by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
If the Law said to “hate your enemies<\/em>” (via Matthew 5:43), and Jesus was obligated to uphold the Law, then Jesus was obligated to hate His enemies, and He would have sinned if He did not hate his enemies. No! That will not work! Jesus does not contrast His own new moral standard with the Old Mosaic standard. Otherwise, He was obligated to do two conflicting things (love His enemies and hate them until He died on the cross). No! That does not work!<\/p>\n What Jesus is doing in the Sermon on the Mount is contrasting the “righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees<\/em>” (Matthew 5:20ff) with the true righteousness of the Law, which standard Jesus upheld perfectly. The law commanded that the Israelites “love your neighbor<\/em>.” The Pharisees tried to justify themselves by claiming that some people do not fit the “neighbor” part if they are your enemy. Thus, they could always justify their hatred for certain people by classifying them as their “enemy.” When you define who your neighbor is and who your enemy is, then you are always doing right, no matter who you love or hate. No! The Law did not teach this ridiculous standard! It was the Pharisee’s standard, and the real standard is to love your neighbor who is a friend or enemy.<\/p>\n You have people who make themselves your enemies because they are hateful, but your standard is to love them (hold goodwill for them, valuing their souls even if they are ignorant and foolish). You have enemies, not because you make them enemies, but because some people make themselves enemies. You still love their souls and hope they will change!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton If the Law said to “hate your enemies” (via Matthew 5:43), and Jesus was obligated to uphold the Law, then Jesus was obligated to hate His enemies, and He would have sinned if He did not hate his enemies. No! That will not work! Jesus does not contrast His own new…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[535,1735,65,708,1392,555],"class_list":["post-78796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-enemies","tag-hate","tag-love","tag-matthew","tag-neighbors","tag-pharisees"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":55406,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/implications-in-the-sermon-on-the-mount\/","url_meta":{"origin":78796,"position":0},"title":"Implications in the Sermon on the Mount","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer One way to see the sermon on the mount is through the lens of Matthew 5:20, \"For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven.\" Along these lines, I believe an important hermeneutical\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":60620,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-the-sermon-on-the-mount-nailed-to-the-cross\/","url_meta":{"origin":78796,"position":1},"title":"Was the Sermon on the Mount Nailed to the Cross?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 30, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry W. 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