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-- LOVE YOUR ENEMIES
Luke
6:27 -- 38 "But I say to you who hear:
Love your enemies, do good to those who hate
you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use
you. To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other
also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic
either. Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away
your goods do not ask them back. And just as you want men to
do to you, you also do to them likewise.
"But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?
For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those
who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do
the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back,
what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive
as much back.
But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.
". Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."
As Jesus continues to address those who have been called out of the world to be his disciples or students, notice the qualifying phrase: I say to you who hear . . .
Christianity is not a rubber-stamp religion or a mere creed, because the changed attitudes of heart we saw described in the previous section are required to manifest themselves in a new and very un-worldy way of life, as Jesus stresses when he commands his disciples: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.
Neither, on the other hand, is Christianity an "exclusivist" religion that condemns and criticizes or looks down on others, as Jesus warns when he says: Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. The simple fact is that God treats us as we treat other people, a point also stressed by James (James 2:13) -- and as we also read in the last line of this section: For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."