For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
46. Do not even the publicans the same? In the same sense, Luke calls them sinners, that is, wicked and unprincipled men. Not that the office is condemned in itself; for the publicans were collectors of taxes, and as princes have a right to impose taxes, so it is lawful to levy them from the people.
The Jewish teachers corrupted God's law. He said love your neighbor; they twisted it to mean only their own nation and friends, then added what He never said: hate your enemy. I come as Peacemaker to teach you differently: love your enemies as I have loved you.
AI summary
Commenting on Matthew 5:43-48
For if ye love them which love you,.... That is, if ye only love such that love you; for that such who love should be loved again, is both natural and just: our Lord's meaning is not, that ye ought not to love them that love you, but that these should not be the only objects of your love; for should this be the case, what reward have ye?