Be you therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect.
All Commentaries on Matthew 5:48 Go To Matthew 5
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
Epist., 138, 2: Some object that this command of Christ is altogether inconsistent with civil life in Commonwealths; Who, say they, would suffer, when he could hinder it, the pillage of his estate by an enemy; or would not repay the evil suffered by a plundered province of Rome on the plunderers according to the rights of war? But these precepts of patience are to be observed in readiness of the heart, and that mercy, not to return evil for evil, must be always fulfilled by the will.
Serm. in Mont., i, 21: That there were degrees in the righteousness of the Pharisees which was under the old Law is seen herein, that many hated even those by whom they were loved. He therefore who loves his neighbour, has ascended one degree, though as yet he hate his enemy; which is expressed in that, “and shalt hate thy enemy;” which is not to be understood as a command to the justified, but a concession to the weak.
cont. Faust., xix, 24: I ask the Manichaeans why they would have this peculiar to the Mosaic Law, that was said by them of old time, “thou shalt hate thyenemy?” Has not Paul said of certain men that they were hateful to God? We must enquire then how we may understand that, after the example of God, to whom the Apostle here affirms some men to be hateful, our enemies are to be hated; and again after the same pattern of Him “Who maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good,” our enemies are to be loved. Here then is the rule by which we may atonce hate our enemy for the evil’s sake that is in him, that is, his iniquity, and love him for the good’s sake that is in him, that is, his rational part. This then, thus uttered by them of old, being heard, but not understood, hurried men on to the hatred of men, when they should have hated nothing butvice.Such the Lord corrects as He proceeds, saying, “I say unto you, Love your enemies.” He who had just declared that He came “not to subvert the Law, but to fulfil it,” by bidding us love our enemies, brought us to the understanding of how we may at once hate the same man for his sins whom we love for his human nature.
Serm. in Mont., i, 21: Here arises a question, that this commandment of the Lord, by which He bids us pray for our enemies, seems opposed by many other parts of Scripture. In the Prophets are found many imprecations upon enemies; such as that in the 108th Psalm, “Let his children be orphans.” .
Hil. Quaest. V. and N. Test.q. 68: And the souls of them that are slain cry out to be avenged; as the blood of Abel cried out of the ground not with a voice, but in spirit . As the work is said to laud the workman, when he delights himself in the view thereof; for the saints are not so impatient as to urge on what they know will come to pass at the appointed time.
Serm. in Mont., i, 23: After that rule we must here understand of which John speaks, “He gave them power to be made the sons of God.” One is His Son by nature; we are made sons by the power which we have received; that is, so far as we fulfil those things that we are commanded. So He says not, Do these things because ye are sons; but, do these things that ye may become sons. In calling us to this then, He calls us toHis likeness, for He saith, “He maketh His sun to rise on the righteous and the unrighteous.” By the sun we may understand not this visible, but that of which it is said, “To you that fear the name of the Lord, the Sun of righteousness shall arise;” and by the rain, the water of the doctrine of truth; for Christ was seen, and was preached to good as well as bad.
Epist., 93, 2: But as we laud Him for His gifts, let us also consider how He chastises those whom He loves. For not every one who spares is a friend, nor every one who chastises an enemy; it is better to love with severity, than touse lenity wherewith to deceive .
City of God, book 1, ch. 8: For the good man is not puffed up by worldly goods, nor broken by worldly calamity. But the bad man is punished in temporal losses, because he is corrupted by temporal gains. Or for another reason He would have good and evil common to both sorts of men, that good things might not be sought with vehement desire, when they were enjoyed even by the wicked; nor the evil things shamefully avoided, when even the righteous are afflicted by them.
