Everything in human nature pushes back against this instruction.
When someone attacks you with words, the instinct is to return fire, or at a minimum, to go silent and protect yourself.
Jesus says neither.
He says to bless.
The command appears in Luke 6:28 and Matthew 5:44, inside a teaching that overturns almost every social instinct the first-century audience had.
Understanding why requires knowing what Jesus meant, what the Greek reveals, and what it produces in the person who obeys it.
What Did Jesus Actually Say?
The verse in Luke 6:28 is brief:
NIV “Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”
Matthew’s version in Matthew 5:44 adds context:
ESV “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
Both appear inside the same extended teaching. Jesus is not adding a new rule; He is inverting the logic of the entire system.
The Old Pattern He Is Replacing
The audience had been shaped by a principle that felt righteous: love your neighbor, treat your enemy accordingly.
Jesus replaces it with love the enemy, bless the curser, and pray for the persecutor.
Why “Love” Governs Everything
The command sits under the larger command to love your enemies (Luke 6:27). Everything that follows is what love looks like when directed at someone who does not deserve it.
What Does Blessing Even Mean?
The Greek word translated “bless” is eulogeo (to speak well of, to invoke God’s favor on someone): an active, verbal, prayerful act.
1. It Is Not Silence
Eulogeo is positive speech toward another’s good, not simply the absence of a curse.
2. It Is Not Pretending the Hurt Did Not Happen
Blessing does not require denying that the curse was real. It requires responding with something that aims for the other person’s good.
3. It Is Specifically a Prayer
The parallel phrase is “pray for those who mistreat you.” To bless the curser is, at its core, to bring their name before God and ask for their good rather than their harm.
Why Does This Feel So Unnatural?
The Greek kataraomai means to call down curses upon someone: active harm-wishing, not mild criticism.
The Natural Response
Every human system operates on reciprocity: cursing for cursing is not cruelty but justice in that framework.
Why Jesus Rejects It
Jesus raises the bar in Luke 6:32: anyone can love those who love them.
What He demands is a blessing where no return is expected. The motivation must come from something deeper than self-interest: the character of God Himself.
Luke 6:35 gives the reason: He is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
God blesses people who have not earned it, and He is asking His followers to do the same.
Who Did Jesus Bless While Being Cursed?
Jesus did not only teach this; He fulfilled it at the highest cost.
The Cross as the Model
Luke 23:34 records what Jesus said while being crucified by the people who had sentenced Him:
NIV “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
This is eulogeo in its most extreme application.
The men driving nails into His hands were being prayed over, not cursed back.
Stephen followed the same pattern in Acts 7:60:
ESV “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”
Spoken while being stoned to death: a blessing on the people killing him.
The Pattern Is Not Incidental
Both bless their murderers at the moment of dying. The pattern belongs to the center of Christian witness, not its edges.
What Does This Produce in You?
The command is not only about the person being blessed; it produces something in the one who obeys it.
4. It Breaks the Cycle
Blessing interrupts the loop of retaliation.
Cursing returned for cursing escalates; blessing returned for cursing has nowhere to escalate to.
Romans 12:21 states the principle directly:
NASB “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Returning a curse means the evil has overcome you. Returning a blessing means you refused to be shaped by it.
5. It Keeps Your Heart From Becoming What Hurt You
Bitterness is what happens when the curse is held inside long enough to take root. Blessing moves the pain into God’s hands.
James 3:9–10 makes the connection explicit:
NIV “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.”
A mouth trained to bless becomes less capable of cursing.
6. It Reflects Whose Child You Are
Luke 6:35 connects the command to identity:
ESV “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.”
The blessing extended to an enemy is not just rule-following; it demonstrates whose family you belong to.
What Supporting Scripture Says
Paul applies the same command in Romans 12:14:
NIV “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.”
The repetition across writers signals this is not a peripheral teaching.
Peter reinforces it in 1 Peter 3:9:
NASB “Not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead; for you were called for the very purpose that you might inherit a blessing.”
Peter frames blessing enemies as the reason the Christian was called, not an optional extra credit.
Blessing Those Who Curse You: Real Questions, Biblical Answers
Does blessing someone who cursed me mean I cannot confront them?
No. Romans 12:14’s instruction to bless does not erase Romans 13:1–5’s acknowledgment of proper authority and accountability. Blessing an enemy means praying for their good and refusing to return evil. It does not require silence about wrongdoing or avoidance of appropriate correction.
Is this command only for Christians?
Jesus directs it specifically to His followers: “But I say to you who hear” (Luke 6:27). It is not presented as a general moral principle that everyone naturally arrives at. It is a distinctively Christian call rooted in the character of a God who is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.
What if I do not feel like blessing the person who hurt me?
The command is not conditional on feeling. The act precedes the emotion: pray for the person’s good even when you do not want to, and over time, the prayer reshapes the posture. Action leads emotion in Scripture.
How is this different from just being a doormat?
Blessing is an act of strength. Jesus, who had full authority to destroy His enemies, chose to pray for them instead. Turning the other cheek is a deliberate, dignified choice. Blessing an enemy is a harder response than retaliation.
Can I be angry and still bless someone?
Yes. Ephesians 4:26 acknowledges that anger is not automatically sinful. The issue is what it produces: retaliation or prayer. You can be deeply hurt and still bring the person’s name before God asking for their good.
Why does Jesus say we will be rewarded for this?
Luke 6:35 promises that the reward will be great and that the one who loves enemies is recognized as a son of the Most High. The reward is not primarily material: it is conformity to God’s own character, which is the deepest form of blessing any person can receive.
To Bless When You Would Rather Not
Lord, there is a name I would rather not pray.
A person who has spoken against me in a way that still sits in my chest.
I am bringing that name to You now.
Not because I feel generous, but because You commanded it.
And because You did it first, on the cross, for people who did not deserve it.
Bless them.
Whatever they need from You, give it to them.
And while You are at it, remove from me whatever this has planted that does not belong.
Make my mouth a place where blessings come more easily than curses.
Amen.
Sources That Informed This Post
Stott, J. R. W. (1978). The message of the Sermon on the Mount. InterVarsity Press.
Keener, C. S. (1999). A commentary on the Gospel of Matthew. Eerdmans.
France, R. T. (2007). The Gospel of Matthew (New International Commentary on the New Testament). Eerdmans.
GotQuestions.org. (n.d.). What does it mean to bless those who curse you?
Bible Study Tools. (n.d.). Luke 6:28 commentary and cross-references.
Crosswalk.com. (n.d.). Why Jesus told us to bless those who curse us.
Christianity.com. (n.d.). What does the Bible say about blessing your enemies?
GotQuestions Ministries. (2021). Bless those who curse you: Luke 6:28 explained. GotQuestions Blog.
(n.d.). What does Luke 6:28 mean? BibleRef Commentary Blog.
(n.d.). Luke 6:28: Bless those who curse you. Precept Austin Blog.
Institute in Basic Life Principles. (2023). Why should I bless those who curse me? IBLP Blog.
