Love Your Enemies: The Story
The hardest command Christ ever gave. Our first shirt.
Where is love your enemies in the Bible?
Jesus says it in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:43-44: "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Luke records the same teaching in Luke 6:27-36.
What does it mean to love your enemies?
It is not a feeling. Jesus does not say feel warm toward the people who hurt you. He gives verbs: bless them, do good to them, pray for them. Love here is a decision to want good for someone who wants the opposite for you.
His reason is simple. God "maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good" (Matthew 5:45). Loving the people who love you back takes nothing. "For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye?" (Matthew 5:46). Loving an enemy is how you look like your Father.
He did it first
Jesus never asked for anything He did not do. Nailed to the cross by the people who hated Him, He prayed, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). Paul says we were God's enemies when Christ died for us (Romans 5:10). Every Christian is a former enemy who got loved anyway.
Does it mean being a doormat?
No. Loving your enemy does not mean calling evil good, trusting someone who has not earned it, or staying in harm's way. It means refusing to hate back. Paul puts it this way: "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:21).
Why it was our first shirt
Back in 2022 the culture was selling blood in shoes and calling it art. Love Your Enemies was the answer. The hardest command Christ ever gave, printed in red over the heart and pressed locally in Miami before Faith & Based was even a name. The original run is part of the O.G. Drop.
The everyday version
Same words, now front and back. The Love Your Enemies seal sits on the chest, and the full seal with the dove runs large across the back. Heavyweight garment-dyed tee in black or white, made to order so it never sells out. $44.
"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you."Matthew 5:44