Luke 6:35

35 But love ye your enemies: do good, and lend, hoping for nothing thereby: and your reward shall be great, and you shall be the sons of the Highest. For he is kind to the unthankful and to the evil.

Luke 6:35 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 6:35

But love ye your enemies
As before urged in ( Luke 6:27 )

and do good and lend;
not to your friends only, but to your enemies;

hoping for nothing again;
either principal or interest, despairing of seeing either; lending to such persons, from whom, in all appearance, it is never to be expected again. The Persic version renders it, "that ye may not cause any to despair": and the Syriac version, "that ye may not cut off", or "cause to cease the hope of men"; and the Arabic version, "that ye do not deceive the hope of any" that is, by sending such away, without lending to them, who come big with expectations of succeeding:

and your reward shall be great:
God will bless you in your worldly substance here, and will not forget your beneficence hereafter:

and ye shall be the children of the Highest:
that is of God; one of whose names is (Nwyle) "the Most High"; ( Psalms 82:6 ) the meaning is, that such who from principles of grace, and with right views do such acts of kindness and beneficence to their fellow creatures and Christians, shall be, made manifest, and declared to be the children of God; since they will appear to be born of him, and made partakers of the divine nature, and bear a resemblance to him, by their imitating him:

for he is kind to the unthankful and to the evil;
by causing his sun to rise, and his rain to fall on them, as on the righteous and the good; for as Jews ^F23 observe,

``there is no difference with him, whether on the right hand or the left; for he is gracious, and does good, even to the ungodly.''

And elsewhere they say ^F24, that

``he does good, and feeds the righteous and the ungodly.''

---

FOOTNOTES:

F23 R. Abraham ben Dior in Sepher Jetzira, p. 19.
F24 Zohar in Exod. fol. 69. 2, 3.

Luke 6:35 In-Context

33 And if you do good to them who do good to you, what thanks are to you? For sinners also do this.

34 And if you lend to them of whom you hope to receive, what thanks are to you? For sinners also lend to sinners, for to receive as much.

35 But love ye your enemies: do good, and lend, hoping for nothing thereby: and your reward shall be great, and you shall be the sons of the Highest. For he is kind to the unthankful and to the evil.

36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.

37 Judge not: and you shall not be judged. Condemn not: and you shall not be condemned. Forgive: and you shall be forgiven.