Luke 6:32

Luk_6:32-34

For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye?

--

The heroic in Christianity

Our Master, evidently, from the verses before us, did not come into the world to teach us to conform to the ways of our fellow-men; but He would have us go far beyond the ordinary conduct of our fellows. If I were called to address an ordinary company of men and women upon feats of valour, I might speak with bated breath if I exhorted them to heroism in war; but if I had lived some thousands of years ago, and had been called upon to talk to Spartan warriors, all equipped for battle, men graved and scored with the scars of conflict, I should set no bounds to my exhortations; I would bestir them as a lion arouses the young lions and urges them to the prey. I should tell them that their name and parentage should not be disgraced by the idea of defeat, but that they must expect victory, and seize it as their right. No orator would have spoken to Spartans as to Boeotians: it was their very life and business to fight, and deeds of prowess were therefore to be looked for from them. Is it not so with you, ye followers of the Crucified?

I. MUCH THAT IS NATURALLY GOOD MAY FALL FAR SHORT OF CHRISTIAN CHARACTER. Do not make the mistake of saying that moral excellence is not good. Some have broadly declared that there is no good thing in an unconverted man; but this is scarcely true. Many who are total strangers to the grace of God yet exhibit sparkling forms of the human virtues in integrity, generosity, kindness, courage, self-sacrifice, and patience. If the question be whether our character is the offspring of nature or of grace, it will be a sad thing if the verdict should turn out to be that it is the dead child of nature finely dressed, but not the living child of grace Divine. We may be decorated with gems which glitter and glow, and yet they may be mere paste, and none of them the work of Gods Spirit. Observe the three things mentioned in the text against which there is no law, but of which much is to be spoken in commendation. These acts are good, but they do not come up to Christs standard.

1. It is very proper and seemly that kindly feeling should awaken kindly feeling in return; that to those who are friendly to us we should be friendly also. We say Love begets love, and it is natural that it should do so. Our duty is not merely to love those who love us, but to love them that hate and despitefully entreat us.

2. The next thing, in the verses before us, is grateful return. If ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? It is a very right thing that if persons have served us we should endeavour to repay the benefit. Followers of Jesus are called upon to do good to those who have done them harm. You know the old saying, Evil for good is devil-like, evil for evil is beast-like, good for good is man-like, good for evil is God-like. Rise you to that God-like point. If a man has taken the bread out of your mouth, seize the first opportunity to help him to a livelihood.

3. Again, mention is made of helping others in a neighbourly way with the expectation of their returning the friendly deed. If ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? Temporary help is often rendered in the expectation that, if ever we are in the same need, we shall only need to ask, and receive like aid. I lend you an axe, and you will one day lend me a saw. I help you and you help me--a very proper thing to do, and the more of such brotherly and neighbourly co-operation the better, but still there is nothing so very virtuous in it. You as a Christian are to rise to something higher than this: to be ready to help without the expectation of being helped again.

II. CHRISTIAN VIRTUE IS IN MANY RESPECTS EXTRAORDINARY, AND MIGHT BE CALLED HEROIC. In the point of love, kindness, consideration for mens needs, and desire to do good, the Christian life is to rise above every other, till it becomes sublime. Heathen moralists recommended kindness, but they did not suggest its being lavished upon enemies. I have been somewhat amused by the caution of Cicero. He says, Kindness must not be shown to a youth nor to an old man; not to the aged, because he is likely to die before he can have an occasion to repay you the benefit; and not to the young man, for he is sure to forget it. Our Lord bids us seek no reward from men, and he assures us that then a greater reward will come. We shall by shunning it secure it. We shall find a reward in being unrewarded. Next, Luk_9:54-55, and you will see that the Christian is to rise above human passion in the matter of gentleness. In the elevation of his joy the Christian is also to rise above all other men. He may rejoice as they do in the common bounties of providence, but that joy is to hold very secondary rank. Even in his own success as a Christian worker he takes but measured satisfaction. Read Luk_10:20. The Christian is heroic, next, in his fearlessness (Luk_12:4). The true believer is to be willing to bear reproach; ay, and to bear much more than reproach, as saints of God have done times out of mind. See how far the true believer is lifted up above the world, as you turn to Luk_12:22, where the Lord bids us cultivate a holy ease of heart as to all temporal things. The rich man finds his wealth in his bursting barns, but the believer finds his treasure in the all-sufficiency of his God. Another point in which Christian heroism is seen is in humility and in delight in service. Turn to the fourteenth chapter and see our Lords directions to His disciples not to seek out the highest, but rather the lowest room, for, saith He, Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Habitually a Christian man is to have a modest esteem of himself.

III. THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION SUPPLIES DUE NOURISHMENT FOR THE MOST HEROIC LIFE.

1. The economy of grace requires it.

2. Think again, brethren, we are helped to holy heroism by the reward which it brings; for our blessed Master, though He bids us spurn the thought of reward on earth, yet tells us that there is a reward in the thing itself. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The moral demands of the Lord Jesus Christ

Here, for instance, is one of the maxims of Epictetus, It is possible that you observe some other person more honoured than yourself, invited to entertainments when you are left out, saluted before you are taken any notice of, thought more proper to advise with, and his counsel followed rather than yours. But are these forms of respect which are paid to him good or evil? If they deserve to be esteemed good, this ought to be matter of joy to you that that person is happy in them; but if they be evil, how unreasonable is it to be troubled that they have not fallen to your own share. That was how a heathen moralist thought we ought to regard the honours paid to other men. I want to know whether many of us have passed far beyond him? If we consider our social life and our political and philanthropic movements, is it quite clear that we Christian Englishmen are in advance of this ancient Roman slave? Take another of the maxims of Epictetus, My duty to my father is to assist and take care of him, to support his age and his infirmities, to yield to him and pay him service and respect upon all occasions But you will say he is a rigorous and unnatural father. What is that to the purpose? Yon are to remember, this obligation to duty does not arise from the consideration of his goodness, but from the relation he bears to you. No failings of his can make him cease to be a father, and consequently none can absolve you from the obedience of a son. Your brother has done you an injury, but do not suppose that this dispenses with the kindness you owe him. You are still to observe what becomes you; not to imitate what misbecame him. I think that I have known Christian men and women who have supposed that the harshness of a parent relieved them from their obligations as children, and that the injury they had received from a brother justified them in showing an unbrotherly and unsisterly spirit. Christ assumes that our standard of moral duty ought always to be loftier than that which exists among those who have never heard of His teaching. If, without self-reproach, we permit ourselves to indulge in a spirit which even heathen moralists condemned, how can we answer his question, What do ye more than others? Epictetus was originally a Greek slave. Let us turn to a man of another sort--Marcus Antoninus the Roman emperor. A branch, he says, cut off from the adjacent branch must of necessity be cut off from the whole tree also. So, too, a man, when he is separated from another man, has fallen off from the whole social community. How many of us have a profounder conception than the heathen emperor of the duty of avoiding personal quarrels, of suppressing the vanity, the resentment, the wilfulness and selfishness by which we might be separated from our neighbour and so cut off from the life of the race? Take his caution against forming hard judgments of others. He says, what is true in innumerable cases, Thou dost not even understand whether men are doing wrong or not, for many things are done with a certain reference to circumstances. And, in short, a man must learn a great deal to enable him to pass a correct judgment on another mans acts. I wonder whether most of us, before passing hard judgments on others, remember how much we must know, before we can judge them fairly? Here is another maxim, Whatever any one else does or says, I must be good--just as if the gold, or the emerald, or the purple were always saying this--Whatever any one does or says, I must keep my colour. It is royal to do good and to be abused. Some of you are masters. Do you see clearly that whatever your servants do or say you must be always just and kind and considerate to them? Some of you are workmen. Have you made up your minds that you must always be good workmen, no matter whether you have a good master or a bad master; that you must serve a bad master as faithfully and as zealously as you serve a good one? And whatever our position may be, is it the constant temper of our mind to do good, whether we are praised for it or not--to do good even when we are abused for doing it? Again, If any man is able to convince me and show me that I do not think or act right, I will gladly change, for I seek the truth, by which no man was ever injured. But he is injured who abides in his error and ignorance. It is not my experience that many Christian people cultivate this noble spirit. But what I am especially anxious to insist upon just now is that in the writings of heathen moralists there are maxims inculcating virtues which some Christian people have never thought of trying to attain. Their moral standard is so defective that in many points they are inferior to heathen men in their conceptions of duty. Christ assumes that His servants will be at least as clear-sighted as the heathen, and that the virtues which the heathen honoured we shall honour, and He goes on to require more. What this higher law is, in all its applications, we have to learn, and we learn it very gradually; it is one of the great subjects about which Christian men should be always learning. Christ has not given us a complete code, but He has given us specimens of the contrast between this higher law and the common laws recognized by ordinary men. We have to work out the whole code of Christian morals in the light of this teaching. This is the method of the new science. We have to take the virtues which are recognized as virtues by all the world honesty, industry, kindness, temperance, the spirit of cheerful contentment with our condition--and we have to learn for ourselves the larger requirements of Christ in relation to every one of them. The Spirit of Christ, if we seek His guidance, will lead us into all the truth. Every Christian man must be left very much to the guidance of the Spirit in these high matters. We can do something to help each other, but not very much. I should have to be a draper to learn what a Christian draper should do more than other honest drapers; and a carpenter to learn what a Christian carpenter should do more than other good carpenters; and a banker to learn what a Christian banker should do mere than other upright bankers. The root of the whole matter lies in the fact that we are the servants of Christ, and that very much of the service we render to Christ consists in the service we render to our fellow-men, whether we are ministers, lawyers, mechanics, clerks, housemaids, milliners, merchants, or tradesmen. If we are zealous to please Christ we shall find many ways of doing it of which some of us, perhaps, have no conception; and this will result in nobler ideas of moral duty in all the common affairs of life. While many other men, in their business transactions, keep only just within the limits of the law which is administered by human tribunals, let Christian men be governed by the rules of a diviner equity. While many other men do public work as long as they are honoured for doing it, let Christian men go on doing it whether they are honoured or not, accepting it as the service to which God has appointed them. Let the Christian manufacturer recognize the Higher Law, in the quality of his goods, in his treatment of his partners and his men, and in his careful avoidance of whatever personal extravagances and whatever commercial risks and speculations might prevent him from paying his debts. Let the Christian builder be so exact in doing his work according to the specifications that his employers shall feel that a clerk of the works is a useless expense. Let the Christian carpenter and engine-fitter make the eye of the foreman unnecessary. But perhaps some of you will say that conduct of this kind will prevent you from getting on in the world; that if you act in the way I have described you will make money slowly; that if you do not push to the front and keep yourself there, you will never get your value recognized. The real reply--the Christian reply--to your objection is, that it is not your business to get on in the world, to make money, to have your worth recognized, but to serve God. You cannot serve both God and mammon. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)

Selfishness the essence of moral depravity

I. Let us consider why SINNERS LOVE THEMSELVES. It is plainly supposed in the text that sinners love themselves, for they are said to love those that love them, which could not be accounted for if they were wholly destitute of love to themselves. In other passages of Scripture, they are said to be lovers of their ownselves, and to seek their own things and not the things of others. But this is too evident from experience and observation to need any proof. Sinners certainly love themselves. But why? Every creature, perhaps, whether rational or irrational, takes pleasure in receiving its proper food; but this love to its food is not love to itself, or selfishness. The saint and the sinner may equally love honey, because it is agreeable to the taste; but this love to honey is neither interested nor disinterested love, and of course is neither virtuous nor vicious. Men never love any particular food from a moral motive, but from the constitution of their nature, in which they are passive, and have no active concern. The case is different in loving themselves. In this they properly act, and act from a moral motive. Sinners love themselves not because they are a part of the intellectual system, nor because the general good requires them to regard their personal happiness, but because they are themselves. They love their own interest because it is their own, in distinction from the interest of all other created or uncreated beings. This is a free, voluntary exercise, which is contrary to their reason and conscience, and which they know to be in its own nature wrong. Their interest is really no more valuable for being theirs, than if it belonged to others; and they themselves are no more valuable than other creatures of the same character and capacity. To love themselves, therefore, because they are themselves, is to love themselves from a motive peculiar to selfish creatures.

II. We are to consider WHY SINNERS LOVE OTHERS. Our Saviour said to His disciples, that if they were of the world, the world would love them. And He said in the text that sinners love those that love them. For the same reason that sinners love themselves, they naturally love those that love them and are disposed to do them good. As they love their own interest because it is their own, so they love every person or object which serves to increase or preserve their own interest. They do not value and love others because they are valuable and worthy to be loved, but merely because they view them as means or instruments of securing or advancing their own personal happiness. They value their fellow-men for the same reason that they value their own houses and lands, flocks and herds.

III. It remains to inquire WHY THERE IS NO MORAL GOODNESS IN THE LOVE WHICH SINNERS EXERCISE TOWARDS THEMSELVES AND OTHERS? Christ supposes that they all know the nature of their love, and that there is nothing virtuous or praiseworthy in it. If ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? We never thank men for loving themselves, nor for loving us merely for their own sake. It is the unanimous sentiment of mankind that there is no virtue in that love which flows entirely from mercenary motives. But why? Here then I would observe--

1. That there is no moral goodness in the love which sinners feel and express, because it is not a conformity to that love which God feels and expresses. He is good unto all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. He seeks not only His own glory, but the real good of others. It bears no conformity to the love of God, which is the standard of all moral perfection.

2. The selfish love of sinners has no moral goodness in it, because it is no obedience to the Divine law. This law requires them to love God with all the heart, and to love their fellow-men as themselves. But when they love themselves because they are themselves, and love others only because they have received or expect to receive benefit from them, do they obey the Divine law?

3. There is no moral goodness in the selfishness of sinners, because it is the very essence of all moral evil. All the wickedness of Satan consists in his selfishness. He loves himself because he is himself, and loves only those who love him, because their love serves to promote what he considers as his cause and interest. IMPROVEMENT:

1. If sinners may love themselves and others from mere selfish motives, then it is easy to account for all their kind and friendly conduct towards their fellow creatures, consistently with their total depravity.

2. If the moral depravity of sinners consists in selfishness, then the moral depravity of Adam consisted in selfishness, and not in the mere want of holiness.

4. If sinners are constantly under the governing influences of selfishness, then they must experience an essential change in their affections, in order to be saved.

5. If sinners love themselves because they are themselves, which is selfish and sinful, then after they experience a saving change from selfishness to benevolence, they love themselves in a manner totally different from what they did before. They love themselves in the same manner that God loves them.

6. Finally, it appears from this discourse that it is highly necessary to explain and inculcate the total selfishness of sinners. They never will believe that they are totally depraved, until they see wherein total depravity consists. (N. Emmons, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 6:32-36. If ye love them which love you, what thank have ye — What great thanks are due to you on that account? For there are some sentiments of gratitude common even to the worst of men, which incline the most scandalous sinners to love those that love them, and to profess an affectionate regard for those by whom they have been treated with respect and kindness. Here, says Theophylact, “If you only love them that love you, you are only like the sinners and heathen; but if you love those who do evil to you, you are like to God; which therefore will you choose? to be like sinners or like God?” Here we see that our Lord has so little regard for one of the highest instances of natural virtue, namely, the returning love for love, that he does not account it even to deserve thanks. For even sinners, saith he, do the same — Men who do not regard God at all. Therefore he may do this who has not taken one step in Christianity. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive — And that, perhaps, with considerable advantage to yourselves; what thank have ye? — What favour do you show in that? or, what extraordinary thanks are due to you on that account? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive, τα ισα, equal favours, in return. But love ye your enemies — Ye who profess to be my disciples. See on Mat 5:43-45. Do good and lend, hoping for nothing again — Do good to those from whom you have no expectation of receiving any favour in return; and lend, in cases of great distress, even when you have little reason to expect what is lent to be repaid. Because the Greek expression, μηδεν απελπιζοντες, has, in no Greek author, the sense here, and in most translations, given to it, namely, hoping for nothing again; many commentators have declared in favour of the signification affixed to it by the Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions; neminem desperare facientes, causing no man to despair: the copies from which these translations were made reading μηδεν’, with an apostrophe, for μηδενα. But, as Dr. Whitby observes, “this is putting a double force upon the words; 1st, reading, without the authority of any MS., μηδενα, no man, for μηδεν, nothing; and, 2d, interpreting απελπιζειν, to cause to despair; of which sense they give no instance.” The context seems evidently to justify our translation of the clause; for the preceding words are, If ye lend to them, παρ’ ων ελπιζετε απολαβειν, from whom ye hope to receive again, namely, what you lend, or a similar favour, what thank have ye, for sinners also lend to sinners to receive as much again. It then naturally follows, But do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again — That is, lend not you on so mean an account, but even when you do not hope to have that returned which you lend, or to receive at some future time a like favour from the person you lend to. And whereas we are told that the word απελπιζω bears no such sense, “I hope,” says the doctor, “the credit of Stephanus, who says the word is rightly rendered by the Vulgate, nihil inde sperantes, hoping for nothing thence; and of Casaubon, who says απελπιζειν is to hope for something from a person or matter; may be sufficient to support the credit of our translation; especially when we read, in the Life of Solon, that he made no law against parricides, δια το απελπισαι, because he did not expect that such a crime would be committed; and find this like composition of the word

απεχειν, when it signifies απο τινος εχειν, to receive from any one; and in the word απεσθιειν, which is used for απο τινος εσθιειν, to eat of any thing.” It must be acknowledged, however, that the more common and classical meaning of the term is, despero, to despair; and accordingly Dr. Campbell, with many others, renders the clause, not at all, or nowise despairing: observing, among several other arguments in support of this translation, “That what commonly proves the greatest hinderance to our lending, particularly to needy persons, is the dread that we shall never be repaid. It is, I imagine, to prevent the influence of such an over-cautious mistrust, that our Lord here warns us not to shut our hearts against the request of a brother in difficulties. Lend cheerfully, as though he had said, without fearing the loss of what shall be thus bestowed. It often happens that, even contrary to appearances, the loan is thankfully returned by the borrower; but if it should not, remember (and let this silence all your doubts) that God charges himself with what you give from love to him, and love to your neighbour: he is the poor man’s surety.” It may not be improper to add, that several Latin MSS., agreeably to this interpretation, read nihil desperantes, “nothing despairing.” Our Lord enforces the exhortation by adding, and your reward shall be great, probably even in this world, in the temporal prosperity with which God, in the course of his providence, will bless you: for to him that hath, uses aright what he hath, shall be given, and he shall have more abundance, Mat 13:12. But if you are not recompensed in this world you certainly shall be in the world to come: for God is not unfaithful to forget our work and labour of love, which we show to his name. And ye shall be the children of the Highest — His genuine children, resembling him, bearing the image of his goodness; for he is kind unto the unthankful and the evil — Causing the undeserved benefits of the sun and rain to descend upon them, and conferring on them of his free unmerited bounty other innumerable benefits daily. Be ye therefore merciful — Compassionate, kind, beneficent, to the unworthy; as your Father also is merciful — Continually setting you an example of gratuitous goodness; as all his works, whether of creation, providence, or grace, amply declare. See notes on Mat 5:44-48.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 6:32. Χάρις, thanks) So thrice the idea is expressed; see Luk 6:33-34. What thanks are due to you, as though you had done some service of extraordinary merit, worthy of a special reward?

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk_6:32-34. Comp. Mat_5:46 f.

καί] simply continuing: And, in order still more closely to lay to heart this general loveif ye, etc.

ποία ὑμῖν χάρις ἐστί;] what thanks have you? i.e. what kind of a recompense is there for you? The divine recompense is meant (Luk_6:35), which is represented as a return of beneficence under the idea of thanks (ob benevolum dantis affectum, Grotius); Matthew, μισθός.

οἱ ἁμαρτωλοί] Matthew, οἱ τελῶναι and οἱ ἐθνικοί. But Luke is speaking not from the national, but from the ethical point of view: the sinners (not to be interpreted: the heathen, the definite mention of whom the Pauline Luke would not have avoided). As my faithful followers, ye are to stand on a higher platform of morality than do such unconverted ones.

τὰ ἴσα] (to be accented thus, see on Mar_14:56) the return equivalent to the loan. Tischendorf has in Luk_6:34 the forms of δανίζειν (Anth. XI. 390).

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 6:32 . χάρις , here and in the following verses stands for Mt.’s μισθὸς , as if to avoid a word of legal sound and substitute an evangelical term instead. Yet Lk. retains μισθὸς in Luk 6:23 . χάρις probably means not “thanks” from men but favour from God. It is a Pauline word, and apparently as such in favour with Lk. Vide on Luk 4:22 . ἁμαρτωλοὶ here and in Luk 6:33-34 for τελῶναι and ἐθνικοὶ in Mt., a natural alteration, but much weakening the point; manifestly secondary.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3 d. The distinguishing characteristic of charity, disinterestedness: Luk 6:32-35 a.“And if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? For sinners also love those that love them. 33. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? For sinners also do even the same. 34. And if ye lend to those of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? For sinners also lend to sinners, to receive the same service. Luk 6:35 a. But love your enemies, and do them good, and lend, without hoping for anything again.”

Human love seeks an object which is congenial to itself, and from which, in case of need, it may obtain some return. There is always somewhat of self-interest in it. The new love which Jesus proclaims will be completely gratuitous and disinterested. For this reason it will be able to embrace even an object entirely opposed to its own nature. Χάρις: the favour which comes from God; in Matthew: τίνα μισθόν, what matter of recompense? ᾿Απολαμβάνειν τὰ ῖσα may signify, to withdraw the capital lent, or indeed, to receive some day the same service. The preposition ἀπό would favour the first sense. But the Alex. reading renders this prep. doubtful. The covert selfishness of this conduct comes out better in the second sense, only to lend to those who, it is hoped, will lend in their turn. It is a shrewd calculation, selfishness in instinctive accord with the law of retaliation, utilitarianism coming forward to reap the fruits of morality. What fine irony there is in this picture! What a criticism on natural kindness! The new principle of wholly disinterested charity comes out very clearly on this dark background of ordinary benevolence. This paradoxical form which Jesus gives His precepts, effectually prevents all attempts of a relaxed morality to weaken them.—Πλήν (Luk 6:35): “This false love cast aside; for you, my disciples, there only remains this.”—᾿Απελπίζειν means properly, to despair. Meyer would apply this sense here: “not despairing of divine remuneration in the dispensation to come.” But how can the object of the verb μηδέν, nothing, be harmonized with this meaning and the antithesis in Luk 6:34? The sense which the Syriac translation gives, reading probably with some MSS. μηδένα, no one, “causing no one to despair by a refusal,” is grammatically inadmissible. The only alternative is to give the ἀπό in ἀπελπίζειν the sense which this prep. already has in ἀπολαβεῖν, hoping for nothing in return from him who asks of you.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

What is there in this your work, that is to be accounted of? for if you look to have commodity by loving, seek those commodities, which are commodities indeed: love your enemies, and so you shall show to the world that you look for those commodities, which come from God.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 32. For sinners also love those that love them.] I believe the word αμαρτωλοι is used by St. Luke in the same sense in which τελωναι, tax-gatherers, is used by St. Matthew, Mt 5:46-47, and signifies heathens; not only men who have no religion, but men who acknowledge none. The religion of Christ not only corrects the errors and reforms the disorders of the fallen nature of man, but raises it even above itself: it brings it near to God; and, by universal love, leads it to frame its conduct according to that of the Sovereign Being. "A man should tremble who finds nothing in his life besides the external part of religion, but what may be found in the life of a Turk or a heathen." The Gospel of the grace of God purifies and renews the heart, causing it to resemble that Christ through whom the grace came. See Clarke on Lu 7:37.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(32) For if ye love them which love you.—See Note on Mat_5:46, and note St. Luke’s use, as writing for Gentiles, of the wider term “sinners,” instead of the more specific “publicans,” which pointed the maxim, perhaps, for those who originally heard it, and certainly for St. Matthew’s Jewish readers. There is also a slight variation in the form of the closing questions—St. Luke’s “what thank have ye” pointing to the expectation of gratitude in return for good offices, St. Matthew’s “what reward” to a more concrete and solid payment.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

32. for sinners also love those that love them] Where St Matthew (Mat_5:46-47), writing for Jews, uses the term “tax-gatherers” or ‘Gentile persons’ (ethnikoi), St Luke naturally substitutes the nearest equivalents of those words in this connexion, because he is writing for Gentiles. Our Lord meant that our standard must rise above the ordinary dead level of law, habit, custom, which prevail in the world.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And if ye do good to them which do good to you,.... As one good turn deserves another:

what thank have ye? what grace or goodness is there in such an action? what glory or merit is there in it?

for sinners also do even the same: wherefore no man should conclude himself a righteous man, or better than sinners, on such an account: this is to be found among the worst of men, and is natural to them, unless they are brutes indeed, to be kind to such as are kind to them. And yet, this was the whole of the doctrine of the Jews about doing good to men: for so they say (u),

"an Israelite is obliged to do good to an Israelite his companion, and to lend without usury: this is kindness and goodness, and a greater good it is than a gift; for many men are ashamed to take a gift, and are not ashamed to take a loan: but not so an Israelite to a Gentile; for he is not bound to do good, or show kindness to him, or to lend him his money freely; for many of them hate the Israelites; but it must be owned, that if a Gentile does a kindness, or good, to an Israelite; the Israelite is also bound to show kindness to him, and do him good.''

In direct opposition to such narrow sentiments does our Lord deliver himself in this, and the following verses.

(u) Kimchi in Psal. xv. apud Huls. Theolog. Jud. par. 1. p. 420.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

32 For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.

Ver. 32. See Mat 5:46. {See Trapp on "Mat 5:46"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

See Poole on "Mat 5:46". See Poole on "Mat 5:47". The strength of our Saviour’s argument lieth in this, That God expects that those who have received more grace and favour from God than others, and who make a higher profession than others, should do more in obedience to the positive commands of God, and the revelations of his will in his word, than they who live merely by the light of nature, and live up merely to the law of nature.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vers. 32, 33. For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. There are three manners of return, as Augustine quoted by Archbishop Trench in his "Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount observes, which men may make one to another: the returning good for good and evil for evil, this is the ordinary rule of man; then beneath this there is the returning of evil for good, which is devilish; while above it there is the returning of good for evil, which is Divine, and this is what is commanded for the followers of Jesus here. On the words, "sinners also love those that love them," Augustine"s words are singularly terse and quaint: "Amas amantes te filios et parentes. Amat et latro, amat et draco, amant et lupi, amant et ursi" (quoted by Archbishop Trench, "Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount," p. 234, note).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

It is greatly observable, our Lord has so little regard for one of the highest instances of natural virtue, namely, the returning love for love, that he does not account it even to deserve thanks. For even sinners, saith he, do the same: men who do not regard God at all. Therefore he may do this, who has not taken one step in Christianity.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

sinners

(See Scofield "Rom 3:23")

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The application of the Golden Rule:

v. 32. For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? For sinners also love those that love them.

v. 33. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? For sinners also do even the same.

v. 34. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? For sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again.

v. 35. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the. Highest; for He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.

There is no special favor or reward of mercy from God to be expected if we love only those that love us; in that case there is a condition of give and take which rewards the people involved. And such evidence of love is nothing extraordinary, for even the sinners, the outcasts, that profess no Christian morality do as much among themselves. The same holds true of doing good when others have done good to us. There is not even the feeling of exhilaration and joy over a good deed that animates us in such a case. And as for helping out someone that is in trouble, the mere lending of money may be a species of selfishness, for it will be for the purpose not only of having the capital returned, but of gaining the interest besides. The law of love requires in such a case rather that we help freely, without expecting anything in return. If the brother gets on his feet again, he will return the money received or pass the kindness on. Where the specific Christian character of works is concerned, the kindness must be that of pure altruism. It is for that reason that love of enemies is urged, and the doing of good where no returns are to be expected. For then the reward of mercy from the Lord will be correspondingly large, and we shall come nearer to the mind which is in our good and gracious Father in heaven. We, as children of the Highest, should exhibit the traits and characteristics of the good God. For He also, in His providence, is good and kind, even to the ungrateful and evil. And our Father will extend His favors to us in full measure, here in time and hereafter in eternity.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The design of our blessed Saviour in all and every one of these precepts is to recommend unto us all sorts and kinds of mercy and charity; namely, charity in giving, charity in forgiving, charity in lending; it is sometimes our duty (if we have ability) to lend to such poor persons as we cannot expect will ever be in a capacity, either to pay or to requite us. This is to imitate the Divine bounty, which does good to all, even to the unthankful and to the unholy.

Love for love is justice; love for no love, is favor and kindness; but love and charity, mercy and compassion, to all persons, even the undeserving and the ill-deservings, this is a divine goodness, a Christ-like temper, which will render us illustrious on earth, and glorious in heaven.

St. Luke says here, Be ye merciful, as your Father is merciful. St. Matthew says, Be ye perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect; Mat 5:48 implying, that love and mercy, charity and compassion, is the perfection of a Christian’s graces; he that is made perfect in love, is perfect in all divine graces; in the account of God.

Perfection in graces, but especially in love and charity, ought to be our aim in this life, and shall be our attainment in the next.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

32. καὶ γὰρ οἱ ἁμαρτωλοί. Where St Matthew (Mat 5:46-47), writing for Jews, uses the term ‘tax-gatherers’ or ‘Gentile persons’ (ἐθνικοὶ), St Luke naturally substitutes the nearest equivalents of those words in this connexion, because he is writing for Gentiles. Our Lord meant that our standard must rise above the ordinary dead level of law, habit, custom, which prevail in the world.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

32.] This verse again belongs to ver. 28, not to ver. 31: see Mat 5:46 ff.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

32-36. 5:42-48.

Between detached Sayings in Lk. and the Sermon in Mt.

Luk 14:34, Luk 14:35.Mat 5:13.Luk 11:34-36. Mat 6:22-23.

8:16 and 11:33. 15. 16:13. 24.

16:17. 18. 12:22-31. 25-34.

12:58, 59. 25, 26. 11:9-13. 7:7-11.

16:18. 32. 13:24. 13.

11:2-4. 6:9-13. 25-27. 22, 23.

12:33, 34. 19, 21.

Between the Sermon in Lk. and detached Sayings in Mt.

Luk 6:39. Mat 15:14.Luk 6:40. Mat 10:24.

This last saying was frequently uttered. It is recorded twice by Jn. (8:16, 15:20), and the four records seem to refer to four different occasions; besides which we have a similar utterance Luk 22:27.

These tables leave three verses of the sermon in Lk. without a parallel in Mt. (or any other Gospel), viz. the four woes corresponding to the beatitudes, vv. 24-26. The portions of the sermon in Mt. which have no parallel in Lk. amount to forty-one verses, viz. Mat 5:5, Mat 5:7-10, Mat 5:14, Mat 5:16, Mat 5:17, Mat 5:19-24, Mat 5:27-31, Mat 5:33-38, Mat 5:43, 6:Mat 5:1-8, Mat 5:14-18, Mat 5:7:6, Mat 5:14, Mat 5:15.

The plan of both discourses is the same. 1. The qualifications of those who can enter the kingdom (Lk. 20-26; Mat 5:1-12); 2. The duties of those who have entered the kingdom (Lk. 27-45; Mat 5:13-12); 3. The judgments which await the members of the kingdom (Lk. 46-49; Mat 7:13-27). Encouragement, requirement, warning; or invitation, principles, sanction;—these are three gradations which may be traced in these discourses; and, as Stier remarks, the course of all preaching is herein reflected.

There is considerable unanimity as to the spot where the sermon was delivered (Stanley, Sin & Pal. pp. 368, 369, Caspari, Chron. and Geograph. Int. to the L. of C. § 108, p. 171; Robinson, Pal. ii. 370, iii. pp. 241, 485; Farrar, L. of C. i. p. 250, and on Luk 6:12; Keim, Jes. of Nas. ii. p. 289). On the other hand, Edersheim asserts that “the locality is for many reasons unsunable”; but he gives no reasons (L. & T. 1. p. 524; see also Thomson, Land and Book, ii. p. 118).

32-35. Interested affection is of little account: Christian love is of necessity disinterested; unlike human love, it embraces what is repulsive and repellent.

32. ποία ὑμῖν χάρις. “What kind of thank, or favour, have you?” This may be understood either of the gratitude of the persons loved or of the favour of God. The latter is better, and is more clearly expressed by τίνα μισθὸν ἔχετε; (Mat 5:46). Other wise there does not seem to be much point in οἱ ἁμαρτωλοί. For χάρις of Divine favour comp. 1:30, 2:40, 2:52; Act 7:46.

καὶ γάρ. “For even”; nam etiam. Comp. Mat 8:9; Mar 7:28?, 10:45; Joh 4:45; 1Co 12:14; and see Ellicott on 2Th 3:10; Meyer on 2Co 13:4. Syr-Sin. omits the clause.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

What thank [ποια] . ? What kind of thanks? Not what is your reward, but what is its quality? On thank [χαρις] , see on chapter Luk 1:30.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.