According to Matthew 5:43-48, this is what Jesus said regarding love for our enemies:

“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 children 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. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Jesus expects those who believe Jesus as Lord and Savior to have righteousness that is perfect, just like the righteousness of Jesus. Jesus loves his enemies. We know this because Jesus loved us while we were his enemies.

Romans 5:10 says:

“For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son …”

While we were God’s enemies, God sent Jesus to us so that Jesus would save us from being punished with eternal death because of our sins. While we were God’s enemies, God loved us. So we, as believers of Jesus, who desire to be like Jesus, must desire to love like Jesus, and desire to love our enemies, just as Jesus loved us.

Is it possible for us to not hate our enemies and love our enemies? Jesus expects us to. How can we love our enemies when everything within us tells us to hate our enemies? Only God himself, in us, that leads to our hearts being transformed, can this be possible. With the hearts we were born with, we cannot love our enemies. Our hearts are not able to do that; our hearts do not have such ability. But when our hearts are transformed or reborn into a new heart that is like the heart of Jesus, we then are able to and will love our enemies.

John 17:21 says:

“… that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us …”

According to the Gospel of John, we will be one with Jesus and the Father. When we are one with God, we will be like our God, and our God loves his enemies. We know this because we were once enemies of God. But God loved us. So much so that the Father sent his only Son Jesus to us. Jesus was born a man, suffered, and crucified on a cross. Jesus did this to save us from being punished for our sins. Instead of us, Jesus was punished. Jesus rose from the dead and by doing that Jesus overcame death, which is eternal separation from God. We no longer have to fear punishment for our past sins because Jesus was punished for them. We no longer have to fear death, because we now have eternal life, with God.

As Jesus was going up to heaven, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to us. The Holy Spirit is always with us and through the Holy Spirit’s power we are now a new creation. We no longer bear fruits that are sin, but we now bear fruits of the Holy Spirit. In our lives, we produce love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

When we are one with God, we can love like God, and that means we can love our enemies, just like God loved us while we were his enemies.

Jesus expects us to be perfect. We cannot perfect ourselves, but God can. The Holy Spirit is working in us and is perfecting us so that we are like Jesus. And like Jesus, we will bear the fruit of love, even towards our enemies.