December 19, 2009

God's Love, Goodness, Kindness and Mercy Interrelated in Luke 6:35–36

Luke 6:35–36: 35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. 36 "Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.
I just realized the connection of ideas in this brief passage. Notice how "love," "goodness," "kindness" and "mercy" are all interrelated here. We are told to love (i.e., to be good, kind and merciful) to our enemies, and thus to image/imitate the Father as "sons" this way. Some want to argue that God is good, kind and/or merciful to all, but does not love all. This passage alone refutes those strange divisions.

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