To Be Perfect Like The Heavenly Father, In Brotherly Love (Matthew 5:43–48)

2 min readMay 9, 2022

“43 “You heard that it was said, ‘You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 However, I say to you: Continue to love your enemies and to pray for those persecuting you; 45 that you may prove yourselves sons of your Father who is in the heavens, since he makes his sun rise upon wicked people and good and makes it rain upon righteous people and unrighteous. 46 For if you love those loving you, what reward do you have? Are not also the tax collectors doing the same thing? 47 And if you greet your brothers only, what extraordinary thing are you doing? Are not also the people of the nations doing the same thing? 48 you must accordingly be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:43–48).
The verb “to love” in this context, is to be taken in the sense of a reasoned love, without necessarily being marked with affection towards our enemy. For example, when someone insults us or behaves badly towards us, the love based on Bible principles will prevent us from responding to insult with insult, or hatred with hatred. In this way, the vicious circle of hatred by hatred will be broken, by the virtuous circle requested by Jesus Christ: that is, to respond to the hatred of our enemy, by self-control, a love based on decorum, good manners , good education and common sense (Galatians 5: 22,23 “the fruit of the holy spirit”). Maybe this way of acting can encourage him to change his attitude towards us.
According to Jesus Christ, this spiritual state of “perfection” or completeness, expressed by love for one’s neighbour, is quite accessible to humans, even sinners (Matthew 5:43–48). We can also see that Jesus Christ added to this “perfection” required, purity of the heart which is devoid of all bad intentions (John 13:10 “You men are clean” (pure)). And as for the apostle Paul, this spiritual state of “perfection” or maturity, allows him to be teachers of the Word of God, but also to have discernment as to what is good or bad. “But solid food belongs to mature people, to those who through use have their perceptive powers trained to distinguish both right and wrong” (Hebrews 5:14).

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