Does God Love His Enemies?

January 6, 2024

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48 NIV)

I will readily confess that I sometimes ask what may seem to be ridiculous questions, when I am reading and pondering scriptures.  An example is, “When did God become holy?”  Again, this seems to be a ridiculous question, but asking this question, several years ago with a teachable heart, led to some precious insight about the nature of God our Father.  However, that question is not what this article is about.  Rather, it is the question, “Does God love His enemies?” or stated another way, “Does God hate His enemies?”  This question came to my mind recently when reading Genesis 18, which tells the story of when the LORD came to visit Abraham and revealed to Abraham what He planned to do about “the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah that is so great and their sin so grievous”. (Genesis 18:20 NIV) For reference I have included that section of Genesis 18.

Genesis 18:16-32 NIV  When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way.  (17)  Then the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?  (18)  Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.  (19)  For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what He has promised him.”  (20)  Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous  (21)  that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”  (22)  The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD.  (23)  Then Abraham approached Him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?  (24)  What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it?  (25)  Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”  (26)  The LORD said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”  (27)  Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes,  (28)  what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?” “If I find forty-five there,” He said, “I will not destroy it.”  (29)  Once again he spoke to Him, “What if only forty are found there?” He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”  (30)  Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?” He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”  (31)  Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?” He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”  (32)  Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?” He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”

As I pondered these scriptures it led me to ask the following questions and to make the following observations:

• Who is the LORD speaking to when He said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?”  This seems to be a conversation within what we call the Trinity — God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.  This is similar to the creation account of the origin of man in Genesis 1:26 (KJV), “God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness”. Notice the plural pronouns that are in this scripture – us and our.  The Hebrew word Elohim, in this scripture, that is translated to the English word God, is a plural noun. 
• The LORD seems to answer His own question of, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?” when He says, “…..all nations on earth will be blessed through him….. I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what He has promised him.”  
• What had the LORD promised Abraham? The LORD made several promises to Abraham, but the first one recorded in scripture is in Genesis 12:2-3 (NIV), which states,” I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” These scriptures give us some insight into the character, nature and will of God our Father.  Our Father desires to bless all the peoples of the earth and He chose Abraham to be part of the means by which He would do that.  Mankind was made in the image of God so that we might know Him, have fellowship with Him and choose to participate with Him in all that He desires. This is expressed in Ephesians 2:10 (NKJV) which says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” 
• This leads me to ask another question, “What good work did God prepare in advance for Abraham to do”?  A clue to the answer to this question is given by Jesus in His response to being asked, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one He has sent.” (John 6:28-29 NIV) We gain even more insight from the story of Zacheus, a detestable tax collector in the eyes of the Jews, when Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:9-10 NIV)

• What does it mean to be lost?  Something cannot be lost unless it has a home, and it belongs to someone who values it and grieves that it is no longer in its home or proper place.  Jesus makes this clear in the parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son in Luke 15. Speaking of the lost son, Jesus said, “But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” 
• Genesis 18:20 quotes the LORD saying, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous.” The word translated as sin, in the Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew scriptures, is hamartia. The literal meaning of this word is “to be without a share in”.  This begs the question, “without a share in what?” God our Father was grieving that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were living in a way that denied they were made in His image and were made to have a share of His life!  This is a version of the lie that Satan used to deceive Adam and Eve when he said, “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:5 NIV) Satan was accusing God their Father of withholding that which would “make them like God”. That lie is presented in various forms, but it is essentially, “God does not really love you!  He has a hidden agenda to harm you, not do good to you!  You better get away from Him and begin to live your life independent of Him and make your own way.”  Jesus addressed this lie when He came to reveal to us the true nature of God our Father.  This is stated in Hebrews 1:3 (NIV) which says, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”
• The scriptures in Genesis 18 do not record specifically what God was about to do with respect to Sodom and Gomorrah other than saying, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”  One way or another, it seems that Abraham reasoned that God was about to destroy all who lived in Sodom and Gomorrah, including his nephew Lot and his family.  I can only speculate how this happened.  Maybe it was because of the stories that were passed down from generation to generation about Noah and the flood and the tower of Babel.  Abraham was ninety-nine years old (Genesis 17:1 ) at the time that this conversation with the LORD occurred.  He first began his journey of knowing and following the LORD when he was seventy-five (Genesis 12:4).  Over a twenty-four-year period Abraham had been growing in his understanding of the nature of God our Father and learning to trust Him as he walked with Him in daily life.  Abraham knew his own unbelief in the goodness of God during those twenty-four years and that God our Father had dealt with Him with mercy and compassion. He had begun to understand what was later spoken in Psalm 100, “A  psalm. For giving grateful praise. Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the LORD is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.” (Psalms 100:1-5 NIV)
• How are we to understand Abraham’s conversation with God that is recorded in Genesis 18:23-32 which starts with Abraham asking God, “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked”? I do not believe that Abraham was more compassionate or merciful than the Father of all compassion (2 Corinthians 1:3-4) and therefore was trying to change God’s mind and intentions towards the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.  I absolutely and unequivocally, believe that God our Father never asks us, to do something or not do something, that He himself does not already do or not do.  Therefore, when Jesus said, “Love your enemies…do good to your enemies…. bless those who curse you, etc. it was because that is what God our Father has done and will do with respect to His enemies.
• I can only speculate, since the scriptures do not tell us what was in Abraham’s mind. Could it be, that Abraham had come to know that God was good and His love endures forever, but was not quite sure yet just how good He was?  This reminds me of the story Jesus told in Matthew 25:14-40 (NIV) about a man going on a journey, who called three of servants and entrusted his wealth to them.  He gave each a large amount of money, an amount to each according to their ability.  Two of the servants went at once and “put the money to work” in the marketplace and each doubled the amount of money because they trusted their master who had entrusted them with his wealth.  By sending them into the marketplace, he expected them to take some risks with his wealth.  However, the third servant who was given the least amount, went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. Let’s pick up the dialog at this point in the story.

“After a long time, the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’ “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So, I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So, you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned, I would have received it back with interest. “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

We are used to our deposits in a bank being insured against the failure of the bank.  However, for most of recorded history, there was no assurance that money entrusted to bankers would produce interest or that the investment itself would not be lost due to mismanagement of the bankers.  The third servant was considered to be lazy and wicked because he did nothing with the wealth entrusted to him, he took no risk with it!

• Remember, Abraham was blessed by God so that all the peoples of the earth might be blessed.  Could it be that Abraham was taking a risk to see just how good God is?             

Then Abraham approached Him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?  What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it?   Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”   The LORD said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.” Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?” “If I find forty-five there,” He said, “I will not destroy it.” Once again he spoke to Him, “What if only forty are found there?” He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.” Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?” He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”  Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?” He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”  Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?” He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.” (Genesis 18:23-24)

• Remember that Lot’s nephew and family lived in Sodom.  1 Peter 2:8 says of Lot, he “was a righteous man, who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)”.  What would have been God’s response if Abraham had continued to test His goodness and ask, “What if only one can be found there?”  I do not know other than to listen to the words of Jesus.

• Please go back to the scripture at the very beginning of this article and read it again.  Jesus, who is one with His Father, never spoke or did anything other than what He heard and saw from His Father.  Therefore, Jesus speaks what He knows His Father’s will is— “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” This is stated even more emphatically in Luke 6:27-36 (NIV),”But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
• This leads me to ask, “Who are God’s enemies?” and “Who are my enemies?”  In the New Testament, the Greek word exthrós is often translated as enemy.  This Greek word can be defined properly as, an enemy; someone openly hostile (at enmity), animated by deep-seated hatred. It implies irreconcilable hostility, proceeding out of a “personal” hatred bent on inflicting harm.   The New Oxford American Dictionary defines enemy as a person who is actively opposed or hostile to someone or something.   
• Colossians 1:21 (NIV) says, “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.” Is it possible, because of my perspective, to consider someone as being my enemy who does not see me as their enemy?  I think this is illustrated in the story of how Adam and Eve responded to God after they believed the lie of Satan and disobeyed God and ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” (Genesis 3:7-11 NIV)

• Adam and Eve were deceived in their own minds, probably with the help of the Accuser of the Brethren, such that they could no longer conceive that God was their Father and would deal with their sin as a loving Father who would show them mercy and grace in their time of need (Hebrews 4:16). They now saw Him as their enemy and assumed that likewise God saw them as His enemies.  In Matthew 18:3 (NIV) Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  This same verse in The Passion Translation (TPT), expresses more clearly what this means, “Learn this well: Unless you dramatically change your way of thinking and become teachable, and learn about heaven’s kingdom realm with the wide-eyed wonder of a child, you will never be able to enter in.”
• What is the result of me having a wrong understanding of the nature of God our Father and my becoming “an enemy of God in my mind?” (Colossians 1:21) Let’s consider the story of James and John who were rebuked by Jesus because they had a wrong understanding of God our Father.

 Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?” But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village. (Luke 9:51-56 NKJV)

Please take time to just sit quietly before our Lord and let Him speak to you from these scriptures.  When I think about anyone, and I make judgements about them, do I know by what spirit I am making those judgements?

• There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community. (Proverbs 6:16-19 NIV)
• Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:11-21 NIV)

God our Father is inviting us into participating in his work of reconciling the entire cosmos to himself.  May we not shrink back in our role, for He is good, and his love endures forever.  He is better than we can imagine or ask for!  Never will He leave us or forsake us!

Blessings,

Kevin