Wetin E Mean to “Love Your Enemies”?
The Answer wey Bible give
For the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus talk say: “Make wuna continue to love wuna enemies.” (Matt. 5:44; Luke 6:27, 35).Wetin Jesus talk mean say, we go show say we love people wey hate us or wey treat us for bad way.
Jesus show say e love e enemies when e forgive people wey treat-am for bad way. (Luke 23:33, 34) Wetin Jesus teach about to love our enemies agree with wetin dey for the Hebrew Scriptures, wey people de call the Old Testament.—Exodus 23:4, 5; Proverbs 24:17; 25:21.
“Make wuna continue to love wuna enemies and pray for people wey de suffer wuna”—Matt. 5:43, 44.
For this article, we go talk about
Wrong ideas wey people get about wetin e mean to love your enemies
Bible verses wey talk about how to show love for your enemies
Why we need to love our enemies?
God show us how to do-am. God “de do good for wicked people and people wey no de talk thank you.” (Luke 6:35) E “de make e sun shine for . . . wicked people”—Matt. 5:45.
When we show love to our enemy, e fit make-am change. Bible de give us advice say make we treat our enemy for kind way, because when we do like that, we “de pack hot charcoal for e head” (Prov. 25:22.) This example de talk about how people de burn ore for fire so that they go fit get better metal. For the same way, when we dey kind to person wey hate us, this one fit cool e temper and make-am start to show the better-better character wey e get.
Wetin you fit do to show love for your enemies?
“De do good things to people wey hate wuna.” (Luke 6:27) Bible talk say: “Give your enemy food if e de hungry, give your enemy something make e drink if e dey thirsty.” (Rom. 12:20) You fit still show your enemy love for other ways if you de follow wetin people de call the Golden Rule, wey talk say, “Wetin you want make people do to you, make you do the same thing to them”—Luke 6:31.
“De bless people wey de curse wuna.” (Luke 6:28.) We de bless our enemies when we talk to them for kind and gentle way, even if them de abuse us. Bible talk say: “Make wuna no . . . insult person wey insult wuna. Instead pay the person back with blessing” ( 1 Pet. 3:9.) When we dey kind to people, e fit make them stop to hate us or stop to hate other people wey do them bad.
“De pray for people wey de insult wuna.” (Luke 6:28.) If person insult wuna, ‘no do-am bad because e do wuna bad.’ (Rom. 12:17.) But, beg God make e forgive the person. (Luke 23:34; Acts 7:59, 60) Instead of to do person bad because e do us bad, leave the matter to God make e deal with the person because Jehovah de always judge for the correct way —Leviticus 19:18; Romans 12:19.
“Continue to show love to wuna enemies, and de do good things to people wey hate wuna. de bless people wey de curse wuna, de pray for people wey de insult wuna.”—Luke 6:27, 28.
Dey “patient and kind.” (1 Corinthians 13:4) When the Christian apostle Paul de talk about love, wey plenty people know about, e use one Greek word wey them de call (a·gaʹpe) and na this same word de for Matthew 5:44 and Luke 6:27, 35. We de show this kind love wey Jesus teach us, when we dey patient and kind and when we no de jealous or de treat other people like say we better pass them.
“Love dey patient and kind. Love no de jealous. E no de boast, e no de proud, E no de behave anyhow, e no de think of only e self, e no de quick vex. E no de keep record of the bad wey people don do. E no de happy for bad thing, but e de happy with the truth. E de bear everything, believe everything, get hope for everything, endure everything. Love no de ever fail..”—1 Corinthians 13:4-8
You suppose go fight your enemies for war?
No, because Jesus teach e disciples say make they no fight their enemies. For example, when Jesus warn e disciples say people go attack Jerusalem, e no tell them to fight but instead e tell them make they run comot from the city. (Luke 21:20, 21) Jesus still tell apostle Peter say: “Keep your sword back for e place, because any person wey de carry sword, na sword go kill the person.” (Matt. 26:52) The Bible and even people wey de study about things wey don happen for past talk say, Jesus disciple for time of the apostles no go fight war against their enemies .a—2 Timothy 2:24.
Wrong ideas wey people get about wetin e mean to love your enemies
Wrong idea: God command Israel people make them hate their enemies.
The Truth: The law wey God give Israel people no talk anything like that. But instead, e tell Israel people make they love their neighbor. (Leviticus 19:18) Na true say the word “neighbor” mean other people no matter where them come from, but some Jew people talk say this word de talk about only Jew people. (Matthew 5:43, 44) Jesus correct their wrong idea when e tell them the story about the good Samaritan.—Luke 10:29-37.
Wrong idea: If you love your enemies, e mean say you de support the bad thing wey them de do.
The Truth: The Bible show say you fit love person even if you no support the bad things wey e de do. For example, Jesus condemn people wey de fight-fight, but e still pray for people wey want kill-am. (Luke 23:34) Jesus hate-am when people no obey law or de sin but even with that one, e still die to save the life of people wey de sin.—John 3:16; Romans 6:23.
a The book The Rise of Christianity wey E. W. Barnes write, talk say: “When we sofri check all the things wey we know, we see say no Christain become soldier and no soldier continue to be soldier after e don become Christian. Na so e be before Marcus Aurelius start to rule [Roman emperor from 161 to 180 C.E].