‘Bless those who persecute you, bless, and curse not.'

The first call is to bless those who persecute us, and not to curse them. The first clause basically repeats the teaching of Jesus, where He said, ‘pray for those who persecute you' (Matthew 5:44; compare Luke 6:28; 1 Peter 3:9), where the intention was to have their well-being at heart. The last three words echo the words of James in James 3:9, ‘out of the same mouth come blessing and cursing -- these things ought not to be'. Both can be seen as fulfilling Jesus' requirement that we love our enemies (Matthew 5:44; Luke 6:27; Luke 6:35). Such an attitude towards persecution was unknown in the ancient world. Thus the Christian is to respond to persecution with words of love. He is to accept his persecution as from the hand of God. Indeed he is to rejoice in it knowing that great is his reward in Heaven (Matthew 5:11).

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