Sermon on the Mount: 6th Blessing
MATTHEW 5:38-48
CHRISTIAN RIGHTEOUSNESS
(NON RETALIATION AND ACTIVE LOVE)
The final two contrast teachings bring us to the highest point of the Sermon, which is the attitude of total love which Christ calls us to show toward one who is evil (verse 39) and our enemies (verse 44). Nowhere is the challenge of the Sermon greater. Nowhere is the power of the Holy Spirit (whose first fruit is love) more important.
PASSIVE NON RETALIATION
These verses (38-42) come directly from the oral teaching of the rabbis which Jesus quotes straight out of the Law of Moses. The Law was a civil as well as moral code.
It is almost certain that in the time of Jesus literal retaliation for damage had been replaced by Jewish legal practice of money damage to offset harm done by others. But the Pharisees extended this principal of just retribution from the law courts (where it did belong) to the area of personal relationships (where it did not belong). They tried to use it to justify personal revenge, even though the Law forbid such action. Leviticus 9:18 is clear that there be no vengeance or grudge against your own people.
In His reply, Jesus did not contradict the principle of retribution, for it is a true and just principle. What He affirmed was that this principle was proper in courts but not proper inside personal relations. In verse 39 we see the teaching of non retaliation. This teaching was not an invitation to compromise with sin or Satan. What Jesus is teaching is that we are to resist the person who is evil, not evil itself. Jesus does not deny that evil exists. We are not to condone the person or the evil he exhibits, but we are not, as His followers, to retaliate. Instead, what Jesus here demands of all His own is a personal attitude toward evildoers that is prompted by mercy not justice.
There is to be no bitterness in our hearts, no grudge in our souls, and no revenge in our minds. We are to overcome all these things with the redemptive power of love.
ACTIVE LOVE
In verses 43-48 we see that it seems sure the Pharisees may have concluded as biblical teaching that enemies are to be hated. We know the chosen people were engaged in much war to take the land promised by God. But these actions were commanded by God and were in His will and so clearly stated by Him both to Moses and Joshua. After these wars, there were no more wars of faith.
Jesus is saying that evil men should be the object our clear and consuming love. To “love” them means to desire and pray for their repentance and salvation. God is the instrument of both salvation and judgment and we should desire that His will be done while we stand in obedience of His command to love all.
Jesus contradicted the teaching of the Pharisees that there was one moral code for a neighbor and another for an enemy. For our neighbor, as He later taught in the story of the good Samaritan, is not necessarily a member of our race or community or religion. In God’s eyes, our neighbor includes our enemy.
Our enemy is seeking our harm but we must seek his good. For this is exactly how God has treated each of us. Romans 5:10 shows us that while were yet enemies of God, He commended His love to us. This is the supreme command. Through prayer, we go to our enemy, stand by his side, and plead for him to God. If we love only our own we are no better than the pagans we are called to rise above. It is not enough for Christians to come to resemble those who are not Christians, either in word or deed. Our righteousness is to exceed the Pharisees, to surpass and be more than others.
This righteousness, whether expressed in purity, honesty, or the commanded love, will show to whom we belong.
