Commentary - Luke 6:27-36

Bird's-eye view

In this section of the Sermon on the Plain, the Lord Jesus lays out the radical ethic of His kingdom. This is not a set of suggestions for self-improvement, but rather a description of the supernatural life that flows from a heart transformed by the gospel. He begins with a command that cuts directly across the grain of our fallen nature: "love your enemies." This is not a sentimental feeling, but a rugged, active love demonstrated through tangible actions, doing good, blessing, and praying. Jesus then provides a series of stark illustrations that show what this enemy-love looks like in practice: turning the other cheek, giving up your tunic, and a radical generosity that expects nothing in return.

He contrasts this kingdom ethic with the behavior of sinners, who simply love those who love them back. The standard is far higher for the children of God. The motivation for this seemingly impossible ethic is the character of God Himself. We are to love our enemies because our Father in heaven is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. By acting this way, we demonstrate that we are truly His sons. The passage culminates in the command to be merciful, just as our Father is merciful. This is not about earning our salvation, but about living out the reality of the salvation we have freely received. It is a call to imitate our Father, whose love is not conditioned by the loveliness of the object, but flows from His own gracious nature.

Outline

Context In Luke

This passage is part of what is commonly called the Sermon on the Plain, Luke's counterpart to Matthew's Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has just chosen His twelve apostles and has come down to a level place to teach a great multitude. He has pronounced blessings on the poor, hungry, weeping, and hated, and woes upon the rich, full, laughing, and well-regarded. The commands here in verses 27-36 flow directly from this. The kind of person who is blessed in the kingdom is precisely the kind of person who is enabled by God's grace to live this way. These are not entrance requirements for the kingdom, but rather the characteristic behavior of those who are already in it.

It is crucial to understand that these are instructions for individual disciples in their personal conduct. A common error is to misapply these commands to the civil magistrate, leading to pacifism. The magistrate is God's deacon to bear the sword against evil (Rom. 13:4), while the individual Christian is called to a personal ethic of non-retaliation. This doesn't nullify the right of self-defense or the duties of a soldier, but it does define the personal demeanor and heart-attitude of a follower of Christ. We must not have a spirit of personal vengeance.

Clause-by-Clause Commentary

v. 27 “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

Jesus begins with a direct and arresting command. The "you who hear" are those with ears to hear, the true disciples. And the command is to "love your enemies." This is not a suggestion to feel a certain way. Biblical love, agape, is a commitment of the will that results in action. Jesus immediately defines it: "do good to those who hate you." Love is not a syrupy emotion; it is constructive, beneficial action. The natural man loves his friends and hates his enemies. This is the way of the world. But Jesus is inaugurating a new kingdom with a new ethic, one that flows from a regenerated heart. This is a sheer impossibility for anyone in the flesh. It requires the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. We are to actively seek the welfare of those who actively seek our harm.

v. 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who disparage you.

He continues to define what this love looks like. It extends to our words and our thoughts. When someone curses you, speaks ill of you, or wishes you harm, the required response is to bless them. This means to speak well of them, to desire God's favor upon them. When someone disparages you, treats you abusively, the response is to pray for them. This is not a prayer for God to zap them, but a genuine prayer for their well-being, and ultimately, for their repentance and salvation. This is what our Lord did from the cross: "Father, forgive them." This is what Stephen did as he was being stoned. This is the cruciform life. A refusal to bless your enemies is evidence that you have decided to join them in their bitterness.

v. 29 Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your garment, do not withhold your tunic from him either.

Here we have two vivid, concrete examples. These are not meant to be woodenly literalistic rules for every conceivable situation. Jesus Himself, when struck, did not physically turn His other cheek but challenged the injustice of the blow (John 18:22-23). Paul did not capitulate when his rights as a Roman citizen were violated (Acts 16:37). The principle is about the renunciation of personal retaliation and ego. A slap on the cheek in that culture was a profound insult, an assertion of dominance. The Christian response is to refuse to play the game of honor and shame. By offering the other cheek, you are demonstrating that your identity and worth are not found in the opinions of men. You are free from the need to vindicate yourself. The same principle applies to the seizure of your outer garment. The response is not to cling to your possessions but to show a radical detachment from them, even giving up your inner garment as well.

v. 30 Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back.

This command for radical generosity must also be understood in its context. This is not a command to enable sloth or foolishness (cf. 2 Thess. 3:10). The principle is a heart posture of open-handedness. The default setting of the Christian heart should be 'give,' not 'hoard.' We are stewards, not owners. And when something is taken from us unjustly, the default response is not to immediately resort to legal demands for restitution. Again, this is about personal conduct. It does not forbid all recourse to the courts, but it does forbid a grasping, possessive spirit that sees this world's goods as the ultimate reality.

v. 31 And treat others the same way you want them to treat you.

This is the famous Golden Rule, stated in its positive form. It summarizes the preceding commands. How do you want to be treated? With love, goodness, blessing, and generosity. Therefore, that is how you must treat others, including your enemies. This is not a rule of reciprocity, "I'll be nice to you if you're nice to me." It is a rule of initiative. You are to act this way regardless of how you are treated. It is a proactive ethic, not a reactive one. The ethos of the Golden Rule has nothing about it which is retaliatory.

v. 32 And if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.

Jesus now drives the point home by contrasting the kingdom ethic with the world's ethic. The world operates on the principle of "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours." There is no divine "credit" or grace in that. It's just basic, fallen human nature. Even organized crime syndicates operate with a code of loyalty. Loving those who are lovely and who love you back is easy. It requires no grace. The Christian standard is infinitely higher because our standard is God Himself.

v. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.

The same logic is applied to doing good. Reciprocal altruism is common in the world. It is a form of social currency. But the Christian is called to do good with no expectation of return, to do good to those who do evil to him. This is what breaks the cycle of sin and retaliation. This is what puts the goodness of God on display. It is an alien goodness, a goodness that cannot be explained by naturalistic or evolutionary paradigms. It points to a supernatural source.

v. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount.

The third example concerns lending. In the world, lending is a business transaction. You expect to get your principal back, and often with interest. There is nothing inherently wrong with this in a commercial context. But Jesus is talking about a different kind of transaction, one that is not governed by worldly economics but by kingdom economics. He is speaking of a generosity that is a true gift, not a disguised loan. This is a picture of the gospel. God gives to us without any expectation that we can pay Him back.

v. 35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to the ungrateful and evil.

Here is the summation and the ultimate motivation. Jesus repeats the core commands: love, do good, lend. But He adds the crucial qualifier: "expecting nothing in return." This is the heart of grace. And there is a reward. The reward is not material gain in this life, necessarily, but something far greater: "your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High." Our loving actions do not make us sons; rather, they demonstrate that we are sons. We are acting like our Father. How do we know what He is like? "For He Himself is kind to the ungrateful and evil." This is the doctrine of common grace. God sends His sun and rain on the just and the unjust (Matt. 5:45). His kindness is not reserved for the deserving. He pours out temporal blessings on His enemies every day. As His children, we are to imitate this indiscriminate, non-retaliatory kindness in our personal dealings.

v. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

The final command encapsulates the entire passage. The ultimate attribute we are to imitate is God's mercy. Mercy is not getting the justice we deserve. Every day we live and breathe is an act of God's mercy. He does not treat us as our sins deserve. Because we have been the recipients of such lavish mercy in the gospel, the forgiveness of all our sins through the death of Christ, we are now called and enabled to be conduits of that mercy to others. Our mercy toward others is the echo of God's mercy toward us. This is the family resemblance. We are to be merciful, just as our Father is merciful.

Application

The commands in this passage are a spiritual impossibility for the unregenerate heart. They are designed to drive us to our knees, to show us our need for a righteousness that is not our own. This is not a ladder to climb up to God; it is a description of the life that flows down from God to those who are united to Christ by faith. The first application, therefore, is to flee to Christ. Only in Him can we find the forgiveness for our own lovelessness and the power to begin to love like this.

For the believer, these words are a constant challenge to examine our hearts. Where are we still operating on the world's system of reciprocity and retaliation? We must consciously and deliberately choose to bless when cursed, to pray for those who use us, to do good to those who hate us. This is spiritual warfare. It is a battle against our own pride, our own sense of justice, our own desire for vindication. It is a daily taking up of the cross.

Finally, we must remember the motivation. We do this not to gain God's love, but because we already have it. We are sons of the Most High. We are called to act like our Father. When we are kind to the ungrateful, when we are merciful to those who wrong us, we are putting the character of our heavenly Father on display for a watching world. We are showing them what He is like. And in doing so, we show them the gospel, for the gospel is the ultimate story of God being merciful and kind to His ungrateful and evil enemies, of whom we were chief.