Who The Father Is

A Commentary on Matthew 5:43–48 

When Scripture is not read in the right order and in the manner Scripture itself teaches us to read it, we can end up creating strange ideas, theologies, and doctrines that form images of God radically different from the God Jesus reveals. 

For the most part, Christians have done a good job recognizing that Jesus must be understood according to who he revealed himself to be. Apart from certain interpretations—for example, the idea that the double-edged sword coming from Jesus’ mouth in Revelation is a literal sword he will use to slaughter everyone who does not intellectually assent to the proper beliefs—we generally recognize that the imagery points to the power of his word. The sword comes from his mouth. Scripture itself uses the double-edged sword as an image for the penetrating power of God’s word. 

But when we begin from the position that all Scripture—regardless of precisely what one considers Scripture—must be read in the light of Tabor, we discover a God so unbelievably good that he can actually become difficult for us to believe in. He is too loving, too forgiving, too patient, too gentle, and too generous for the images of God we have constructed. 

It is remarkable that even those who claim to worship this God can have difficulty accepting greater visions of his forgiveness, gentleness, patience, and generosity when fellow believers try to reveal them. 

As a counselor, I have found that it is often not until the god someone has constructed in their mind is no longer comforting them in their time of need that they finally begin to surrender that image and give way to the God Jesus has revealed to us in the Incarnation. 

And this is part of what makes the Incarnation so glorious. We do not merely know God by observing the character Jesus reveals through his life. Jesus also plainly tells us what the Father is like. 

So what do we find Jesus saying? 

Matthew 5:43–48 

“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, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 

If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” 

If we break down what Jesus is doing here, something remarkable emerges. 

He begins by saying, “You have heard that it was said.” He then quotes the Old Testament command, “Love your neighbor.” That command is found in the Law. But what is interesting is that the second half—“hate your enemy”—is not found there. Yet Jesus addresses it as though this had become part of the people’s understanding of what faithfulness to God permitted or required. 

This plays directly into why the Son became incarnate. What humanity possessed concerning God in the Torah did not merely fail to exhaustively reveal the Father; when interpreted wrongly, it could produce an image of God that completely missed who the Father truly is. 

Jesus therefore speaks with his own authority and challenges the hermeneutic that produced this understanding: “But I tell you…” 

Reading the text as they had, people could imagine God behaving much like human beings behave toward their enemies: loving those who belong to him while opposing those who do not. Jesus overturns that understanding. 

Love your enemies. 

But Jesus does not present enemy-love merely as an admirable moral virtue. He immediately explains why his disciples are to love their enemies: 

“That you may be children of your Father in heaven.” 

To be children of the Father is to resemble the Father. Jesus is therefore telling us something about God himself. We are to deal with our enemies in love because this is how our Father deals with his enemies. 

Jesus then gives the evidence: 

“He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” 

This is profound and deserves far more attention than it often receives. Jesus does not merely tell us that the Father refrains from harming his enemies. He tells us that the Father actively gives good things to them. He gives sun and rain—the things necessary for life—to the righteous and the unrighteous alike. Human behavior does not cause God to abandon his disposition of goodness toward us. Disobedience is not answered by the Father becoming evil toward the disobedient, and righteous behavior does not purchase a greater degree of divine generosity. The Father gives good things to both. 

Jesus then presses the point further. Merely loving those who love you is nothing extraordinary. Tax collectors do that. Pagans do that. Reciprocal love—I will be good to you because you are good to me—does not reveal what makes the Father different. 

Enemy-love does. 

And this brings Jesus to the conclusion of the entire argument: 

“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” 

This statement is often read backward because we bring our own presuppositions about “perfection” into the text. We imagine some abstract standard of moral perfection, assume we already know what perfection means, and then hear Jesus commanding us to measure up to that standard so that we can become more like God. 

But that is not the movement of Jesus’ argument. 

Jesus has just shown us what the Father’s perfection looks like. 

The Father loves his enemies. 

The Father gives good things to the righteous and the unrighteous. 

The Father does good without requiring goodness in return. 

The Father’s generosity is not restricted to those who deserve it. 

Then Jesus says: 

Be like him. 

The Father is not measured against our prior definition of perfection. The Father defines perfection. 

Therefore, Jesus is not saying, “Figure out what perfection means, achieve it, and then you will be like God.” 

He is saying: Look at your Father. See how he loves. See how he treats even those who oppose him. Become like him—and this is what perfection is. 

— Jesus commands enemy-love precisely because this reflects the Father. The Father does not distinguish enemy from friend in giving his gifts: he causes the sun to rise on “the evil and the good” and sends rain on “the righteous and the unrighteous.” Jesus then says to be perfect as the Father is perfect. Thus, in context, the Father's teleiotēs is being disclosed through indiscriminate benevolence toward enemies.