What Does It Mean to Love Your Enemies in a Time of War?

Loving your enemies in a time of war does not mean calling evil good, tolerating violence, or refusing to defend your neighbors. Christ's commandment is a path that prevents war from destroying our humanity, conscience, and hope in God's righteous judgment.

For Ukraine, the words "love your enemies" sound particularly painful. They echo amid air raid sirens, funerals, ruins, wounded defenders, murdered children, and families who have lost their homes. Therefore, preaching on this topic must never be a cold call to "just forgive." The Bible does not deny tears, righteous anger in the face of crime, or the duty to protect the weak. But it reveals another way: not surrendering one's heart to hatred, not seeking personal vengeance, and leaving the ultimate judgment to God.

Christ Spoke This to a People Under Occupation

Jesus did not speak of loving one's enemies in a safe, peaceful society. Judea was under the rule of the Roman Empire: the people knew humiliation, violence, heavy taxation, and the cruelty of occupying forces. It was precisely in such a reality that Christ shattered conventional logic: loving only "one's own" while wishing harm upon the enemy.

“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” Matt 5:44

This is not a command to turn a blind eye to evil. Christ never called falsehood truth. He exposed hypocrisy, defended the oppressed, and spoke of God's coming judgment. His commandment concerns, above all, the state of the heart and the nature of one's personal response: a Christian must not allow evil to mold them into its own image.

What Loving an Enemy Means, and What It Does Not Mean

Biblical love, agape, is not the same as liking someone, trusting them, or feeling emotional warmth toward them. A person who has survived occupation, lost loved ones, or returned from captivity does not have to pretend that it does not hurt. God accepts the honest weeping and prayers of the suffering.

Loving an enemy means not wishing sin upon them, taking no pleasure in the mere chance to torment or humiliate them, and refusing to harbor a thirst for personal retaliation. It means desiring that the wrongdoer be stopped, acknowledge the truth, repent, and do evil no more. Repentance does not erase accountability, but it opens the path to salvation.

The apostle Paul clearly separates personal vengeance from God's justice:

“Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.” Rom 12:19

Thus, loving an enemy is never a justification for aggression. It does not demand friendship with a dangerous person, the abandonment of borders, the compromise of truth, the dismissal of evidence of crimes, or the evasion of just punishment for the guilty. Forgiveness also does not mean the absence of consequences for a crime.

Defending the Defenseless: A Moral Duty

In a time of war, it is especially crucial not to set love for one's enemy against love for one's own people. Protecting children, the elderly, the wounded, civilians, and those being led to slaughter is a biblical calling. Indifference in the face of violence is not love.

“Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter.” Prov 24:11

Therefore, the service of a soldier, medic, chaplain, rescue worker, volunteer, or someone documenting war crimes can be an expression of sacrificial love for one's neighbor. Christians may, according to their conscience and calling, understand participation in armed defense in different ways. Yet all are called to reject cruelty, looting, mistreatment of prisoners of war, and the dehumanization of others.

The Adventist tradition places special emphasis on the sanctity of life, peacemaking, and freedom of conscience. At the same time, it encourages believers to remain faithful to God in specific moral decisions, without condemning those who bear the heavy burden of defending their country or serving through non-combatant forms of aid.

Prayer for the Enemy as Spiritual Warfare

Praying for an enemy does not mean asking God to bless their missiles, lies, or violence. It is a prayer: "Lord, stop the evil; protect the innocent; expose the guilty; bring to repentance those who are still able to hear You; execute righteous judgment." Such a prayer places the matter into God's hands and prevents hatred from becoming the master of one's soul.

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Rom 12:21

Ellen White wrote that Christ's love does not make a person weak, but rather imparts the moral strength to resist sin without a spirit of retaliation. Overcoming evil with good does not mean surrendering to it; it means refusing to let the enemy define our values, our language, and our character.

Healing Begins with Truth and Entrusting Judgment to God

Hatred often seems like a natural response to grief and loss. No one should be shamed for their pain or pressured into immediate forgiveness. Healing can be a long journey: through weeping, honest conversation, the support of the community, professional care, prayer, and openly naming evil for what it is. God is close to the brokenhearted, not only to those who can articulate their feelings neatly.

The Christian hope rests on the truth that the final word does not belong to the aggressor, nor to death. God sees the blood of the innocent, hears the cries of the oppressed, and will surely bring about justice.

The practical application for our community is this: pray daily for the protection of Ukraine, for wisdom for our defenders, for comfort for those who suffer, and for the aggressor to be stopped; help those who have lost their homes or loved ones; do not spread hate speech; do not gloat over the suffering of others; call a crime a crime, and entrust the final judgment to God. In this way, loving our enemies does not weaken our resolve, but guards our hearts against spiritual ruin.