In the Fulness of Time/Part 21

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February is the month in which Valentine’s Day occurs, the month of true love expres­sions. In January’s article we discussed the misinterpretation of love by the Pharisees, therefore what better time than in February is there to discuss what Christ said about love! Here are His amazing statements from Matthew 5:44, depicting:

The Range of this love

Matthew 5:44 “But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you.”

Here are four admonitions concerning enemies: love, bless, do good and pray for them. The two middle clauses are omitted from some of the newer versions, but all four are repeated in the account in Luke 6:27-28.

In “love your enemies” the verb is agapate, present imperative of agapa-o, “Keep on loving your enemies.” Much has been made of agape love being “higher than philein” (Lenski, Matthew, p. 240). The New Scofield Bible note at John 21:15 (p. 1153) states: “In vv. 15-17 two different Greek verbs are used for “love”: agapao to love deeply, used of divine love in 14:21, and of the love which the law demands (Luke 10:27); and phileo, to be fond of, a love of lesser degree than agapao, as between friends.”

What both of these statements neglect to show is that agape love is used to describe the love of the unsaved for each other as equal to the love of the saved for each other, in Matthew 5:46. It is used four times in the parallel passage, Luke 6:32, twice of the saved and twice of the sinners: “For if ye love them who love you, what thanks have ye? For sinners also love those who love them.” Even more surprising, the divine love of the Father for the Son is expressed with phile-o “For the Father loveth the Son” (John 5:20); and in John 16:27 phile-o is used of the Father’s love for the believer as well as the believer’s love for the Savior: “For the Father Himself loveth you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.”

What then, is the difference between agapa-o and phile-o? It is not that the one is higher than the other, or that one is divine and the other is human. Rather, it is that agapa­o emphasizes the preciousness one sees in the person loved, and that phile-o emphasizes the mutual pleasure received because of the relationship of the persons involved. Both agapa-o and phile-o types of love can be intense, and both can be expressed as having a divine or a human source. Here in Matthew 5:44 the true child of God is to see something precious even in his personal enemies, though he may never feel the personal warmth of phile-o love. Commenting on John 21:15-17, R. C. Trench observes: “In that threefold, ‘Lovest thou me?’ which the risen Lord addresses to Peter, He asks him first, agapas me; at this moment, when all the pulses in the heart of the now penitent Apostle are beating with a passionate affection toward his Lord, this word on that Lord’s lips sounds far too cold to very imperfectly express the warmth of his affection toward Him” (Synonyms of the New Testament, Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1960 pp. 42-43).

Certainly, the true believer is not to hate his enemies, but as Paul says, quoting Prov­erbs 25:21, “If your enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink” (Romans 12:20).

“bless them that curse you” To bless someone is to give a good word concerning them. Our word eulogy comes directly from euloge-o the verb used here. Curse, from kataromai means to pray down, therefore to wish evil against a person. While your enemy is praying down curses against you, you are to be giving a good word back to him. Only the love of God could produce such a reaction.

“do good to them that hate you” The word translated good is the adverb kalos and is used with the verb poiete, to do. Kalos means to please, or do well, in carrying out some responsibility. Applying this to the clause, “Do good to them that hate you” would be to make every effort to please them. Again, this would only be possible through the love of God in the believer.

“and pray for them who despitefully use you and persecute you.” While the two previous actions of blessing and doing good are outward, the expression of God’s love in prayer for our enemies may never be known by them or anyone else; yet it is to be done faithfully since the present tense is used: “Keep praying on the behalf of those who are despitefully using you.” Here, and in Luke 6:28 the word for “despitefully” is epereazonton, a present participle, which is defined as “insult, treat wrongfully, having been molested.” Added to all this is the common word for persecution, dioko, which is used in some places to refer to a beast pursuing its prey with intent to kill and devour it!

All the verbs in verse 44 are present tense; love, bless, do good, pray for; and all the participles (referring to the enemies) are present tense; those cursing you, those hating you, those despitefully using you and those persecuting you. Thus, throughout this con­stant barrage, the believer must be just as constant in manifesting the love of God. This is possible now, and will be “in the fulness of time.”

Read Part 22