5:44
Jesus tells His disciples to love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them. Now this is an instruction to disciples, it is not an instruction to states. Governments are meant to maintain justice. If you or I forgive someone who has hurt us it is genuine. We have experienced the loss or pain of their action. We are in a position to forgive. If a state is lax in administering justice, then it is prone to neglecting its duties, as we see in the West. We should also note that Jesus’ instruction to forgive our enemies is not new, it is found in the Law! See Ex 23:4,5.
5:45
“that you may be children of God”. As with all of the Sermon on the Mount, we are deeply mistaken if we view this as a set of rules. It is much more about the heart of God, and our being like God in righteousness and holiness (Eph 4:24). So the instruction to love our enemies is an instruction to be like God. In particular it is an instruction to be Christlike, for He loved His enemies. And we do well to remember that we were once enemies of God (Rom 5:10). In the Old Testament there are various instructions where God tells the Israelites to remember that they were once slaves (Deut 5:15, 16:12).
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