What Does Luke 6:27 Mean in the King James?
But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The enemy’s hostility does not place them beyond the reach of good; the verse names them as love’s direct object.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks into your present relationships: the person who hates you remains within the reach of love and good. Love is paired with doing good, so it takes an outward form toward the one whose hostility is real.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that hostility makes someone undeserving of good.
THE ROOT
ἀγαπᾶτε
agapate
GROWS FROM
ἀγαπ-
Love; regard with love
This word family includes both love and the person who is beloved, and here its object is explicitly an enemy. The verse then pairs love with doing good, giving love an outward form toward the person who hates you.
ALSO GROWS
agapē: Love
ἀγάπη
The noun shares the same stem, placing the verse’s command within a wider word-family for love.
agapētos: Beloved; loved
ἀγαπητός
The same stem can describe a person who is loved, while this verse names even an enemy as love’s recipient.
ἐχθρούς
echthrous
GROWS FROM
ἐχθρ-
Hostility; being an enemy or hostile
“Enemies” in this verse is echthrous. The word names an actual hostile relation. The verse neither blurs that hostility nor waits for it to disappear before directing love and good toward the hostile person.
ALSO GROWS
echthros: Enemy; hostile person
ἐχθρός
This is the word used for the people toward whom love is directed.
echthra: Enmity; hostility
ἔχθρα
This related noun names the hostility in the relationship that the verse holds together with love.
THE PATTERN
The response to hostility is directed toward an enemy’s good without pretending the hostility is absent.
If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again.If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.THE THREAD
Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.Romans uses the same Greek word for enemy, ἐχθρός (echthros), meaning an enemy or hostile person. Its image of feeding and giving drink shows what Luke’s “do good” looks like while hostility remains in view.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us