Love your enemies

Our phone, computer, and television screens have been filled with images, sounds, and descriptions of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene. Western North Carolina, especially Asheville, has received much attention for the magnitude of the damage done. Lives have been lost—many more turned upside down. Whether normal can ever return for some is a serious question.

Online, some have expressed smug contentment. These reactions, coming from the political left and often from non-Christians, point to the surrounding areas, noting their high levels of support for Donald Trump and/or refusal to respond to claims about climate change. Some on the right also seem to think a celebration might be in order. They have claimed that God sent this disaster to western North Carolina as condemnation against Asheville for its “wokeness” (warning: foul language). In other words, they see this event as some kind of judgment on their enemies—political, social, and religious.

I will set aside discussing the presumption these comments show in claiming to know the ways of God’s providence. Instead, I will turn to the broader posture out of which it comes.

These responses, Christian or not, left or right, all resemble a scene from the opening book of Plato’s Republic. There, Socrates and his interlocutors discuss different definitions of justice. One man, Polemarchus, offers that justice consists of giving “to each what is owed,” and this plays out to mean that one “gives benefits and harms to friends and enemies.”

Many today, some believers included, have taken up the mantel of Polemarchus. They say we should act to harm our enemies and benefit our friends, and that we, too, should feel happiness and vindication at the loss our political, social, and religious opponents suffer.

Yet, this position does not accord with Scripture. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus notes the argument of Polemarchus, declaring, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’” Christ responds with a flat contradiction: “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

Scripture does not merely relay this point in the Gospels. In Romans 12, Paul urges the Church to “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.” He continued, “Repay no one evil for evil.” 1 Peter 3:9 exhorts, “Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless.”

Thus, in this tragedy, as in all times, we must love our enemies, not hate them. We should pray for their welfare, not their destruction, seeking their good, not their harm. But what does it mean to love our enemies amid a disaster like Hurricane Helene?

It does not mean surrendering truths about God’s character, His law, and our consequent obligations. In fact, real love “does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.” We should not leave alone someone destroying their body out of some disordered view of love. Neither should we say nothing to those destroying their souls and often encouraging others to do the same. We should speak the truth to them, as Paul tells us in his letter to the Ephesians. We should contend for the faith, as we read in Jude.

At the same time, of course, Paul tells us to speak the truth “in love.” Doing so does not take smug satisfaction at the sufferings of others. It does not wish for the death of enemies. Instead, we hope their status as enemies is destroyed, not their persons or possessions. We hope that as part of the Great Commission, the gospel will turn our and God’s enemies into brothers and sisters in Christ. After all, we were once enemies of God and His people, reconciled by God’s mercy toward us in Jesus Christ.

It also means being careful who we call enemies. Divisions exist in Christianity doctrinally, socially, and politically. Among disagreeing Christians, we do pray for divisive strife to cease. We do so by praying for hearts and actions to be brought into greater conformity with God’s will and, thereby, with each other.

Finally, we should know what words and deeds the particular moment requires. For those suffering, now is not the context in which to rebuke and correct. Now is the time to provide shelter, clothing, and food. It means to give financially to sustain now and to rebuild later.

Let us follow Christ amid this tragedy. Let us love not just our friends but those who persecute and revile us. Let us love our enemies.