What Does ‘Love Your Enemies’ Not Mean?

I recently preached on Jesus’s most revolutionary ethical teaching––love your enemies (Matt. 5:44). It stands as a Mount Everest among ethical instructions that both Christians and non-Christians respect. Yet, because we have a certain modern definition of love, it is easy to misunderstand Jesus’s teaching. What did Jesus actually mean by enemy love and how do we integrate it with Old Testament texts that seem to contradict it?

In context, Jesus’s teaching about enemy love stands in contrast to what his disciples have heard––that they’re to “love [their] neighbor and hate [their] enemy” (v. 43). As many commentators have pointed out, the instruction to hate your enemy isn’t found in the source text. Leviticus 19:18 says, “Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD” (CSB). The text only says to “love your neighbor,” not to “hate your enemy.” Many therefore affirm that “hate your enemy” was an oral tradition that had developed by Jesus’s time.

There are, however, texts where God commands Israel to destroy their enemies (Deut. 7:2; 13:15; Josh. 6:21). We also have imprecatory psalms that plead with God to mete out judgment on the wicked (e.g., Pss. 5; 17; 28; 35; 40; 137) and a few texts that express hatred for God’s enemies (Deut. 32:41; 33:11). One text that seems to contradict Jesus’s words comes from Psalm 139, where David says,

Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
I hate them with complete hatred;
I count them my enemies. (vv. 21–22)

How do we square Jesus’s command to “love our enemies” with David saying “I hate . . . my enemies”? Four realities from Psalm 139 help us see that Jesus and David aren’t in conflict and help us understand what Jesus truly means by “love your enemies.”

1. Zeal for Justice and God’s Honor

Loving our enemies doesn’t mean we should lack zeal for justice and God’s honor. David’s emotional overflow in Psalm 139 is in response to the wicked who shed blood (v. 19). David calls for justice against oppressors opposed to God’s design. He loves God’s righteousness so much that he’s against anything unrighteous.

This means we shouldn’t interpret Jesus’s call to love our enemies as a sentimental, airbrushed emotion. There’s still a place for zeal for God’s honor, and opposition to wickedness. The biblical authors didn’t see these in tension, so neither should we.

Loving our enemies doesn’t mean we should lack zeal for justice and God’s honor.

2. Righteous Anger

Psalm 139 reveals that loving our enemies doesn’t mean we banish righteous anger. David affirms that God knows all his thoughts, and he even requests that God scrutinize him. The psalm begins by saying the Lord searches David and knows him (v. 1). Immediately after David says he hates his enemies, he asks God, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me” (vv. 23–24). After God examines King David (vv. 1-18), the psalm speaks of God directing anger against wickedness (vv. 19-22).

Paul doesn’t view righteous anger as against God’s design. As Paul says, “Be angry and do not sin” (Eph. 4:26). Not all anger is sin, though anger can turn sinful. David can be angry and still ask the Lord to examine him to make sure his passion is properly placed and remove anything stained by sin.

3. Personal, Not Civil

Psalm 139 reminds us that “love your enemies” is better interpreted personally rather than civically, as David expresses hatred for his enemies. He’s speaking as Israel’s king and God’s representative, not merely as an individual. So, when Jesus tells us to love our enemies, he speaks more to personal relationships than civil realities.

While personal and political realities are intertwined, Jesus’s command in no way contradicts Paul’s claim that the civil magistrate holds the sword (Rom. 13:4). It’s appropriate for a king to express his indignation over the unrighteous and call for their injustice to cease. David can hate his enemies’ actions without hating them. As the king, he can and should punish the unrighteous.

4. Jesus’s Other Words

Psalm 139 reminds us we can’t proof text Jesus’s teachings. “Love your enemies” isn’t all Jesus said. We tend to elevate certain teachings of Jesus at the expense of others. Jesus says we’re to love our enemies, but Jesus also takes up imprecatory psalms on his lips.

When Jesus says ‘love your enemies,’ he speaks more to personal relationships than political realities.

Jesus employs Psalm 69 frequently when he’s near or on the cross (John 15:25; Matt. 26:37; 27:34). In this psalm, David says he wants his enemies’ own table become a snare to them, for their eyes to be darkened, for God’s indignation to be poured out on them, for their camp to become desolate, and for them to be blotted out from the book of the living and not enrolled with the righteous (Ps. 69:22–28). Jesus says to love our enemies, but he also calls out for God to bring justice.

A Whole Bible Makes a Whole Christian

A pastor friend used to say, “A whole Bible makes a whole Christian.” His point was that we need all the Scriptures and can’t rip out one command and make it our banner verse, neglecting all others.

Jesus’s words about loving our enemies are a beautiful and difficult command we’re called to follow. However, reading other texts reveals it doesn’t have to be put at odds with a zeal for justice, righteous anger, or civil justice that protects innocent people.