Luke 6:35

The Reason Why Christians Should Love the Undeserving (6:35)

g But love your enemies (Luke 6:35 a),

h And do them good (Luke 6:35 b),

k And lend, never despairing (Luke 6:35 c),

f And your reward will be great (35d),

m And you shall be sons of the Most High (35e),

l For he is kind toward the unthankful and evil (35f).

“But love your enemies,

And do them good,

And lend, never despairing,

And your reward shall be great,

And you shall be sons of the Most High,

For he is kind toward the unthankful and evil.”

So in view of what He has just said about loving the undeserving, let them do it. Let them love their enemies, and do them good, and lend to them when they are in need, never despairing, because it will mean being like God Himself. It will mean revealing themselves as sons of the Most High, Who is kind towards the unthankful and the evil. It will be walking with Him on the higher plane and revealing that they are like Him, that they are His sons. And then they will receive great reward. This may be because of the response that comes from the act themselves, or from the joy that results, or from God's blessing to those who obey Him, or indeed all three. But it will also include God's reward on that final day when all of us have to give an account of ourselves to God (Romans 14:10; 2 Corinthians 5:10).

‘Never despairing (apelpizo).' This is a word often used as a medical term. It strictly means ‘despairing'. Thus it may signify that they are not to despair of the fact that God will reward them as He promised in Deuteronomy 15:10. Or it possibly here means ‘not despairing of anyone.' The idea may then be that we must not say something like, ‘Oh, if I lend to them they will only waste it', but must give them the benefit of the doubt. Or it may signify that we must not despair of winning over our enemies in this way.

But comparison with ‘of whom you hope to receive' in Luke 6:34, may be seen as supporting the meaning ‘not hoping (elpizo) to receive anything in return', which is found later in the early fathers. But it is never used in that way in classical literature, or before that time.

‘You shall be sons of the Most High.' This firstly gains meaning from Luke 1:32, in that we will then be like our Master (compare 1 John 3:2). We will be revealing ourselves as the sons of the Most High like He is. And secondly it will be genuine evidence that we are truly ‘sons of God' (Romans 8:14; Galatians 4:5), which we will be demonstrating by our behaviour. We will be revealing God-likeness.

Note that here the Most High is gracious towards those from whom He expects no return. This parallels much better than Matthew's statement would the previous instructions concerning lending not hoping to receive again. It fits this message much better.

General Attitudes Which Should Result From This Kind of Love (Luke 6:36).