Hope Singapore: Beyond The Lawনমুনা

Perfect Love: Beyond Loving Those Who Love You

Abraham Lincoln once said, “The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend.” But loving a friend and hating an enemy seems so straightforward to human nature that to do otherwise would require an explanation only in terms of the supernatural. But such a divine standard of love is precisely what God requires of those who are His people.

In concluding how His followers are to look beyond the Law, it is fitting that Jesus ends with the standard of love His disciples are to exhibit, since the commandment to love will eventually be highlighted as the crux of the Law. What is this perfect standard of love that God truly requires of us, and why is it important?

We must first realize that it is the nature of perfect love to possess no boundaries. When the law to “love your neighbour” was originally given in Leviticus 19:18, a neighbour was simply referring to anyone who was physically near, but over time it developed into the idea that they were only required to love fellow Jews, and that naturally led to the idea of “hating your enemy”, which appears nowhere in the Old Testament! Thus Jesus is here challenging us not to lower God’s standard of perfect love, which is rightly unconditional and which knows no boundaries or limitations (Matthew 5:43-44).

Consequently, exercising perfect love has great significance because this will demonstrate that we are truly God’s people. God provides for both the righteous and the wicked because of His loving and gracious nature. If God were to withhold all love to those who are unrighteous, none of us would have survived even a single day! Thus when we are able to love the way God loves, we would have given a watching world convincing proof of to whom we belong (Matthew 5:45).

In closing His discussion of the righteousness that is beyond the Law, Jesus reminds us that as His disciples we are expected to operate at a higher standard of perfect love than the rest of the world. Thus Christ-followers have to learn to pour out our love even towards people who cannot or will not love us in return, thereby showing the world the true standards of God (Matthew 5:46-47).