In addition to brotherly love, we also need love toward all men. In 2 Peter there is a progression from the divine nature to brotherly love and eventually to the divine love, a love that is toward all men (2 Pet. 1:4-7). The New Testament tells us that we have to love our enemies (Matt. 5:44-46). We should not hate any of our opposers or critics. We have to love all of them. Saul of Tarsus was a chief opposer of the church (Gal. 1:13; 1 Tim. 1:13). When Stephen was being stoned to death, Saul of Tarsus was there approving of his death (Acts 7:59-8:1). He took the lead to persecute the church (1 Cor. 15:9; Phil. 3:6), but on his way to Damascus to persecute the saints he was saved. All of the early disciples were surprised, and many of them did not believe that Saul of Tarsus had turned to the Lord (Acts 9:21, 26). Prior to his conversion, I do not think that the early disciples loved him very much. Do you believe that the disciples loved Saul of Tarsus and prayed for him? None of the disciples may have even been willing to preach the gospel to him.
According to Acts 9:1-6, Paul was saved without any human involvement. He was saved through the Lord’s direct preaching. This little hint indicates that the disciples probably did not like Saul. Perhaps they said, “Saul is a hopeless case.” This attitude can also be applied in today’s situation. Many times we think a certain person is hopeless. This is especially true of those who oppose us. According to the Lord’s word, however, this attitude is wrong. The Lord said, “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt. 5:43-44). This is a good verse for us to have in dealing with all the opposers.
The young people on the campuses should not be troubled by persecutors. Years ago I was very troubled by all the persecution. Sometimes I was so troubled that I even doubted whether our work was really of the Lord. Then the Lord showed me in the Gospels that He was always persecuted (Matt. 10:16-18). Many times there were more persecutors than followers. In the Acts, the persecutors followed Paul wherever he went (Acts 9:22-24; 14:1-2, 19). When I saw this, I was strengthened, confirmed, and comforted.
When I was in northern China, someone from my hometown opposed me. I even studied with him at the same college. When I moved from mainland China to the island of Taiwan in 1949, he purposely followed me. He told people that his purpose in coming to Taiwan was to stop my work. When he later found out that I was going to Singapore, he went ahead of me to spread rumors. Even in the United States, persecutors have followed us. Despite their activities, we should not fight them, but love them.
Some persecutors eventually turned to the Lord’s recovery. When I was in college, one of the school’s directors was a highly educated gentleman. He was very qualified, and he was a famous speaker. I was one of his students, and he truly loved me. When the Lord brought me to His recovery, however, this man became very offended. While he was opposing, his eldest son and daughter-in-law were caught by the Lord. They came into the church and loved the Lord very much. His daughter also turned this way, but the father still had a hard heart. He continued to oppose us for over ten years. After his son, daughter-in-law, and daughter sent him many letters and telegrams asking him to attend a meeting, he finally came. Later he told me that when he walked into the meeting, before he even sat down, he started to weep. Throughout the whole meeting, he wept in regret over his opposition. In 1943 he turned this way and Brother Nee eventually appointed him to be one of the elders in the church in Hong Kong.
Do not be discouraged or disappointed by all the opposers. Whenever you meet an opposer on the campus, do not be bothered or downcast. Instead smile and tell them that you love them. Learn to say this from your heart. We must love them and be full of hope that they may one day turn this way. We have to love the opposers and pray for them. In reality, our only enemy is Satan, and we have no human enemies. We must have such an attitude, but we still need to be strong in the truth. For the sake of the truth, we should be strong, but we should also love everyone, even the top opposers and evil persecutors. We should love them because the Lord Jesus tells us to love them and to pray for those who persecute us (Matt. 5:44).
We should never compromise the truth, but we should exercise a universal love. We need a universal love, loving the Lord Jesus, loving all the saints, and loving all people, including the opposers. We have to consider that the opposers are lovable human beings. On the campuses we all must keep such an atmosphere. Do not give others the impression that we are fighting against everyone. No matter what someone says against us, we should not be offended. After they speak, we may tell them that we love them and that we would like to talk with them about the truth. If they would not talk to us, then we can tell them that we will pray for them.
We should be strong, be bold, and be steady in the truth. For the sake of the truth, we need to be strong and steady but we also need to love everyone. The more that others oppose us, the more we should love them. We even have to thank the Lord for the opposition. The opposition has helped us a great deal. All the opposers have been for our perfection. If we realize this, we will have mercy upon them, love them, and pray for them. We must keep such an attitude. This will stop any fighting on the campuses between the saints and the opposers. Do not think that when we fight for the truth, we must also fight against people. We do not need to fight against people. Rather, we need to love everyone. In our preaching of the gospel we need a proper daily living and a universal love.
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