You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘Hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Mat 5:43-45 BSB
Why did Jesus tell His disciples to “love your enemies”? It is because God doesn’t have any.
Most will cry, “Can’t be, because God’s wrath is going to destroy His enemies!”
Consider what Paul wrote:
For if, when we were enemies of God, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved[1] through His life! Not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Rom 5:10-11 BSB
All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s trespasses against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 2Co 5:18-19 BSB
Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds because of your evil deeds. But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy, unblemished, and blameless in His presence— Col 1:21-22 BSB
Paul is writing these verses in the “past tense”. He said, “You were once alienated from God and were hostile in your minds because of your evil deeds. But now He has reconciled you.” He is declaring that God no longer has any enemies. Everyone (including you) has been reconciled to God and it has nothing to do with them. It was all God’s doing, whether they realized it or not! This is why we have been given the “ministry of reconciliation”! It is our job to tell people that they too have been reconciled to God through Christ, and He is not counting their trespasses against them. All they have to do is to repent[2] receive by faith, and they will be “saved”.
You see no matter what evil anyone does, He will never count it against them, nor become His enemy. You should do likewise!
[1] In Greek, the word for “saved” is sōzō. It does not mean you will go to heaven and avoid a so-called “hell”. It means, “to save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction” in this life. It means you are now translated into the Kingdom of His dear Son, and God’s favor is upon you.
[2] In Greek, the word for “repent” is metanoeō. It means to change one’s mind for the better. It is not confessing one’s sins, or saying a magic prayer. It is coming into agreement with what God has already done for them.