Lecture 12 — Love of enemies

^5:43^ You have heard it said: you shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy. [n. 537]

^5:44^ However, I say to you, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who persecute and calumniate you; [n. 540]

^5:45^ that you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who makes his sun to rise upon the good and the bad and rains upon the just and the unjust. [n. 549]

^5:46^ For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Do not even the publicans do this? [n. 552]

^5:47^ And if you salute your brethren only, what more do you do? Do not the heathens also do this? [n. 552]

^5:48^ Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect. [n. 553]

537. You have heard it said: ‘you shall love your neighbor.’ Above, the Lord gave the fulfillment of the law as to the permissive act, and here as to the emotion of hatred, according to what was seen. And this is the last fulfillment, and fittingly enough he ends the fulfillment with love, for love is the fullness of the law (Rom 13:10).

Concerning this he does two things:

first, he sets down those things that are of the law;

second, he gives their fulfillment, at but I say to you.

In these words he touches on two things, namely, love and hate.

538. Concerning the first it should be considered that some people understood the neighbor to be said only of household members and relatives. And according to the truth of the matter every man is called neighbor and even the angels: for it is said in Luke that the one who had mercy on the Samaritan is called his neighbor (Luke 10:36–37). We can take from this that the one is called ‘neighbor’ from whom we receive mercy: such as the angels; or to whom we owe mercy: such as a man. This precept is from Leviticus (Lev 19:18).

And the Lord wanted to use this name ‘neighbor’ because by it he makes us understand the definition of love. For all friendship is based on some likeness or closeness: every beast loves its like (Sir 13:19). But there is a certain natural similarity according as all men share in one species. Hence just as it is natural that every animal loves its like, so also it is natural that every man love his like. Another likeness is political, for somone must love another as he is his fellow countryman: and this is political friendship. But there is also the similitude of grace, and this is broader because it is extended to all who are ordered to beatitude, namely, men and angels: and this is the precept of charity that is based on that union. Therefore, his saying ‘love your neighbor’ is not to be understood only of those who share the same blood ties or familiarity, but the ordering to beatitude.

539. ‘And hate your enemy.’ These words are written nowhere in the law. But they can be taken from certain words of Exodus, where God said that they should not enter into a covenant with their enemies (Exod 23:32); and in Deuteronomy, he commands that they destroy them by complete extermination (Deut 7:2). Certain men have taken from this that enemies should be hated: and because of this understanding he says ‘and hate.’

But heretics say the opposite. The law says ‘hate’; but all hatred is a sin; therefore the law commands sin. Augustine answers: he commands us to love our enemies. I argue this because he himself did good to the good and to the bad; therefore, inasmuch as we should imitate God in this, we should love our enemies. But God does hate some: detractors, hateful to God (Rom 1:30). And nevertheless God loves all things: for you love all things (Wis 11:25). Hence it should be said that God loves nature, but he hates fault; and likewise, this is what the law wants.

540. Hence the Lord gives the fulfillment as to the wrong understanding of the scribes and Pharisees, who twisted the meaning to hatred simply speaking, which in any case was against the law: do not hate your brother (Lev 19:17). But they understood ‘brother’ to mean the Jews, although all men were created by God and ordered to one beatitude. Therefore the Lord gives this fulfillment: however, I say to you. And concerning this he does three things: first, he gives the fulfillment, second, the argument proving it, and third, he concludes with the chief thing intended. The second is at that you may be the children of your Father; the third, at be you therefore perfect. But he fulfills it as to three things, namely as to the affection of the heart, the duty of deeds of service, and of the mouth in prayer. The second is at do good; the third, at **pray for those who persecute **you.

Therefore he says love your enemies. But this seems to be unfitting. For it is clear that no thing can take away the inclination of nature; but this is the natural inclination, namely to hate one’s enemy. Hence everything is opposed to its contrary, as sheep flee the wolf, also among things lacking thought, for fire pursues water. Why then does the Lord say love your enemies?

541. But it should be known that as Chrysostom says, both love and hatred are twofold, namely of the flesh and of the reason. The Lord did not give this precept for the flesh, but for the reason. Thus whenever you feel the emotion of hatred arise in you and your reason restrains it so that you do not do any harm, then the hatred is only of the flesh.

But should we also love our enemies according to our reason? It should be said, according to Augustine, that we should, as to nature but not as to fault. Hence your adversary is to be loved in what he shares with you, as also appears among natural things; for white is opposed to black as it is unlike: as black, not as a color. Hence we should destroy hatred, i.e., the fact that he is an enemy should displease us, and we should destroy this in him.

542. But again there is a question: are not all bound to this? It seems not, for Augustine in the Enchiridion says that to love an enemy is perfection; and it is not of such a multitude as is believed to be heard in prayer when it says, **and forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors **(Matt 6:12). Therefore God forgave the debts of someone who does not love his enemy. But a debt is forgiven of no one unless he exists in charity; therefore to love an enemy is not of necessity for salvation.

But it should be known, as in the same place Augustine says, that we can speak two ways about this enemy: in one way before he seeks forgiveness, in another way after he seeks it. But after he seeks forgiveness he is no longer an enemy, but is to be considered a friend. And the Lord only forgives those who seek forgiveness: therefore he does not command that you forgive anyone except the one seeking forgiveness: therefore if he does not seek it, he will remain in your hatred.

543. It should be said that to love an enemy who does not seek forgiveness is in one way a precept and in another way a counsel. For all friendship is founded on some union. But there is a certain union between two people that is common and a certain union that is special. The special one is with someone from whom I have received many goods and with whom I always have familiarity and so on. The general one is inasmuch as we are fellow citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem; and according to this love it is not necessary that I bear special affection toward any of this multitude, when I must will all to be like myself and all men to be saved. And according to this we are not bound to love an enemy with special affection, but we are bound to not exclude him from our common love. Hence it would be against this precept if I desired all men to be saved except my enemy. But what I bear him of special love, this is of perfection and counsel. And Augustine says this: it is enough not to hate, i.e., so that you do not exclude general love.

544. And it should be known that to love someone is to will him good. But there are two kinds of good: eternal life, and charity intends this, because I am bound to love my neighbor as myself for eternal life; the other is temporal, and in this I am not bound to love my neighbor except insofar as these things lead to eternal life. Hence while preserving charity I can wish some temporal evil on my neighbor to the extent that it would give him the occasion of doing good and attaining eternal life. Hence Gregory says in his Morals that the sign that you do not love your neighbor is when you rejoice in his ruin; but I can rejoice in his temporal ruin to the extent that it is ordered to his good or that of others or of the multitude.

545. But because the proof of love is the showing of deeds, and it is said, let us not love in word . . . but in deed (1 John 3:18), for this reason the Lord supplies do good to those who hate you: if your enemy is hungry, give him to eat (Prov 25:21); if you see the donkey of him who hates you lying beneath his burden . . . lift him up with him (Exod 23:5). And this in certain cases is a precept, in others a counsel. It is a precept in the case in which you are bound to every man, even an enemy, namely, extreme necessity. But it is a counsel if you were giving alms, and I do not mean generally, for you should not exclude your enemy from those, but if you were making a particular donation and you did not exclude your enemy from it, this would be the counsel, and of perfection.

Pray for those who persecute and calumniate you. For someone might say: we cannot do good to others because we are poor; therefore he says, pray for those who persecute. They are called persecutors who persecute openly; calumniators are those who harm by deceits and going behind one’s back: my people went down into Egypt . . . and the Assyrian oppressed them with no cause (Isa 52:4). We have an example, for the Lord prayed for those who crucified him (Luke 23:24), as did Stephen (Acts 7:59). And this is a precept inasmuch as someone should not be excluded from the shared prayers of the Church; but it is a counsel if some particular prayer be offered for him, because one is not bound to do this even when praying for all the living.

546. But there are more serious questions, for we find many prophets praying against their enemies: may his children be fatherless (Ps 109:9); let me see your revenge on them (Jer 11:20); and many such verses are found. And it should be said that those words are not said with vengeful affection, but in the spirit of prophecy, not the emotion of someone wishing but the spirit of someone foretelling: hence let me see your revenge, i.e., I will see; or it should be said that saints will rejoice when they see the revenge (Ps 58:10). Thus the saints who are perfect in God’s justice wish the divine justice to be fulfilled.

547. Another question is what is said: if someone knows his brother does a sin that is not to death, let him ask . . . there is a sin unto death. For that I say not that any man ask (1 John 5:16:). Therefore among our brothers there are sins unto death: therefore if we should not pray for them, even less should we pray for our persecutors. And Augustine resolves this, because not every mortal sin is said to be ‘to death’, but only the sin against the Holy Spirit, which is properly final impenitence. And this suffices for now, because it will be dealt with in chapter twelve. Nor should it be believed that there is any sin that cannot be forgiven, for none was so great as that of Cain: my iniquity is greater than that (Gen 4:13). But just as God for certain preceding sins withdraws grace, because of which men fall into sin, hence they are also called hard-hearted or blinded: God gave them up to the desires of their hearts, unto uncleanness (Rom 1:24); so on account of the savagery of certain sins God does not give the grace of repentance, and this sin is when a man knows the good and pursues evil. Hence it is not called a sin unto death if people do not repent, but because it is so great in itself that they do not deserve that grace be offered. Hence because it is a hard thing to repent of, and it happens with difficulty, thus it is called a sin unto death; and because prayer is not made for sinners except for their conversion, these prayers are thus in vain for such people. Hence when the Lord said, Father forgive them for they know not what they do (Luke 23:34), he was not praying for all his persecutors, but for those who were predestined; and he knew who they were who were due to be converted. But because we do not know the predestined or who will be in sin at death, therefore we must pray for all.

The third question, which comes from the Gloss, is that it seems that it is not fitting to pray for persecutors because it is said he has revenged the blood of his servants (Rev 19:2); therefore we too must seek revenge. And this is resolved in two ways by Augustine. One solution is that when it is said revenged the blood, it is understood two ways: concerning men or concerning the wicked king. For one way someone is said to be vindicated is when the wrongdoing of the one whose wrongdoing offended you is destroyed, and this is the best revenge; and this is how Stephen was vindicated regarding Paul. In another way, when a penalty is inflicted, not because they would seek revenge, but from zeal for justice. Or revenge is not to be understood as though they were desiring revenge, but they are said to cry out in that the unjust death itself seeks retribution from God, as is said: the blood of your brother Abel cries out to me (Gen 4:10).

548. Accordingly, the Lord sets down the reasons proving it, and there are two: one from divine example, the other from the end.

549. As to the first he says, that you may be the children of your Father. But this seems to be saying nothing: for man becomes a child of God by grace; therefore it is not by works. But the Lord seems to imply that man should act well so that he acquires grace. But it must be known that this sonship is not natural, rather it is a likeness: for whom he preknew, he also predestined to be conformable to the image of his Son (Rom 8:29). Hence the more someone grows in divine likeness, the more he grows in divine filiation. The beginning of divine likeness is from faith. But no one believes unless he wants to: hence that is where our free will operates: he gave them power to be made the sons of God, to those who believe in his name (John 1:12). But this likeness grows by charity, growing larger by works, but most of all when someone attains glory: behold how they are numbered among the children of God (Wis 5:5); when he will appear we will be like to him, for we will see him as he is (1 John 3:2). So that you may be the children, therefore, in hope, by imitation in works; but in reality, by glory in eternal life.

550. Who is in heaven, because he presides from heaven, over physical things and spiritual ones.

551. Who makes his sun to rise. This can be understood literally about the material sun and rain. And note two things according to this: that if he gives the good things that he created, why will you not give, who dispense upon the good, i.e., your friends, and the bad, i.e., your enemies. And he says upon the good and the bad, because sometimes he gives to the good and sometimes to the evil: for he grants things to the benefit of the good because they are neither exalted in prosperity nor dejected in adversity; but it is to the detriment of the evil.

Another thing: note that temporal goods are not to be grasped at nor are temporal evils to be feared: from the fact that through good things sometimes evils are given, and through evils, many times goods are given.

Or who makes his sun can be explained of the spiritual sun and rain. But it is objected, the sun of understanding has not risen upon us (Wis 5:6), and in Isaiah, I will command the clouds to rain no rain upon it (Isa 5:6). But it should be said that to the good and the bad he gives these things sufficiently, but efficaciously, only to the good, as the teaching of Christ is efficacious to the good, but not to the wicked. Or by these two things baptism may be understood, and in the sun, the ardor of the Holy Spirit; in the rain, water.

552. For if you. Here is set down the second reason. He had said twice love your enemies, and do good; and these things are not meritorious unless by charity. Hence, for if you love. Supply this reason: no love is meritorious except by charity which is the love by which someone is loved on account of God; therefore, God is to be loved chiefly, and all men for the sake of God. Do not even the publicans: they were called publicans who were in charge of the public taxes, and they are said to have been instituted by the Roman consul Publius, and they were considered mere usurers because of the cheating they did: a merchant is hardly free from negligence (Sir 26:28).

Hence and if you salute your brethren only . . . do not the heathens also do this, for the gentiles are without charity; for heathens is Greek, and means ‘peoples’ in Latin.

553. Accordingly the Lord concludes everything he has said in this chapter: be you therefore perfect as also your heavenly Father is perfect: walk before me and be perfect (Gen 17:1); leaving the word of the beginning of Christ, let us go on to things more perfect (Heb 6:1). But the question is whether this is a precept or a counsel: if a precept, then all are bound to perfection; if a counsel, since all men are sons, all ought to imitate their Father.

554. But it should be said that just as nature is distinct, perfection is threefold, namely simple perfection, perfection according to nature, and perfection according to time. In the first way, only God is perfect. Perfection according to nature is when someone has those things that his nature requires; according to time, as a child is said to be perfect. Therefore when speaking of perfect love, similarly God is loved perfectly when he is loved as much as he should be loved; and only God can love this way: for no creature can love as much as God should be loved. For he is loved according to his goodness, which is infinite; and so it must be said that the **as also **conveys a likeness by imitation.

555. But there is another perfection of love possible to a creature, namely that it loves God according to its totality. And there are three degrees of this perfection, and one is not possible in this life; but the other two are. To one of these all men are bound, for this totality can be referred to act, and this is the perfection of the heavenly homeland. In this life, because of many occupations, this perfection is not possible.

556. There is another totality in earthly life, which is that of intention, namely so that you hold God as last end in all your doings, thinking nothing contrary to him. And this is the precept: for all are bound to order themselves and their doings to God.

557. The other is the middle perfection, and this is the perfection of religious: for the more a man extracts himself from the acts of the world, the more he may think of God actually and the more he can approach the likeness of those who are in the heavenly homeland. And this is why the apostles wanted to be poor, not because of poverty, but so that they would be more easily free for contemplation. And thus virginity or continence are of the perfection of the counsel, for married people think on the things that are of the world, and thus they are not brought into the contemplation of God.

558. It is clear, then, that the love that is simple perfection is one thing, the love that is possible to a creature is another, and there is another between the two, as was said.