Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 6:35

"But love your enemies, and do [them] good, and lend, never despairing; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be sons of the Most High: for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil." — Luke 6:35 (ASV)

Love ye your enemies.—The tense of the Greek verb may be noted as implying a perpetual, abiding rule of action.

Hoping for nothing again.—Better, in nothing losing hope. It is possible that the Greek verb may have the sense given in the text, but its uniform meaning in the LXX , which must be allowed great weight in interpreting a writer like St. Luke, is that of “giving up hope,” despairing.

And this gives, it is obvious, a meaning not less admirable than that of the received version: “Give and lend according to the law of Christ, and do not let the absence of immediate profit make you lose heart and hope.” There is a “great reward.” The last words at least remind us of the promise made to Abraham, and may be interpreted by it.

God Himself is our exceeding great reward (Genesis 15:1). One or two manuscripts give a masculine instead of a neuter pronoun after the verb, and in that case the verb must be taken as transitive.

We have accordingly to choose between in nothing despairing, or driving no man to despair. On the whole, the former seems preferable. So taken, we may compare it with St. Paul’s description of “charity” or “love,” as hoping all things (1 Corinthians 13:7), and his counsel, Be not weary in well doing (Galatians 6:9).

The children of the Highest.—Better, for the sake of uniformity with the other passages where the word occurs, sons of the Most High. The passage is noticeable as the only instance in which our Lord Himself applies this name to the Father.

He is kind.—The generalized word takes the place of the more specific reference to the rain and sunshine as God’s gifts to all, in Matthew 5:45. The word rendered “kind” is applied to God in the Greek version of Psalm 34:8, quoted in 1 Peter 2:3, and is there rendered “gracious.”