John Calvin Commentary Matthew 5:43

"Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy:" — Matthew 5:43 (ASV)

You shall love your neighbor. It is astonishing that the Scribes fell into so great an absurdity as to limit the word neighbor to benevolent persons, for nothing is more obvious or certain than that God, in speaking of our neighbors, includes the whole human race.

Every person is devoted to themselves; and whenever regard for personal convenience causes an interruption of acts of kindness, there is a departure from that mutual connection which nature itself dictates.

To maintain the practice of brotherly love, God assures us that all human beings are our brothers, because they are related to us by a common nature. Whenever I see a man, I must, by necessity, behold myself as in a mirror: for he is my bone and my flesh (Genesis 29:14). Now, although most people break away, in most instances, from this holy society, yet their depravity does not violate the order of nature, for we should regard God as the author of the union.

Therefore, we conclude that the precept of the law, by which we are commanded to love our neighbor, is general. But the Scribes, judging neighborhood from the disposition of the individual, affirmed that no one should be considered a neighbor unless they were worthy of esteem on account of their own excellencies, or, at least, unless they acted the part of a friend. This is, no doubt, supported by common opinion; and therefore the children of the world are not ashamed to acknowledge their resentments when they have any reason to give for them.

But the charity which God requires in his law does not look at what a person has deserved, but extends itself to the unworthy, the wicked, and the ungrateful. Now, this is the true meaning that Christ restores and vindicates from slander; and therefore it is obvious, as I have already said, that Christ does not introduce new laws but corrects the wicked interpretations of the Scribes, by whom the purity of the divine law had been corrupted.