Love Your Enemies
Matthew 5:46 “For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?”
For if ye... The world loves its own. To be different from the world, we must love the unlovely. Questions 5-8. Next, Mat. 6:25.
even the publicans... Tax-gatherers. Used 17 times. They were despised by the Jews, so any reference to being less than this class was the lowest thing that could be said of anyone religious. They were classed with sinners (Mat. 9:10-11; 11:19; 21:31-32). Many repented and were baptized (Luke 3:12; 7:29). One of them—Matthew—became an apostle (Luke 5:27-29; 19:1-10).
Tax collectors who were disloyal Israelite's hired by the Romans to tax other Jews for personal profit. They became symbols for the worst kind of people. (9:10-11; 11:19; 18:17; 21:31; Mark 2:14-16; Luke 5:30; 7:25, 29, 34; 18:11-13), Matthew had been one of them.
Such love demonstrates that they are God’s sons (cf. Mat.5:16). Loving only those who love you and greeting only your brothers is no more than the tax collectors and pagans do - a cutting remark for Pharisees!
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