Matthew 5:46 is Jesus pointing out that loving people who already love you is easy and earns no special credit, because even the tax collectors, who were despised in Jewish society, do the same. Jesus is challenging his listeners to show a deeper kind of love than ordinary social reciprocity. He spoke this during the Sermon on the Mount, addressing his disciples and the crowds gathered on a hillside in Galilee.
For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same?
Matthew 5:46 (WEB)
What Matthew 5:46 Means
The verse begins with “For if you love those who love you,” which describes a simple exchange: you are kind to someone because they are kind to you. Jesus then asks, “what reward do you have?” The word reward here means the recognition or payoff a person might expect for such love. If the only people you love are those who love you back, there is nothing unusual about it, and no special standing before God is earned by it.
The second sentence, “Don’t even the tax collectors do the same?”, uses tax collectors as the example of people who would be considered the least admirable. Tax collectors were often seen as collaborators with Rome and as people who overcharged their neighbors. Jesus is saying that even people with a poor reputation practice this kind of mutual affection. The verse does not promise that loving only your friends is wrong, but it does say that such love alone does not set you apart.
The Context of Matthew 5:46
Matthew’s Gospel was most likely written for a Jewish-Christian audience in the latter part of the first century, traditionally attributed to Matthew, one of the twelve disciples. Within the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus repeatedly contrasts his teaching with what “was said” in the law and tradition. In verse 43 he quotes the common teaching to love your neighbor and hate your enemy, then turns that understanding upside down.
Verse 46 is part of a pattern in verses 46 and 47, where the same question about tax collectors is repeated. Right before this, verse 45 says God makes the sun rise on the evil and the good, which sets up the idea that God’s generosity is wide and unconditional. Read in that setting, Matthew 5:46 is less about criticizing ordinary friendships and more about showing that disciples are called to a love that mirrors God’s own open generosity toward everyone.
Key Phrases in Matthew 5:46
Luke 6:35
But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back; and your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil.
(WEB)
This verse, found in Jesus’s teaching on love for enemies, repeats the call to do good without expecting return. It helps show that Matthew 5:46 is part of a consistent message about generous, unconditional love.
1 John 4:19
We love him, because he first loved us.
(WEB)
This verse explains that our love is a response to God’s prior love for us. It supplies the deeper reason behind the call in Matthew 5:46, since loving beyond reciprocity flows from having first been loved.
A Short Prayer From Matthew 5:46
Lord, I confess that I often love the people who make it easy for me and keep my distance from those who are hard to love. Show me where my kindness has become a trade, and free me from needing thanks before I act. Help me notice the people in my life who receive little warmth and give them the same care I offer my closest friends. Let my love reflect your generosity, which reaches the good and the difficult alike. Amen.
