“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies…” (Matthew 5:43-44a). “Love your neighbor” was in the OT but “hate your enemy” was not; the saying was assumed to be true. If neighbors were included then enemies must be excluded. To get around “Love your neighbor” created an interpretation debate of, “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29). Jesus taught that your neighbor is anyone in need (Luke 10:29-37), but it did not stop there, it extended to “your enemies”. Our Lord is not into excluding anyone from love, but including all as objects of love. That’s what our Father does and that is what we are to do (Matthew 5:43-48). He who included us does not want us to exclude anyone that He loves, and that is everybody.
