By: Gen. Jim – 12/1/25
“… for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil & on the good, & sendeth rain on the just & on the unjust” – Mt. 5:45 b, KJV. [see Job 25:3]
We all make excuses for the word “perfect”. We all have said, “No one is perfect”, excusing ourselves. Matthew 5:3-48 has Jesus speaking, i.e. The Sermon on the Mount.” Jesus begins His sermon on “love your enemies” with, “you have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye & a tooth for a tooth,’” referring to Ex. 21:24, repeated in Lev. 24:20 & Deut. 19:21. These texts refer to the law of retaliation which obliged the offender to suffer the SAME injury he had committed. The Romans & Greek had the same law. Revenge, at times, was carried to the extreme though.
Jesus continues with His sermon about being sued etc. He tells His disciples/multitude, “You have heard that it was said, ‘you shall love your neighbor & hate your enemy’”– vs. 43. He refers to Lev 19:18: “you shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of our people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself….”
Deut. 23:3-6 gives us another side: the first verse of this section (vs. 3) seems to be an old law which in the remaining verses receives an expanded commentary. The traditional hostility between Israel & her neighbors in undoubtedly the reason for the prohibition, though historically the explanation in verse 4 offers difficulty because nothing elsewhere is said about Ammonite hostility at the time of this passage through Trans – Jordan.
Back To Matthew
Jesus, in vs. 44, says “… Love your enemies…” Now we come to the much-debated words of the Savior – from HATING your enemies to loving your enemies. Some think these words were not original.
The “neighbors” were or implied to be the Jewish race, & all others were considered natural enemies. The Hellenistic Jews meant “friend”. Neighbor = Jews / Friends = Jews also. (see both Heb./Gk. words). Among the Greeks it was (πλησίον / LXX found in more than 100 places) a very comprehensive term, & signified every man, not even an enemy excepted. The Jews thought themselves authorized to KILL! any Jews who apostatized (note: this law is still in effect in certain Islamic nations)
Hear their own words: “A Jew sees a Gentile fall into the sea, let him by no means lift him out; for it is written, ‘Thou shalt not rise up against the blood of thy neighbor: – but this is not thy neighbor.” This shows that by “neighbor” they understood a Jew; one who was of the same blood & religion with themselves.
Verse 44
“Love your enemies”? This IS the most sublime piece of morality. It has appeared UNREASONABLE & ABSURD! Yes, sir, a hard pill to swallow for so many – too many. Why so? Because to the natural man to avenge him/herself is natural. Sure, it is. This is exactly why Jesus said, “Love your enemies.” Can it be done? I don’t care if He meant the Jews or Gentiles, He taught that we should strive to go higher than that of the LOWER nature.
Bible experts do struggle with His saying – the ones that defy ones carnal/natural nature. Other religions have moral prohibition. Hatred is natural, it accommodates one’s fallen nature. Paul expresses it this way: “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses & sins, in which you once walked (lit. lived) according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air (Satan), the (evil) spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we ALL (Jews/Gentiles) once conducted ourselves in the lusts of the flesh… by nature (natural/fallen) children of wrath…” -Eph. 2:1-3. All humans are born with an evil nature, although none have committed any sin… yet! But the fallen nature is a FACT.
Pt. 2
“Children of Your Father”
Jesus Says…
“… Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, & pray for them which despitefully use you, & persecute you; that you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven; for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil & on the good; & sendeth rain on the just & on the unjust.” – Mt. 5:44, 45
Love Your Enemies?
Some believe this saying is not original. They believe it to be an interpolation. But what if it is a TRUE saying – which I believe it to be? As already stated in pt. 1, this saying is the most SUBLIME piece of morality. We can love our friend(s) but we struggle with loving our enemies (be they “Christian” or pagan).
As I write this, Americans are at WAR with each other: Dems vs. GOP; Communists /socialists /woke-ites vs. Conservatives /Christians, militant Muslims vs the USA et al. HATRED prevails on both sides. On the side I reside (Jesus’ revolution), I certainly disdain Communism & Islam (see my many articles on these 2 ideologies), both are MURDEROUS (read their books/manifestos etc.).
So, if Jesus was speaking of loving those who use/persecute (kill/murder) the “others”, then I can love them because they are God’s creation as I am also. I may not, I do not agree with their creeds /doctrines /agendas /intents /deceits /grizzly deeds, but I can & I (we) do pray for them… to be converted to the Christian Camp. Our prayers we pray are directed by the Holy Spirit, not merely “Oh, God, bless those who MURDER our people.” We must allow the Spirit to guide our prayers, for them & against them. Both Communism and Islam have a World Domination view. Don’t believe all their “peaceful” BS (as Muslims spew out to FOOL the fools!).
It is a FACT that Islam is a religion of the “Sword” (of steel); it is a FACT Christianity is a religion of the “Sword” (of Spirit).
We Implore
While I cannot change evil & wicked hearts, God can; therefore we implore Him to do so. There are multitudes converting to Christianity as I write: there are multitudes of Muslims/Commies that have vowed to destroy the Christian Church. Their ranks are full of hatred & Malice accompanied with hostile acts of terrorism.
3 Ways to be An Enemy
1) in their heart, by hatred;
2) in their words by cursing or using evil/direful imprecations against us;
3) in their actions – terrorism.
Their injurious words and acts must be met with aggressive prayers!
Vs. 45
“That you may be the children of your Father.” Instead of (Gk.) νιός children, some Mss., the latter Persic version, & several of the primitive father, read (Gk.) όμοιοι, that ye may be like to, or resemble, your Father who is in heaven. As a man’s child is called his, because a partaker of his own nature, so a holy person is said to be a child of God, because he/she is a partaker of the Divine nature.
Rise on the Evil (vs. 45)
Jesus said that His Father & their Father “maketh His sun to rise on the evil & on the good” (Mt. 5:45). In short, He shows no favoritism; He shows His goodness to His enemies. We show all too often revenge! What do the Scriptures say? “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” – Rom. 5:8; see also Jn. 3:16; 15:13 & Isa. 53:5.
If He had not loved us, we could have never become His children. And I will add, and we shall cease to be His children, as soon as we cease to imitate Him! We must guard against talking & acting like a devil!
What Reward have we?
Jesus goes on to state, “For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?”, vs. 46. We’re still examining the “heart” of the matter. Since God gives rain/sun to His enemies, ought we also to show some sort of love to the enemies? We can pray that God touches their hearts for one. Love of enemies is, IS!, the supreme test of our Christian character. This IS, I believe, one of the most difficult things to do in a social/personal setting. The time we’re in – December 12/11/25 – is a time of DIVISION/ANGER/HATRED/MURDER/TERROR/etc. America is SPLIT. God is allowing all this in order for this nation to choose His way as opposed to Satan’s way. Is it this simple? Yes! [note: see our prophetic Word, “Nations Divided”, page 2, AggressiveChristianity.net; “Get Ready for the Ride”, RighteousnessRevolution.net; ” read our latest Prophetic Word, “Bombing Inside America”, AggressiveChristianity.net, posted 11/25/25].
The word translated “love (vs. 44) originally meant “to welcome, entertain, be well pleased, contented” & in the LXX it has a wide a reference as the English word “love”. In the N.T., however, it denotes the love of God for man & of man for God (1 Jn. 3:5) & the benevolent loving-kindness which seeks both the spiritual & the material good of others. (see 1 Cor. 13). Ex. 23:4, 5 & other rabbinical sayings look in this direction, but, scholars tell us, that idea is never made a general maxim for conduct in Judaism.
Though Jesus was (is) fully conscious of the misfortunes in this world, He raises no question whether rain & sunshine are not sometimes DESTRUCTIVE.
Christianity vs. Islam/Communism
Christianity is far different from Islam/Communism(I/C). The latter have no such thing in their writings as “love your enemies”. (see all my articles posted). No! this is an unequivocal demand in Christianity. Some degree of human kindness may be wrought by the I/C disciples, but “love” is not the foundation: “Beloved, let us LOVE one another, for LOVE is of God; & everyone who LOVES is born of God & knows God. He who does not LOVE does not know God, FOR GOD IS LOVE.” – 1 Jn. 4:7, 8 (read down to vs. 21)
All one has to do is read the Qur’an/Hadiths & Marx’s writings.
We Need to Pray!
Pray for both the Christian believers & for our enemies. The believers need encouragement: the enemies need Christ! We’re in a time – Right now! – when a “little Churchiness” won’t get the job done! No! We need aggressive prayer warriors on the frontline of battle. Plots to murder, destroy are very real (as we all know by now). I was saying this back in the 1980s… when both Church & state label us “dangerous”. (see our PX2 Files etc.)
Just where was the “Christian” love for us when we were WARNING this nation against I/C et al.? We were attacked without mercy! But what we were WARNING America about is NOW in our FACE – Hostile & murderous!!! We were called a “subversive dangerous CULT”. We warned America that there were jihad training camps in America. We said the Communist party was working inside our government & would brainwash our youth via movies/music etc. Propaganda would become a “weapon of choice”, taking over the media/education etc. (read our Comminism/Islam articles for proof!).
We live in a time when common sense is hard to find; America has lost its mind! The dem. party et al. is an ENEMY; some RINOS are as well. They want open borders so as to allow the illegals to flow in like a river (they see “voters” for their DEMONcratic Party!).
So, dear readers, do we want to lay back & allow our freedoms to slip away because you are too lazy or too afraid to confront the enemies? Are you going to lay back and watch America descend into the MACABRE?… into sheer MADNESS?
Spread the Plague
The leftist lunacy mental derangement has become a murderous Plague: it kills souls! Can’t you discern the deception? If we do not “fight the good fight of faith” & “contend for the faith (1 Tim. 6:12; Jude 3), we may as well hang up a sign that reads: “Welcome to the Insurrection!”, “Righteousness Not Needed!”
Fin
“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father… is perfect,” vs. 48. The word rendered “perfect” is frequently used in Greek to refer to the gods. It has much the same scope as the English word does, & in addition can refer to a full-grown man/woman (see Eph. 4:13) or to the members of Gnostic sect. I don’t think Jesus meant “sinless” or “flawless”, but “mature”, “fruitfulness/wholeness”. While God is SINLESS/FLAWLESS, He knows mere humans can’t attain this “Godhood” realm; only in the realm of spiritual maturity = cooperation with Him till the END! Most scholars agree the “perfect” does not mean “sinless” but “fruitfulness” (i.e. ripe fruit).
We are beset by much perversities these days. We feel more like hiding than fighting. Jesus does not expect or require CELESTIAL PURITY; He expects & requires a willing heart to follow Him wheresoever He leads… into battle? Yes! at least right now. Some translations use words like “upright”, “sincere”, “integrity”.
In short, the Christian man’s/woman’s attitude toward other men/women must be like that of God: candid, sincere, transparent, not vengeful. But there will be times when the Spirit will lead us into another mode which may be that of judgment/punishment (God has 2 sides) withholding love/mercy while He executes His wrath, fury & indignation. Jesus gives us example (see Mt. 23 where He scolded the “religious”; see where He cursed the fig tree (example for us); see where He speaks of casting the fruitless into eternal fire).
Luke 6:36, the parallel to Mt. 5:48, uses the word “merciful” instead of “perfect”, which in turn has a parallel in the Jerusalem Targum on Isaiah, does not cover so broad a field. [see Gen. 6:9 where Noah was called “a just man, perfect (Heb., having integrity) in his generations”. The saying of Jesus about being “perfect” is more accurate (wholeness/integrity/upright/sincere); see also Job 1:1; James 1:4, & especially Dt. 18:13. One Bible scholar remarks: “You must be honest with Him (yahweh), upright & sincere, having wholeness & integrity, not double-dealing.”
So, loving our enemies includes sharing the Gospel message with them. Use whatever means: word of mouth, printed materials, internet, T.V., radio etc. While we are free to HATE their deeds (even their religions/ideologies), we can see them as LOST souls in need of being RESCUED!