Third Quarter 2004 Adult Sabbath School Lessons:
"Religion in Relationships"

Insights to Lesson 10:
Loving Our Enemies
August 28-September 3

(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)

I have a friend who works on a township maintenance crew in the Philadelphia suburbs. This man’s supervisor is, as they say, “a real piece of work.” He has openly said that “there are givers and receivers in this world, and that [he] is a receiver.” Needless to say, my friend and I have nicknamed him “the receiver.” I am told that anyone who gets in the way of the plans of “the receiver” immediately becomes his enemy. This brings us to the main thought of this week’s lesson—loving our enemies.

Biblically speaking, it is impossible to really love one’s enemies unless one is prepared to give all for the sake of that enemy’s ultimate good. The “receivers” in this world cannot love their enemies, because to do this they must become givers. God is, of course, the ultimate Giver, and He demonstrated the ultimate love for His enemies in the gift of His own life (in the Son) to the world. “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:6-8, NKJV).

This agape love, which the 1888 message brings out so powerfully, is what separates true Christianity from all pagan religions. Ghandi sounded humanly noble when he said, “to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion” (Sabbath School quarterly, p. 82), but his sentiments still cannot compare with the gospel view of loving our enemies. When God loves His enemies, it is not merely to pacify them into an acceptance of some kind of mutual tolerance (which is what Ghandi’s Hinduism advocates), but His love has the power to win the hearts of His enemies—to change their deepest motivations, thoughts, and feelings. Also, the immensity of the sacrifice involved for our redemption cannot be compared to any human endeavor, certainly not to the fasting and non-violence of Ghandi. There is in Christianity, and evidently in some sectors of the Advent movement, a confusion about the true nature of God’s love, to the point that some say that Ghandi’s teaching comes close to it. This is precisely why the Lord gave us a “most precious message”—so that we might be saved from the final, spiritualistic deception.

Related to the link between loving our enemies and giving is the concept of “for-giving.” When Jesus spoke of forgiveness in Luke 17:1-4, the disciples’ response was, “Increase our faith.” This sounds like a reasonable request until we read Jesus’ answer (vs. 6). In essence, what He was saying to them was, “For you to forgive like this, you do not need an increase in the faith that you have now; instead, you need an entirely different quality of faith.” What they needed was the faith of Christ—if they embraced that faith, then they would be as forgiving as He was. How important it is that we understand this today! How many seek to forgive others by mustering up a self-made faith, only to realize later, when circumstances change, that they never really forgave at all.

When we truly, with a heart appreciation, receive the faith of Christ, embracing the cross, then we will love all people, even our enemies in the same characteristic manner that Christ did. Far from dreading to serve others, we will consider it our privilege. Note the following insight from E. J. Waggoner’s The Glad Tidings. Commenting on Galatians 6:10 he writes:

“‘As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially to those who are of the household of faith.’ In this we see that the apostle speaks of temporal help, for we need no special command to preach the Word to those who are not of the household of faith. They are the ones to whom it is especially to be preached. But there is a natural tendency—natural, I say, not spiritual—to limit charities to those who are called ‘deserving.’ We hear much about ‘the worthy poor.’ But we are all unworthy of the least of God’s blessings, yet He showers them upon us continually. ‘If ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 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.’ Luke 6:33-35, KJV.”

Note especially the beginning of the tenth verse. “As we have opportunity, let us do good unto all men.” “Doing good to others is to be considered a privilege to be enjoyed, and not an irksome duty to be discharged. Men do not speak of disagreeable things as opportunities. No one says that he had an opportunity to injure himself or that he had an opportunity to lose some money. On the contrary, a man will speak of an opportunity to make some money, or to escape from some threatened danger. It is thus that we are to consider doing good to the needy. But opportunities are always sought for. Men are always on the lookout for an opportunity to get gain. So the apostle teaches us that we should be seeking opportunities to help some one. This Christ did. He ‘went about doing good.’ He traveled about the country on foot, searching opportunities to do somebody some good, and He found them. He did good, ‘for God was with Him.’ His name is Immanuel, which means, ‘God with us.’ Now, as He is with us all the days, even to the end of the world, so God is with us, doing good to us, that we also may do good” (Ibid., pp. 135, 136).

“We then, as workers together with Him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain” (2 Cor. 6:1). To this end, “receive ye the Holy Ghost” (John 20:22).

What an excellent, practical thought on which to conclude this week’s insight. May God bless your Sabbath School class this week is my prayer. Amen.

—Skip Dodson

Read the study notes for lesson 11