Click to join the conversation with over 500,000 Pentecostal believers and scholars
Click to get our FREE MOBILE APP and stay connected
| PentecostalTheology.com
Jesus’ teaching to "love your enemies" is known to practically everyone. But in several cases the NT portrays him as expressing anger toward those who opposed him. He famously drove the moneychangers from the Temple with a whip in John 2:15. In Mark 11, he "he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons; and he would not allow any one to carry anything through the temple." In John 8:44, he condemned those who did not believe his teaching to be "of your father the devil."
In Matthew, Jesus pronounced numerous "woes" against his opponents. For example:
-
Matthew 23:13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither enter yourselves, nor allow those who would enter to go in.
-
Matthew 23:27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.
In Luke, Jesus coupled his blessings with "woes."
-
20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 “Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. “Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh. 22 “Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of man! 23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.
-
24 “But woe to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation. 25 “Woe to you that are full now, for you shall hunger. “Woe to you that laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. 26 “Woe to you, when all men speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.
In Mt. 25 Jesus declared that at the Coming of the Son of Man, the King will declare : ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’
The king in this passage is usually understood to mean Jesus.
So the question is: did Jesus curse his enemies; and if not, how are the woes and condemnations that he pronounced to be understood?
