Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this subject matter. I am in a situation with a sibling who feels offended by something that she wanted me to do for her but I didn't want and couldn't get involved. It's been eight months since the incident happened and our relationship has changed for the worse. It's better if we don't talk. I am praying for direction and guidance.
sometimes I feel like I have one foot in the physical world and the other in the spiritual world. I think that when someone tries to break Gods laws, commandments and we are in the crosshairs we are expected to defend ourselves, His laws. I think we are also expected to speak up and warn others that we see in the crosshairs (including perps, those involved) of dangers (which I would define as “loving your neighbor” ) even if we’re subsequently persecuted for exposing the danger or scam or shunned as the bearer of unwanted news.
There is what seems like a fine line to walk. Thankfully, Jesus did not ultimately defend himself, although he certainly warned people, and he defended the truth. He also avoided or disengaged from fatal encounters before the time.
The principle of returning good for evil still applies. There are wise ways to apply it, and unwise ones. It was interesting to observe the response of the group as I brought this idea up to them from reading my commentary. I ended up having to bring it up three times in order to respond to one person, a friend, that was struggling to understand it (as was I). Others in the group kept changing the subject by switching to talking about themselves.
My commentary has a six page section for Matt. 5:43-48 alone, the "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" passage. That's a page per verse. I avoided diving in there, but the section begins with a "Main Idea" statement: "If one loves only friends, they are no different than the pagans. To love one’s enemies is to be truly a child of God and to have a heavenly rather than earthly perspective."
The entire "sermon" (teaching) revolves around having a heavenly rather than an earthly perspective, and loving your enemies has to be one of the directions in which that takes us. We want God to love us in spite of our sins, right? So is it too much for God to ask us to love our enemies as well?
It works the same way with forgiveness (Mt. 6:12). What is it about us that God forgives? Forgiveness does not directly remove any harm that may have been caused by our transgressions, and it certainly does not make the sin OK. If restitution were due, that would still be up to us -- and yet we are forgiven. So what is forgiven? I would say the fact that we did it, and what our sinning cost God (a great deal, for which we are unable to make restitution). Our debt.
Matthew uses a commercial term meaning "debt", while Luke uses a word meaning "sins". Jesus might have used an Aramaic word that could be understood either way. In commanding us to forgive others, God asks no more of us than we ask of Him.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this subject matter. I am in a situation with a sibling who feels offended by something that she wanted me to do for her but I didn't want and couldn't get involved. It's been eight months since the incident happened and our relationship has changed for the worse. It's better if we don't talk. I am praying for direction and guidance.
sometimes I feel like I have one foot in the physical world and the other in the spiritual world. I think that when someone tries to break Gods laws, commandments and we are in the crosshairs we are expected to defend ourselves, His laws. I think we are also expected to speak up and warn others that we see in the crosshairs (including perps, those involved) of dangers (which I would define as “loving your neighbor” ) even if we’re subsequently persecuted for exposing the danger or scam or shunned as the bearer of unwanted news.
There is what seems like a fine line to walk. Thankfully, Jesus did not ultimately defend himself, although he certainly warned people, and he defended the truth. He also avoided or disengaged from fatal encounters before the time.
The principle of returning good for evil still applies. There are wise ways to apply it, and unwise ones. It was interesting to observe the response of the group as I brought this idea up to them from reading my commentary. I ended up having to bring it up three times in order to respond to one person, a friend, that was struggling to understand it (as was I). Others in the group kept changing the subject by switching to talking about themselves.
My commentary has a six page section for Matt. 5:43-48 alone, the "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" passage. That's a page per verse. I avoided diving in there, but the section begins with a "Main Idea" statement: "If one loves only friends, they are no different than the pagans. To love one’s enemies is to be truly a child of God and to have a heavenly rather than earthly perspective."
The entire "sermon" (teaching) revolves around having a heavenly rather than an earthly perspective, and loving your enemies has to be one of the directions in which that takes us. We want God to love us in spite of our sins, right? So is it too much for God to ask us to love our enemies as well?
It works the same way with forgiveness (Mt. 6:12). What is it about us that God forgives? Forgiveness does not directly remove any harm that may have been caused by our transgressions, and it certainly does not make the sin OK. If restitution were due, that would still be up to us -- and yet we are forgiven. So what is forgiven? I would say the fact that we did it, and what our sinning cost God (a great deal, for which we are unable to make restitution). Our debt.
Matthew uses a commercial term meaning "debt", while Luke uses a word meaning "sins". Jesus might have used an Aramaic word that could be understood either way. In commanding us to forgive others, God asks no more of us than we ask of Him.