Matthew 5:43 records Jesus correcting a common assumption of his day: that loving your neighbor meant you were free to hate your enemy. Jesus does not accept the second half of that equation. He is quoting what his listeners had heard taught, and then he sets up the teaching he is about to give, which will call his followers to something far harder than what they had been told. The verse is spoken by Jesus during the Sermon on the Mount, addressed to his disciples and the crowds gathered around them on a hillside in Galilee.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
Matthew 5:43 (WEB)
What Matthew 5:43 Means
The first phrase, “You have heard that it was said,” tells you Jesus is referring to something people already knew. He is not quoting a single written command but a popular summary of the law. The words “You shall love your neighbor” come from Leviticus 19:18, a real command to care for fellow Israelites. The problem lies in the second clause, “and hate your enemy,” which does not appear in that passage. It was a conclusion people drew, a way of drawing a line around who deserved their kindness.
Jesus is not saying the earlier command was wrong. He is saying that the teaching built on top of it had narrowed love into something comfortable and tribal. The verse does not promise that loving enemies will be easy or that it will automatically change them. It describes what kind of people his followers are meant to become, and it sets up the direct call in the next verse to love, bless, and pray for those who mistreat you.
The Context of Matthew 5:43
Matthew’s Gospel was written for a community that knew the Jewish Scriptures well and needed to understand how Jesus fulfilled and deepened them. Tradition holds that the author was Matthew, a tax collector turned disciple, though the book itself does not name its writer in the text. Its first readers were likely Jewish Christians and others familiar with Jewish law, which is why Jesus’s teaching here is framed in terms of what “was said” in the law.
The verses just before this one, Matthew 5:40 to 42, describe generosity that goes beyond what is required: giving more than someone demands, going an extra mile, lending without turning away. Verse 43 continues that pattern of costly love. The verses after it, Matthew 5:44 to 46, give the direct command and the reason for it, tying love of enemies to being children of the Father who makes his sun rise on both the evil and the good. Read in that setting, the verse is the hinge of an argument about the kind of love that reflects God’s own character.
Key Phrases in Matthew 5:43
Leviticus 19:18
“‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people; but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
(WEB)
This is the command Jesus quotes in the first half of Matthew 5:43. Reading it in its original setting shows that the call to love neighbors was always a serious obligation, and that the “hate your enemy” addition was a human extension rather than part of what God commanded.
Romans 12:20
Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing so, you will heap coals of fire on his head.”
(WEB)
Paul builds on the same teaching by urging believers to feed an enemy who is hungry and give them drink when they are thirsty. His words show what loving an enemy looks like in concrete action, which gives shape to the principle Jesus sets out in Matthew 5:43.
A Short Prayer From Matthew 5:43
Lord, you know how easily I divide people into those who deserve my kindness and those who do not. I confess that I have sometimes let my hurt harden into quiet hatred, and I have called it self-protection. Open my eyes to the places where I have stopped loving, and give me the courage to take one small step toward the person who has wronged me. Help me to pray for them honestly, even when I do not feel like it, and let your love for the world shape the way I treat people today. Amen.
