📖 Biblical Definition
Jesus commands His followers to love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them (Matthew 5:44). This is not sentiment but sacrificial action — doing good to those who hate you, blessing those who curse you (Luke 6:27-28). The foundation is God's own character: He sends rain on the just and the unjust. Paul echoes: "If thine enemy hunger, feed him" (Romans 12:20). Enemy love is the supreme evidence of genuine regeneration.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
The Christian duty of goodwill and benevolence toward adversaries, as commanded by Christ.
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Webster defines ENEMY as "a foe; one who hates another" and LOVE as "an affection of the mind." Combined in the Christian ethic, enemy love is the supernatural affection extended toward those who hate and oppose you — empowered by the Holy Spirit, not human willpower.
📖 Key Scripture
• Matthew 5:44 — "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you."
• Luke 6:27-28 — "Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, bless them that curse you."
• Romans 12:20 — "If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink."
• 1 John 4:19-21 — "We love him, because he first loved us."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Enemy love is either sentimentalized into tolerance or dismissed as weakness.
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Modern culture corrupts enemy love in two ways. Liberals sentimentalize it into unconditional tolerance — a refusal to call evil evil. Conservatives sometimes dismiss it as naive, reducing Christianity to a culture war. Biblical enemy love is neither weakness nor sentimentality — it reflects a God who loved us while we were yet His enemies.
Usage
• "Enemy love is not approving of evil; it is choosing to bless the evildoer while opposing the evil — just as God loved us while we were yet sinners."
• "The world says destroy your enemies; Christ says love them — and history proves which strategy actually changes the world."