Lost In Translation: Matthew 5:43-44
You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
This article is part of a series explaining the secrets hidden in Greek for some of Jesus’s most popular verses. See this article for the beginning of this series.)
We misunderstand these two verses because their four key words, “love,” “neighbor,” “hate,” and “enemy” mean different things in Greek. Their true meaning tilts these verse in an interesting direction, one that makes it harder to group many forms of today’s “charity” as “loving your neighbor.” Another surprising thing is how uncommonly Jesus uses these words. For example, this is the first time Jesus uses this word for "love.”
The “loving you neighbor” here uses the same words as the traditional Jewish teaching in Leviticus 19:18. Jesus is literally citing Judaic law. The "hating enemies" seems a twisting of Psalm 139:22 which is about hating God's enemies. While there are many references to loving neighbors in the OT, there is only this one reference to hating enemies, at least in these words.
The Catchphrases
The wordplay here begins with the catchphrases that introduce both verses. These phrases get funnier and funnier in the Sermon of the Mount as they are repeated again and again. This is their sixth and last repetition.
In Matthew 5:43, Jesus uses the catchphrase “you have heard it said.” In the Sermon, this phrase is used to introduce a discussion of a different Judaic law. The Greek verb translated as "said" here is only used by Jesus in this phrase. It has a more serious meaning than “said,” "to proclaim" or "to pronounce," and a lighter meaning "to mention.”
The answering catchphrase is, “but I tell you.” It uses a common word for "tell," one that Jesus uses to describe his own speaking. In this catchphrase, Jesus uses an exaggeration of “I,” adding the first person pronoun for emphasis (see this article). Jesus’s use of it makes the phrase sound mock pompous, “I myself, however, say”.
Matthew 5:43,
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