"You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your 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, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Matthew 5:43-47

This passage is the last of Jesus’ illustrations intended to show the contrast between the letter and the spirit of the Law. We are familiar with the phrase, “Save the best for last.” Jesus was doing just that in this passage, because (according to Jesus in Matthew 22:37-39), loving God and loving our neighbors are the first and second in the order of greatest commandments.

In this post I want to use Jesus’ words in (v.43) to point out the serious danger in adding to the Word of God. The bald fact is the words “and hate your enemy,” are not in the Law! Remember, Jesus said "You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' They had heard this misrepresentation of God Law, but they had not heard it from God’s Law. Why? God’s Law does not say that!

How many of us believe the Bible says this or that, when the Bible says no such thing! This is why we need to know the Bible, not what people say the Bible says. The Bible—not what preachers, podcasts, or our devotional books say.

This is why we need not only to memorize scripture, but it is why memorizing scripture with word-perfect accuracy is so vitally important. It is dangerous to not know what the Bible says, but even more dangerous to know what the Bible says—inaccurately!