Luke 6:32-34

Love Is To Be Shown Towards The Undeserving (6:32-34).

g And if you love those who love you, what thank have you (what reason have you to be thanked)?

l For even sinners love those who love them (Luke 6:32).

h And if you do good to those who do good to you, what thank have you?

l For even sinners do the same (Luke 6:33).

k And if you lend to those of whom you hope to receive, what thank have you?

l Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive again as much (Luke 6:34).

“And if you love those who love you, what grace is there to you?

For even sinners love those who love them.

And if you do good to those who do good to you, what grace (charis) is there to you?

For even sinners do the same.

And if you lend to those of whom you hope to receive, what grace is there to you?

Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive again as much.”

‘Charis' (grace, approbation) can be used of the gracious approbation of a superior, thus here ‘why should you expect thanks from God'. But it is also regularly used in the greeting ‘grace to you'. It may therefore here point to the grace of God which by its action enables the Christian to do what is unnatural, love his enemy. Or it may refer to a gift coming from God's grace. Matthew 5:46 on a similar question has ‘if you love those who love you, what reward have you?' This would suggest the third is in mind, or possibly the first, if God's gracious thanks can be seen as a reward.

On the other hand in the sermon preached in Luke Jesus may have altered the emphasis as against Matthew, for the passages are not strict parallels.

Whichever way that is, Jesus now emphasised His teaching by pointing out that simply loving, and doing good, and lending to those who love us and do us good and lend to us, is not what He is talking about, for then we are simply behaving naturally, and benefiting by it. It is only when we do it for those who do not do it for us that we manifest the grace of God at work within us and can expect to receive God's approval, and/or His reward.

Loving those who love us is not difficult, says Jesus, it is loving those who do not love us which is often difficult. Doing good to those who do good to us is normal courtesy, and would be expected of most normal human beings. It is doing good to those who hate us, in the same way as God does good to those who hate Him, which reveals the grace of God at work. Lending to those from whom we hope to benefit in one way or another is not unusual. What is unusual is lending not expecting to receive it back, or gain benefit from it. And that is the test of Christian love.

‘Of whom you hope to receive.' This could either refer to the return of the capital, the receipt of interest, or having built up a stock of credit so that a reciprocal loan might be forthcoming in the future if needed. Whichever way it was the person who had made the loan would benefit by it. So the point is that the special nature of Christian love is revealed by lending, expecting nothing back.

Lending not expecting to receive back the loan might appear an unlikely scenario. But it is precisely the scenario in Deuteronomy 15:7 where God's people were to lend to the poor even though the year of release was coming and they therefore knew that the debt would be forfeit. They were to lend anyway, not expecting to receive the full amount back. Thus the idea here was not totally new, or so revolutionary as it sounds. The revolution lies in the fact that the idea has expanded to all loans at any time. The promise in Deuteronomy 15 was that if they did lend, not hoping to receive it back, God would bless them more abundantly.

Note on Deuteronomy 14:28 to Deuteronomy 15:10.

In this passage we find God's provision so as to ensure that in Israel none went hungry or bankrupt. Every third year (the third and sixth in the seven year cycle) the tithe was to be set aside for the poor and needy, especially those who had no land of their own. Then every seventh year all loans made had to be cancelled. This ensured food available for the poor and the survival of the insolvent. But the danger then was that people would be unwilling to lend as the seventh year grew near. God thus firmly warned that they were not to behave so. They were to lend even if they suspected that they would not even have their loan repaid. And the promise was then that God would Himself pay them back and reward them with prosperity in their fields and in their lives. Jesus is taking these charitable provisions and expanding on them

End of note.

The Reason Why Christians Should Love the Undeserving (Luke 6:35)

Having defined Christian love, given practical examples of it, and demonstrated that in order for it to be thankworthy before God it must be shown to the undeserving, He now summarises it again in order to demonstrate its source.