What Does Luke 6:35 Mean?
But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return. And your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Highest, for he is kind to the unthankful and to the evil.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.THE KEY
The receiver is not made the source of your return: the promised reward rests with the Highest, whose kindness reaches even the ungrateful and the evil.
THE MEANING
You love those who oppose you by doing good and lending without making repayment the condition of your care. The Highest is kind toward the ungrateful and the evil, and that same unearned kindness marks you as a child of the Highest. Your reward is great, but its source is not the borrower.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that care only makes sense when the person receiving it deserves it or can repay you. The borrower does not fund the reward.
THE ROOT
ἀχαρίστους
acharistous
GROWS FROM
χαρι- (char-), the stem of χάρις
Favor, gift, and thanks.
“the unthankful” in this verse is acharistous. The word translated “unthankful” begins with a Greek prefix meaning “without” and contains the stem of χάρις (charis), meaning “favor” or “thanks.” The Highest’s kindness reaches people who return no thanks, so goodness here does not wait for gratitude to come back.
ALSO GROWS
charis: Favor, gift; thanks when gratitude is in view.
χάρις
This is the stem inside “unthankful,” showing the absent response the word describes.
charizomai: Grant as a favor; forgive freely.
χαρίζομαι
The same word family describes favor freely given, even when it cancels what could be claimed in return.
acharistia: Ingratitude, lack of thanks.
ἀχαριστία
This related form makes explicit the absence of gratitude named in the verse.
ἐχθρούς
echthrous
GROWS FROM
ἐχθρ-
echthr-
Hostile, hateful; hostility directed toward someone.
The word translated “enemies” belongs to a family that also names enmity and acting with hostility. The verse meets that opposition with love, so hostility is present but does not prescribe the response.
ALSO GROWS
echthra: Enmity, hostility.
ἔχθρα
It names the hostile relationship contained in the word “enemy.”
echthrainō: To be hostile toward someone.
ἐχθραίνω
It expresses hostility as an action, from the same word family as “enemies.”
μισθὸς
misthos
GROWS FROM
μισθ-
misth-
Wages, payment, recompense.
The word translated “reward” is also used for wages and payment. The verse holds both parts together: lend without seeking payment from the person in front of you, while the promised recompense remains with the Highest.
ALSO GROWS
misthoō: To hire or pay wages.
μισθόω
It shares the payment root behind the promised reward.
misthōtos: A hired worker, a wage-earner.
μισθωτός
It shows the root’s place in the language of wages and exchange.
THE PATTERN
The Highest’s likeness appears as goodness given before gratitude or merit can be demanded.
If the one who hates you hungers, feed him bread; and if he thirsts, give him water to drink.So that you may become children of your Father in the heavens, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the aligned and on the crooked.But God sets his own love beside us, in that while we were still missing the mark, the Anointed One died for us.THE THREAD
For if, while we were enemies, we were exchanged with God through the death of his Son, much more, being exchanged, we will be delivered by his life.Luke’s “enemies” (ἐχθρούς, echthrous) and Romans’ “enemies” (ἐχθροὶ, echthroi) are forms of the same Greek word, ἐχθρός (echthros), describing hostility. Romans makes the pattern personal: God acts to reconcile us while we are still in the enemy position, echoing the very posture Luke names.
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