Crucifixion and Stoning Didn't Stop the Early Christians From Loving Their Enemies

While loving your enemies does not mean condoning to their wrongs, it means loving them enough to warn them about sin, Hell and judgment telling them the truth that Jesus Christ is the only way to God the Father. Telling the truth and telling people that they are wrong is part of the Christian life but it is also important to examine one's motives in telling the truth. Do you tell the truth because you love the person enough with the desire to see them saved or do you just do it to look high and mighty, offend the person and continue to antagonize with other people at a very personal level? You can always rebuke loving but you can never love without rebuking as 1 Corinthians 13:6 says that love does not rejoice in wrong but rejoices in the truth.

The example of this is the Lord Jesus Christ in His humanity. While He was antagonistic towards the Pharisees but it was only because He was concerned about lost souls, including the Pharisees. When He allowed Himself to receive all the garbage humanity threw at Him, it was to show how Christians are to respond to their haters. When He preached, "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you and do good to those who mistreat you.", He lived by it. He healed the ear of a man whom Peter injured. He offered forgiveness to the worst of offenders when they repented. When He was crucified, He said, "Father forgive them for they do not know what they do." Crucifixion was a horrible way to die but it did not stop Him from fulfilling His mission to become the sin sacrifice that could satisfy the wrath of God. It did not stop Him from fulfilling Isaiah 51 and 53 about the Suffering Servant who would die for the sins of mankind. He did it out of love for His enemies who He offers the chance of reconciliation through faith in Him.

This example is further magnified during persecution. Stephen the first New Testament martyr after the resurrection was rejected and ridiculed. During his stoning in Acts 7:54-60, we read that he prayed to God to forgive those who stoned him for his faith in Jesus Christ. The crushing rocks that were hurled against him only made him pray for them even more. This was not holding what they did against him but instead asking God to forgive them for their sins. Later Christians were also persecuted and martyred but the very act of loving one's enemies only caused Christianity to grow. The vindictive nature of the anti-Christian forces only brought doom to those who held on to it while those Christians who spent their time loving their enemies enough to give out God's warnings to them triumphed during persecution. Even in death, the Christian's love for one's enemies and wishing them to get saved only caused Christianity to grow stronger in the midst of a persecuting majority.