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LOVE YOUR ENEMY
God's word says
"Love your enemy" is this includes loving our enemy Satan?
"Love your enemy" is this includes loving our enemy Satan?
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Carla on
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Hi Amanuel;
Interesting question...
When I think of satan's rebellion I have pity for him, I feel only sadness and compassion for him that it has come to this. he has lost his chance to be with God....this is very sad news!
In Scripture 'Love' is defined as being sacrificial...
Rom 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
God calls us to this way of sacrificial living.. Jesus demonstrated it. It is a daily dying and 'killing off' on ourselves for the purposes of God and for His Glory.
Mar 12:29 Jesus answered, "The foremost is, 'HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD;
Mar 12:30 AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.'
Mar 12:31 "The second is this, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' There is no other commandment greater than these."
We are not to sacrifice anything for satan...
I do not hate him.....that would be exactly what he wants. satan wants us to have anger and hatred in our hearts....because it gives him a foothold. satan is a powerful being...We must not engage him..but always respond as Michael the archangel did:
Jud 1:9 But even Michael, one of the mightiest of the angels, did not dare accuse Satan of blasphemy, but simply said, "The Lord rebuke you." (This took place when Michael was arguing with Satan about Moses' body.)
The battle and the Victory belongs to the Lord.
Pro 21:31 The horse is prepared for the day of battle, But victory belongs to the LORD.
I'd like to write more but I am on my way to get ready for the day....
Blessings, Carla
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Permalink Reply by David Velasquez on
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Amanuel-
I am in complete agreement to what Carla has written. When our Lord commanded us to love our enemies, He was not including a condemned being in that list. I do not hate the fallen angel called Satan, but I do hate everything he does, because he is evil, only seeking to kill, still and destroy.
There is no turning back for him, no repenting of his ways and his destiny is already set. So we are not being asked by our Lord to love him. The verse was written for our human sphere and it was not inclusive of the angelic realm.
dv
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Permalink Reply by Theresa on
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Amanuel,
James says in 4:7 Submit yourselves then to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Ephesians 4:27 says And do not give the devil a foothold.
Romans 12:20 But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink, for in so doing, you will reap burning coals on his head.
My question is: Where is Satan now? How can you love him? How can you do good to him? How can you give him a drink if he is thirsty? If he is (he is not) the one Jesus was talking about, there is no amount of love you can give Satan, no water to quench his thirst because he is cursed by God forever and ever, he is all disfiguered because of the fire he is in right now (this is what I think of Satan), now if he is the one Jesus is talking about, then your love for him will only reap burning coals on his head, so you see, there is no amount of love you can do or give to win him over to Jesus because he is just going to walk around with burning coals on his head, just burn more and more.
We should know Satan is real and we should be aware of his intentions and his characters toward Christians especially, but at the same time we should not put the blame on him alone. God is talking to us here to take the responsibility and God is showing us what to do, and that God our Father, our Lord Jesus has won the victory over Satan and his followers.
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Amanuel, I want to clarify this about Romans12:20"will reap burning coals on his head", I believe this sentence means that it is good to pray for your enemies and to do good to them because this will bring conviction to them, it will make them burn with conviction till they repent, it is a good promise. Now, I basically took it literally and pictured coals of fires burning on Satan's head (if this verse was meant for him and it is not, lol...)
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Permalink Reply by Amanuel Kussia Guyalo on
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you are right. We have to hate evil and the father of evil known as satan.
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Permalink Reply by Rita Cullimore on
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I don't think I hate Satan, just everything he stands for. If one hates all evil, and Satan is evil, it stands to reason that one would hate Satan. I try not to hate any person. When I hate a person, that harms me. (Don't know that Satan is classified a person, but it stands to reason he would be one.) I think that God is trying to tell us if we hate, it could hurt us. Therefore it is an emotion that should be avoided at all costs. Any hatred that we harbor should be a feeling against an act, not against a person. God said He loved Jacob and hated Esau. I would think it would be the acts of Esau, not Esau himself. Two emotions I try to avoid at all costs are jealousy and hatred.
Just my thoughts.
God can afford to hate...but we can't.
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Rita,
What does it mean that God hated Esau? Well remember when David says I hated my enemies with a perfect hatred, well there is a holy hatred, which means the absence of divine favor.
Good point brother Tim.
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Titus 3:9 (New International Version)
9But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless.
Tim I completely respect your decision to leave the discussion alone at this point and do not expect you to respond nor am I directing the following to you. I believe you have chosen wisely.
However I don't think we get into the realm of philosophy by trying to understand God's mind.
BTW - I love philosophy. Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language.
Semantics is the study of meaning, usually in language, so we do touch on semantics when we study matters pertaining to such sayings and/or questions as the one I asked above (What does it mean that God hated Esau?).
In Secular philosophy we have a free for all, for there are no strict parameters to abide by.
That is not the case when we are striving to come to the unity and understanding of God's character and scripture. It will do as well and it would offer us a enormous help to know God's revealed Character through the pages of Scripture.
When we have come to learn, who God is according to the information He has disclosed about himself through His creation and His written word, we can then tackle difficult passages without murdering the text or God's revealed character.
In philosophy of language, semantics and reference are related fields and the formal study of semantics is complex.
But we beloved have the Holy Spirit that leads us to all truth and He is delighted to enlighten us.
I said all that to say this:
WE AS A WORLD WIDE COMMUNITY HAVE TO LEARN TO DISCUSS DIFFICULT ISSUES IN LOVE AND NOT FALL INTO foolish controversies, yet look forward to good deep discussions.
LOVE you all.
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What kind of love do you think this passage is talking about? The Bible mentions 3 different types of love. And....can you "love" someone whom you don't know personally, can't see and have no relationship with?
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Matthew 5:44
But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you
Romans 5:8
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us
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We are not being asked by our Lord to love Satan or to hate him.
The verses you quoted were written for our human sphere and they are not inclusive of the angelic realm. I cannot think of one verse (correct me if I am wrong) where we are asked to have interaction in the New Testament with Angels. Satan and the demons/fallen angels that follow him are condemned already.
Hebrews 13:2
Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.
We may have interaction with them and not even know it or they could be sent by God as Messengers (Which is what their name Angels means) or to aid us. But we are not even asked to love them, much less hate them.
We are citizens of two kingdoms, which generate this type of questions, which are fun to ponder about.
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