Matthew 5:46 is Jesus pointing out that loving people who already love you earns no special credit. Even tax collectors, who were often despised by their own communities, do that much. The verse comes from the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus was teaching his followers, a crowd of ordinary people gathered on a hillside in Galilee, about what God’s kingdom looks like in daily life.
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
Jesus begins with a question: if your love only extends to those who love you back, what reward can you claim for it? The word “reward” points to the idea that God notices and values our actions. A kindness offered only in return for kindness is, in a sense, a trade, and it earns nothing beyond what the other person already gave.
The second question, “Don’t even the tax collectors do the same?”, pushes the point further. Tax collectors were widely viewed as traitors who worked for the Roman occupiers and often grew rich by overcharging. Jesus is not praising them. He is saying that even people with a reputation for self-interest will be warm toward those who are warm toward them. Nothing about that is distinctive.
The verse does not say that loving friends is wrong or that God rejects such love. It does not promise a reward for loving everyone, either. It challenges the assumption that reciprocal affection is the mark of a faithful follower. The surrounding teaching asks for something larger, a love that reaches past the circle of comfort.
The Context of Matthew 5:46
The Gospel of Matthew was written for a community of Jewish followers of Jesus, probably in the late first century, and traditionally attributed to Matthew the tax collector, one of the twelve disciples. That tradition gives the verse an interesting edge. The author himself once belonged to the group Jesus names here, so the saying carries a note of personal grace as well as correction.
Just before this verse, Jesus quotes the common teaching “love your neighbor and hate your enemy” and then overturns it, telling his listeners to love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them. He grounds this in God’s own generosity: the Father makes the sun rise on both the evil and the good. Verse 46 is the first of two examples that follow, and it sets up the conclusion in verse 48 that followers should be complete, as their Father in heaven is complete. Read alone, verse 46 can sound like a simple comparison. Read in context, it is part of an argument about imitating God’s wide, undeserved kindness.
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)
Luke records a parallel teaching in which Jesus tells his followers to love their enemies and do good without expecting anything back. It deepens the thought of Matthew 5:46 by framing generous love as a sign of being children of the Most High, who is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.
Romans 5:8
But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
(WEB)
Paul shows that God’s love is not a reward for good behavior but was shown while we were still sinners. This helps explain why Christian love can reach past reciprocity, since it rests on the love we first received rather than on what others deserve.
A Short Prayer From Matthew 5:46
Father, you have loved me when I did not deserve it, and you give your kindness to people who never thank you. I confess how easily my affection shrinks to the people who make me feel comfortable. Widen my heart this week. Show me the person I have been quick to overlook, and give me the courage to act in love without needing anything back. Let my kindness reflect your generous character. Amen.
