If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.
Parallel translations
- KJV For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them.
- BSB If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.
- NKJV “But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.
- NASB If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.
- NLT “If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Loving only those who love you back is no mark of true righteousness, since even sinners do that. Jesus calls for a love that exceeds mere reciprocity.
Overview
Here Jesus exposes the limits of a love that merely returns favor for favor. Such conduct earns no special commendation because it costs nothing beyond natural self-interest. The kingdom calls disciples to a higher love that mirrors God's grace toward the undeserving, a love made possible only by His transforming work.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 2
- Matt 5:46–47For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same?
- 1 Pet 2:19–20For it is commendable if someone endures pain, suffering unjustly, because of conscience toward God.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Christ at the center
Luke shows Jesus the Savior for all — outsiders, the poor, the nations — the one who, on the Emmaus road, opened all the Scriptures to show they were about himself.
How Luke 6:32 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.