Chapter XXI. 69. In the next place, He goes on to say, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy: But I say unto you, Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which persecute you;201 that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He commandeth202 His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love203 them which love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even the Gentiles the very same?204 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven205 is perfect.” For without this love, wherewith we are commanded to love even our enemies and persecutors, who can fully carry out those things which are mentioned above? Moreover, the perfection of that mercy, wherewith most of all the soul that is in distress is cared for, cannot be stretched beyond the love of an enemy; and therefore the closing words are: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect.” Yet in such a way that God is understood to be perfect as God, and the soul to be perfect as a soul. 70. That there is, however, a certain step [in advance] in the righteousness of the Phar- isees, which belongs to the old law, is perceived from this consideration, that many men hate even those by whom they are loved; as, for instance, luxurious children hate their parents for restraining them in their luxury. That man therefore rises a certain step, who loves his neighbour, although as yet he hates his enemy. But in the kingdom of Him who came to fulfil the law, not to destroy it, he will bring benevolence and kindness to perfection, when he has carried it out so far as to love an enemy. For the former stage, although it is something, is yet so little that it may be reached even by the publicans as well. And as to what is said in 30 the law, “Thou shalt hate thine enemy,”206 it is not to be understood as the voice of command addressed to a righteous man, but rather as the voice of permission to a weak man. 201 Augustin, with the best Greek text, omits et calumniantibus vos (“and despitefully use you”) of the Vulgate. 202 Jubet; Vulgate, facit (with the Greek). 203 Dilexeritis; Vulgate, diligitis. 204 Hoc ipsum; Vulgate, hoc; Greek, τὸ αὐτό. 205 Qui est in cœlis; Vulgate, cœlestis (see Revised Version). 206 The first part of the Lord’s quotation is found in Lev. xix. 18; these words, whatever may be said about the sanction, real or apparent, of revenge and triumph over an enemy’s fall in the Old Testament, are not found there. Bengel well says “pessima glossa” (“wretched gloss”),—a gloss of the Pharisees, “bearing plainly enough the character of post-exilic Judaism in its exclusiveness toward all surrounding nations” (Weiss). Centuries after Christ spoke these words, Maimonides gives utterance to this narrow feeling of hate: “If a Jew see a Gentile fall into the sea, let him by no means take him out; for it is written, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour’s blood,’ but this Chapter XXI 75 Chapter XXI