What Does it Mean to Love Your Enemy? | Part II
Neither Biblical nor Noble
This is Part 2 of a 3 part series where we’re looking at how you are to love your enemy.
When you remain silent in the face of evil, you’re able to effectively insulate yourself from the attacks that come from those who want to silence anyone who would dare to point out their sinister actions and intent.
However sinful it may be (Gal 2:11-21; Jas 4:17), it’s an alluring way to remain on the sidelines so as to avoid the real conflict that’s happening on the field and the opposition you would otherwise have to contend with.
But when you look at Scripture as a whole, you are compelled to concede that remaining either silent or accommodating is neither biblical let alone noble.
These days, Politics and Current Events tend to be processed according to two very different worldviews.
One sees evil as something to be accommodated, the other sees it as something to be resisted.
Those who see evil as something that needs to be accommodated need to position it as something to pity. You don’t have to get someone to agree with you if you can get them to feel sorry for you.
You see that often in the Bible beginning in Genesis 3 when the serpent suggests to Eve that God is both afraid and resentful:
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Gen 3:1-5)
Satan begins by suggesting that God had denied Adam and Even the ability to eat from any tree, He asserts the idea that God is unnecessarily harsh, which, by default, makes Adam and Eve victims of an overbearing administration. Then in verse 5 he suggests that God is secretly intimidated at the thought of Adam and Eve becoming more than what they are right now.
What was a generous provision is now seen as an unnecessary restriction imposed by a mindset characterized by fear and hate.
Poison Disguised as a Courtesy
However obvious it may be from a distance, it can be difficult to see up close because of the way compliance with an evil premise is often justified as an act of compassion.
- Aaron’s part in building the golden calf (Ex 32:22-23)
- Israel’s demand for a king (1 Sam 8:6-9)
- Saul disobeys God by sparing King Agag and the best of the livestock (1 Sam 15:7-10)
- King Herod’s request to the Magi to tell him where Jesus was born (Matt 2:7-8, 13)
- Judas complaining about the perfume used to anoint Christ, saying that it should’ve been sold and the money given to the poor (Jn 12:1-8)
In each of the above scenarios, you have a situation where sin was concealed as a healthy and logical compromise. But what appeared to be rational and even noble, was a poison disguised as a courtesy.
The Right Questions
While discerning the difference between a legitimate request for mercy and a selfish demand for immunity is not always easy, you can gain some visibility into what’s actually the case by asking the right questions.
Accusations can be denied, and facts can be disputed. But a simple question left insufficiently answered cannot be ignored. With the right question, you’re able to proceed directly to that place where there’s either an answer or an excuse, and that’s an important dynamic to have in place in order to prevent a lie from being embraced as the truth.
Today’s political climate is frequently punctuated with soundbytes and snapshots that are presented as holistic perspectives on a particular issue. The result is a toxic environment where falsehoods are concealed behind cries for compassion and anything that has the capacity to reveal the truth is demonized as ignorant and tyrannical.
For example, the following was circulated on Social Media as an attempt to accuse anyone who supports the current administration as being less than Christlike. However compelling it may appear to be on the surface, its flaws from both a biblical and logical perspective are revealed simply by asking the right questions.
You’ll see the original post on the left with the “right questions” listed on the right.
| post | the right questions |
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Through the White House Office of Faith, the Trump administration has racked up several significant accomplishments on behalf of America’s faith based community which include: Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias – In 2023, the Biden Administration labeled people of faith as domestic terror threats for opposing abortion and transgender ideologies. Paulette Harlow, a 75 year old grandmother confined to a wheel chair was arrested for “obstructing” an Abortion Clinic and sentenced to 2 years in prison. This was typical of the Biden DOJ. The Trump Administration, through the “White House Office of Faith” pardoned Harlow as well as several others who were imprisoned for their “terrorist” activities. The Department of Veterans Affairs rescinded a Biden-era speech code that censored the sermons of military chaplains – Russell Trubey was a chaplain in a Pennsylvania VA medical center for 10 years. After delivering a sermon at the center’s chapel on Romans 1, police approached him alleging complaints were reported about the content of his message. He was removed from his duties and reassigned to stock shelves in the hospital. The Trump Administration rescinded that action and reinforced the fact that chaplains can preach in accordance with their faith without fear of persecution. Establishment of the Religious Liberty Commission – Compelling statistics reveal a disproportionate bias against Christian universities during the Biden era. Outrageous fines that were, in some instances, the largest dollar amounts in history, were levied against faith based colleges for identical infractions committed by secular institutions that were not punished to the same extent. This anomaly was seen, not just in academia, but in a number of instances pertaining to funding and tax exempt status. For a complete listing of the Trump Administration’s accomplishments in the context of faith based initiatives, click here. |
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| You can’t spend Sunday morning in church praising Jesus, talking about love, compassion, mercy, humility, honesty, and caring for the vulnerable, then spend Sunday afternoon defending an administration that does the exact opposite. | Are you being being like Christ by insisting that everyone who is breaking into your neighbor’s house is only doing so because they’re hungry? And how are you not being hypocritical if you’re telling your nethat they should leave its doors open when yours are locked and you’ve got a security system in place? |
| And before someone says, “But I’m a Republican,” let me remind you of something: God doesn’t serve political parties. Jesus didn’t die for Democrats. Jesus didn’t die for Republicans. He didn’t wear a red hat or a blue one. He didn’t tell people to pick a team and hate the other side. He called people to love their neighbor, care for the poor, welcome the stranger, seek truth, show mercy, and hold the powerful accountable. You can’t praise the Good Samaritan while cheering policies that target immigrants and asylum seekers. | Is it against the law to enter this country illegally?
How were the “foreigners” and “strangers” in Scripture treated when they broke the law? (Lev 24:17-22) Loving your enemy, at the very least, means that you are working to promote their welfare. How are you doing that by enabling their illegal behavior? |
| You can’t celebrate “love thy neighbor” while mocking the poor, cutting assistance for struggling families, and treating human suffering like a political talking point. You can’t talk about protecting children while separating families, demonizing entire communities, and creating fear as a governing strategy. | How am I “loving my neighbor” by ignoring fraud?
Why are you blaming law enforcement for separating families when it was the parents who put their families in that position to begin with? Is it not common for guilty people to be afraid of being caught (Rom 13:3-4)? |
| Jesus fed the hungry. He didn’t ask for their paperwork first. Jesus healed the sick. He didn’t check their political party. Jesus stood with the marginalized. He didn’t use them as campaign props. Jesus challenged the powerful. He didn’t worship them. This administration has normalized cruelty, retaliation, greed, vengeance, dishonesty, scapegoating, and the constant division of Americans against one another. It attacks journalists, demonizes opponents, mocks compassion as weakness, treats empathy as a flaw, and encourages people to view fellow Americans as enemies rather than neighbors. | How would you expect someone who’s guilty of fraud and deceit to react when they’re revealed for who and what they are?
What’s the purpose of division according to 1 Corinthians 11:19? Which party is it that refers to its opponents as Nazis? |
| The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Ask yourself honestly: are those the values being demonstrated? Or are we seeing anger, fear, revenge, hostility, insults, loyalty tests, culture wars, and endless outrage? You don’t have to be a Democrat to see it. You don’t have to be liberal to see it. You just have to compare what Jesus taught with what this administration celebrates. | Does love delight in evil? And is it not evil to ignore the rule of law (Rom 13:4)? |
| If your politics require you to ignore cruelty, excuse corruption, justify lies, or abandon compassion, then politics has become your religion and your politician has become your idol. God doesn’t have a political team. Jesus doesn’t wear a campaign hat. | What does the Bible say about a fool’s reaction to discipline (Prov 15:7, 10)?
If truth is whatever an individual wants to believe, then how else would they react to correction if not by labeling it as cruel, corrupt, and lacking in compassion? |
| And no politician is important enough to place above the values you claim to believe in every Sunday morning. | Why would I not support a politician who enforces the rule of law, deploys a foreign policy that’s characterized by actions and not just words, and calls out falsehoods when he sees them? |
