Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a sermon Wang Yi, pastor of Early Rain Covenant Church in Chengdu, preached on Matthew 5:38-48 before he was imprisoned in 2018. Here, Wang Yi says that loving those who hate you is the highest and only real form of love. He shows us that God’s love toward us is the only pure form of love in the world. God loved us when we hated him. Because he loved us while we were God’s enemy, we can also be willing to suffer and “walk the road of the cross” and love our enemies as well.

This is the third installment in this series.  (Parts one and two are linked here.)

³⁸ “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ ³⁹ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. ⁴⁰ And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. ⁴¹ And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. ⁴² Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.

⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ ⁴⁴ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, ⁴⁵ so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. ⁴⁶ For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? ⁴⁷ And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? ⁴⁸ You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Mt. 5:38-48

Jesus’s Unconditional Love

What did Jesus mean when he spoke of love?

We can contrast’s Christ concept of love with the modern religion of love, which loves only those who love you. We can also compare it with the self-love that motivates some religious expressions. Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (v.44) Christ defined love as unconditional.

Loving your enemies is the ultimate form of love. It is love’s pinnacle, and shows how the essence of love is unconditional love. Jesus said that any conditional love which depends on someone else’s response is not real love. That type of love contradicts the definition he gave us himself.

Loving your enemies is the ultimate form of love. It is love’s pinnacle.

Because of this, we believe in God’s election and predestination. We are not saved because God foresaw how we would respond. God is different from humans, who react after an action is taken. For example, a husband starts being unpleasant to his wife. In response, she changes her pattern and also becomes unpleasant. But God, in eternity, knew your attitude would be poor before it even happened. Because he knew that, he predestined his attitude toward us.

Many people understand God’s election in this way: God is omniscient, so he knew beforehand whether we would believe in him. Based on this, he decided whether to love and save us. But is this foreknowledge different from a spouse who decides whether or not to love their partner based on how they are treated? There is no difference!

According to the definition of love Jesus gives here, if God determined his attitude toward us based on our response, then what God gives is not love. But from God, we receive unconditional love: loving your enemies.

Let us again define love: Christ’s love is to love your enemies. Just loving those who love you is not real love. It can only be called true love if someone loves their enemy, who is then moved by and responds to such love. The source of true love must come from the One who loves enemies.

If you do decide to love your enemy, how should you go about it? What if you invite them to eat with you and they refuse? What then?

The most important question in your life and in the world is: are there people who love their enemies? If not, there is no love in the world. But if people like this exist, then the world does not need Jesus, for the world has its own gospel and can save itself. When Jesus says to “love your enemies,” he is correcting and overturning our definitions of love and our self-righteous self-image.

Jesus also throws out another question: if you acknowledge you cannot love your enemy, then what is the good news? Is there someone who loves you? To put it more simply: are you an enemy to someone? Who?

Jesus’s Love is Sacrificial and Substitutionary

Now let’s turn to the next question: how do you love your enemy?

Let’s assume that to love means loving your enemies. Love is sacrificial and substitutionary. If you do decide to love your enemy, how should you go about it? What if you invite them to eat with you and they refuse? What then?

The first step is to define what an enemy is. An enemy is someone who opposes love. This definition is somewhat paradoxical. “Love means loving one’s own enemy”: in this sentence, “love” is a noun, and “loving” is a verb. This sentence is a tongue twister. How can light love dark without becoming darkness itself? There is a song titled, “Day Doesn’t Know the Darkness of Night.” How can day love the darkness of night? How can the haves love the have-nots?

At its core, love is a form of substitution. Love is a sacrifice for, or on behalf of, its opposite. Love must become the object of hate.

Love is loving the opposite of love. At its core, love is a form of substitution. Love is a sacrifice for, or on behalf of, its opposite. Love must become the object of hate. This is what Jesus meant when he said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (v. 44)

When you say you have love, it means love must become the object of hate and of curses. Unless you are willing to be hated, you have not loved. This is the path of the cross. Unless you are willing to be hated, you cannot substitute for someone else.

Wang Yi is a Chengdu pastor who was arrested on December 9, 2018, as part of a crackdown focused on his church, Early Rain. He was sentenced to nine years in December of 2019, and is currently in prison.  

Pray for Chinese Christians experiencing persecution to remember that God loved them, even while they were still his enemies.