, as we saw in Exod. 23:4-5.
“children”: The bigger picture: We have to bring forth actions worthy of repentance and thus proving that we are children of God (Matt. 3:8; Acts 26:20). Then our actions demonstrate that we really are sons and daughters of our heavenly Father, and not just counterfeits or fakes.
“God does not curse the wicked with all bad things and bless the good with all good things. Even those who reject God are made in his image and loved by him, so his people must reflect his goodness toward their persecutors” (Osborne, on 5:45).
46-47:
Jesus just finished holding God up as the moral example, and now he is turning towards the other end of the moral spectrum. Tax collectors were considered awful and evil, for they took advantage of people and charged too much, so they could skim money off the top.
You can learn more about tax collectors here:
Quick Reference to Jewish Groups in Gospels and Acts
Pagans are the Gentiles, and they worshipped idols. Even they greet those closest to them. Aren’t kingdom citizens supposed to go beyond their natural actions? Yes, they are.
48:
Wow. Now Jesus raises the stakes. He is pointing to God behind the law. Law keeping is not the best approach to kingdom living. Following the law is legalism. Instead, kingdom living flows out of the character of God, and he is blameless and perfect. The verb is in the future tense, but it has a command built into it. However, let’s focus on the futureness of it. It is something that shall happen; it’s a goal to strive for. We have not achieved it yet, and we won’t until we receive our new bodies at the Second Coming.
The word blameless (or perfect) has the basic meaning “whole” or “complete.” So in other words, as God’s character is whole and complete and blameless, so should we be whole and complete and blameless. Again, only God’s empowerment through the kingdom and our entry into it can aid us to achieve this. As noted, we have not arrived, but we are heading in that direction.
Let’s offer more clarity on the word “blameless.” Keener (p. 205) mentions that the Aramaic word (Jesus spoke Aramaic) for perfect and merciful is the same, covering both meanings. (Unfortunately, Keener does not give the Aramaic word.) So Luke has merciful in the Sermon on the Plain (6:36). The meaning of perfect or blameless includes merciful.
In any case, Keener writes: “For Matthew, one can appeal to no law to prove that one is now righteousness enough—that would be legalism. Instead, one must desire God’s will so much that one seeks to please him in every area of one’s life—that is, holiness. Matthew wants disciples to follow God’s law, but teachers that God’s law was never about mere rules; instead God desires complete righteousness of the heart, total devotion to God’s purposes in this world” (p. 205).
Osborne: The key is “as your heavenly Father,” meaning that kingdom children are to emulate their Father in all they say and do. His perfection is the goal of our thoughts and action, for our relationships inside and outside the community. There is also a strong action sense, for the parallel in Luke 6:36 has ‘Mercy’ … and shows that relationships with others is an essential aspect. We are to become like the Father, follow all that Jesus has said, and relate to all around us (believer and unbeliever) with mercy and love” (comment on 5:48).
GrowApp for Matt. 5:43-48
1. This section of Scripture is about love in action. How have you demonstrated love towards even your enemies?
2. Have you buried the hatchet? Have you prayed for them?
RELATED
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1. Church Fathers and Matthew’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
SOURCES
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