Herman Veldman (1908-1997) on Matthew 5:44-45

 

[Source: The Standard Bearer, vol. 25, no. 14 (April 15, 1949), p. 324]

 

 

In Matthew 5 we are admonished to love our enemies (not God’s enemies—this would involve us in a direct contradiction with Psalm 139:21-22), and also that the Lord causes the sun and the rain to shine and fall on the just and unjust, the evil and the good. We are not told in this passage that the Lord is merciful to the unjust and just, the evil and the good, but that He causes His sun to shine on them, etc. However, if this passage intends to regard this shining of the sun, etc., as a token of Divine love and mercy, then the text surely would compel us to conclude that one can receive too much of this mercy and kindness of the Lord.  If our crops receive too much sun, they may wither and die; and, on the other hand, if they receive too much rain, they may rot or be washed away. Matt. 5:44-45 would admonish us to love all our enemies, to make no distinction among them. We must not simply love those who love us and hate those who hate us—that is characteristic of the publicans. Neither does the Lord love those who love Him and hate those who hate Him. If He did, how could He ever love us? Are we not, by nature, haters of Him? Of this love of God, which is never determined by the attitude of the sinner in the sense that our love toward the Lord determines His love toward us, the rain and sunshine are a figure.   The sun shines not only upon the good but also upon the evil; the rain falls not only upon the just but also upon the unjust. This also characterizes the love of God. God does not simply love those who love Him; He also loves those who hate Him. Of course, and all of Scripture verifies this, this love of God, upon the evil and the good, the just and the unjust, has for its objects, exclusively, the elect people of God in Jesus Christ, our Lord. That God hates the wicked every day [Ps. 5:5; 7:11], and that His curse is in the house of the ungodly [Prov. 3:33], surely means that He hates them always and that His curse always accompanies them.