By His Word
“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.” — Luke 6:27
When we read Jesus’ words in Luke 6, we may feel inspired for a moment—and then troubled. Loving our family and friends is understandable. Loving a stranger may be difficult, but it is often possible. Loving an enemy, however, seems to ask more of us than the human heart can provide. Jesus is not speaking about people who merely irritate us. He speaks of those who hate, curse, mistreat, and take from us. He does not permit us to pretend their conduct is harmless. Instead, He commands us to see their hostility truthfully and respond with a love shaped by God.
This passage belongs to Jesus’ teaching sometimes called the Sermon on the Plain. He addresses disciples who are learning that life in God’s kingdom operates differently from life governed by self-interest. The ordinary pattern of the world is reciprocity: we treat people well when they treat us well, and we withdraw kindness when they become hostile. Jesus interrupts that cycle. He says, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them” (Luke 6:32). Kingdom love is revealed most clearly when there is no earthly advantage in giving it.
The Greek word commonly associated with this love is agapē. It describes a committed love that seeks another person’s true good. This love is not mere affection, emotional warmth, or approval. Jesus does not command us to call evil good, ignore abuse, abandon appropriate boundaries, or remain silently exposed to danger. We can oppose destructive conduct and still refuse hatred. We can pursue justice without seeking revenge. We can establish a necessary boundary without surrendering the offender to our bitterness.
Loving an enemy does not mean denying what that person has done. It means refusing to allow that person’s wrongdoing to determine the condition of our soul.
This command can also make us question the genuineness of our faith. We read Christ’s words, look honestly at our reactions, and wonder, “If I still struggle to love this person, am I really a Christian?” Scripture directs us away from two dangerous extremes. We must not imagine that our conduct earns God’s acceptance. Neither should we suppose that receiving grace leaves our conduct unchanged. Our assurance rests upon what Christ accomplished through His death and resurrection, not upon our flawless obedience. Yet the grace that saves us also begins reshaping us.
Paul explains the foundation of Christian love in Romans 5:8: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God did not wait for us to become attractive, deserving, or useful. Christ did not give Himself because we had cleaned up our lives and proven our loyalty. He loved us while we were still resisting Him. Therefore, when Jesus calls us to love our enemies, He is not asking us to generate something entirely from ourselves. He is calling us to extend the mercy we have already received.
Imagine someone attempting to pour water from an empty pitcher. No amount of determination will produce what the vessel does not contain. The same is true of enemy-love. Human resolve may help us remain polite for a time, but Christlike love must flow from a heart continually filled by God’s grace. We look toward the cross before we look toward our enemy. There we remember the seriousness of our own sin, the greatness of Christ’s mercy, and the patience God has shown us.
This does not make obedience effortless. Emotional wounds may remain tender, and reconciliation may require repentance and restored trust from the other person. Forgiveness and reconciliation are related, but they are not identical. Forgiveness may begin within one willing heart; reconciliation requires truthful participation from both parties. Even where reconciliation is presently impossible, however, we can surrender our claim to personal vengeance, pray for the offender, and refuse to delight in that person’s suffering.
Jesus makes enemy-love practical: “Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:27–28). He gives us actions because feelings often follow obedience more slowly. We may not initially feel tenderness toward the person who hurt us, but we can begin by refusing slander. We can pray that God will bring that person to repentance. We can speak truth without cruelty. We can decline an opportunity to humiliate someone who once humiliated us.
Prayer is especially important because it changes the spiritual position from which we view an enemy. It is difficult to continue reducing someone to a villain while sincerely bringing that person before God. Prayer does not excuse wrongdoing; it places both the offender and the injury beneath God’s authority. We ask the Lord to correct what is evil, protect those who are vulnerable, heal what has been wounded, and cleanse our hearts of vengeance.
The evidence of grace is not that we never struggle to love; it is that we keep bringing our resistance to Christ and allowing His love to change our response.
Someone in your life may make this teaching painfully personal. Begin with one faithful step. Speak that person’s name before God. Tell the Lord honestly what happened and how it affected you. Ask Him to keep the injury from becoming your identity. Then ask what doing good might mean in this situation. It may mean offering kindness, maintaining a wise boundary, refusing retaliation, seeking reconciliation, or simply praying until bitterness loosens its hold.
The law of love is revolutionary because it breaks the repeating chain of injury and revenge. When Christians love in this way, the world receives a living picture of the gospel. We show that another power is at work within us—the grace of the Father, the mercy of Christ, and the transforming presence of the Holy Spirit. We do not love because our enemies deserve it. We love because, at the cross, we discovered that God’s mercy reaches undeserving people like us.
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