“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. (Luke 6:29-31)
One of the most significant facets of being one “who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word” (Isaiah 66:5) is loving the words God chose to breathe out into the Scriptures (II Timothy 3:16-17). However, on the flip side, this includes loving the absence of words that people read into God’s word so that it corrupts what our Father in heaven has told us.
As I came to the above text, it stood out again that Jesus did not tell us to forgive our enemies, forgive our haters, forgive our cursers, or forgive our abusers. And since adding “forgive them” to such texts subtracts something from the full meaning of Jesus’ words, we must consider what these things look like without forgiving people.
This stands out so clearly in Paul’s rebuke, “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4). People were “presuming” that God was okay with their sin because he was kind, forbearing, and patient in his dealings with them. Paul turns the picture around to show that his perceived blessings while we are sinning are not approval of our sin, but him loving us “to repentance”.
The next sentence makes it clear that without repentance there is no forgiveness, “But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed” (Romans 2:5).
So, when we know that no one can possibly be forgiven without repentance, we don’t say, “I forgive them” and move on. Instead, knowing that our enemies, our haters, our cursers, our abusers, and our persecutors cannot be forgiven without repentance, we keep loving them towards repentance. We keep doing good to them in the hope they will repent. We keep blessing them with our prayers for their repentance.
Now here’s an example of this. People often claim that the best example of God forgiving unrepentant people is what Jesus said from the cross. His words were, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). People say that was Jesus forgiving his enemies, haters, cursers, abusers, and persecutors.
HOWEVER!!!
Jesus did NOT say, “Father, I forgive them…” He said, “Father, forgive them…” What is that called? It is called PRAYER. Jesus was praying for his enemies. What did he tell us to do? He said, “…pray for those who abuse you.”
What happens when we pray for our enemies to be forgiven? Answer: we’re not done until they repent.
I have learned by personal experience that it is far more loving and liberating to pray for God’s kindness to lead someone to repentance so he can forgive them than to do the “I forgive them, and I’m done” routine. Not only does it call for greater love than forgiving and moving on, but it is what is WRITTEN.
The bottom line is that, if we are going to “live by every word that comes from the mouth of God” as Jesus taught, let’s not mess it up by trying to live by words that did NOT come from the mouth of God!
And with all that said, God has brought some people to mind who fit the description of who to love, do good, bless, and pray for, so it is time for me to go downstairs and pray! And yes, I do hope he answers by letting me show love to them, do good to them, bless them, and let them know I am praying for their forgiveness.
© 2025 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8
Email: in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)
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