Matthew 5:43 is Jesus quoting a common saying of his day and then correcting it. The saying tells people to love those close to them and hate their enemies, and Jesus rejects the second half of that teaching. The words come from the Sermon on the Mount, which Jesus preached to a crowd of disciples and listeners gathered 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 phrase “You have heard that it was said” tells you Jesus is pointing to what people already knew. Many Jews had learned that God’s law called for love toward a fellow Israelite, as in Leviticus 19:18. Over time, though, the teaching had been stretched into permission to despise outsiders or people who had wronged them. Jesus is naming that distorted version so he can set it right.
When he says the saying is “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy,” he is quoting the popular summary rather than the full commandment. The verse does not command hatred. It describes a common attitude and sets Jesus’s teaching against it. What it does not promise is that love will be easy, or that enemies will suddenly become friends. It sets a standard for how you treat people, not a guarantee about how they will respond.
The Context of Matthew 5:43
Matthew wrote his Gospel to a community that knew Jewish law and tradition well, and he presents Jesus as the one who fulfills and deepens that law. The Sermon on the Mount, of which this verse is a part, opens with the Beatitudes and then moves through a series of teachings introduced with “You have heard… but I tell you.” Each contrast shows Jesus taking a familiar rule and pressing it toward the heart.
The verses just before this one, 5:40 to 42, describe giving beyond what is demanded: a second mile, a cloak on top of a coat, generosity toward a borrower. Verse 43 moves the same idea into the relationship with enemies. The verses that follow, 5:44 to 46, give the command to love, bless, and pray for enemies, and they ground it in the character of the Father, who sends sun and rain on both the evil and the good. Read in that setting, the verse is not a stand-alone rule but the turning point of a call to a generous, Father-like love.
Key Phrases in Matthew 5:43
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.”
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Paul applies the same principle of returning good for evil and shows that it is an active, practical way of living out love toward an enemy. Reading it beside Matthew 5:43 helps you see that Jesus’s command shapes concrete acts of kindness, not only inner attitudes.
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.
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Luke records a parallel teaching in which Jesus asks his listeners to love their enemies and expect nothing in return, grounding this in the kindness of the Most High. Together with Matthew 5:43, it shows that this love reflects God’s own character toward people who do not deserve it.
A Short Prayer From Matthew 5:43
Lord Jesus, you know how quickly my heart can start keeping a list of the people who have wronged me. Please loosen my grip on that list. Teach me to love the people nearest to me and to refuse the easy comfort of hating those who have hurt me. Where I have already let bitterness settle in, show me the way toward honest prayer for their good, and give me the strength to act with kindness even when I do not feel it. Make me more like the Father who gives good gifts to all. Amen.
