Luke 6:32-33 - Exposition

For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. There are three manners of return, as Augustine—quoted by Archbishop Trench in his 'Exposition of the Sermon on the Mount'—observes, which men may make one to another: the returning good for good and evil for evil,—this is the ordinary rule of man; then beneath this there is the returning of evil for good, which is devilish; while above it there is the returning of good for evil, which is Divine,—and this is what is commanded for the followers of Jesus here. On the words, "sinners also love those that love them," Augustine's words are singularly terse and quaint: " Amas amantes te filios et parentes. Amat et latro, amat et draco, amant et lupi, amant et ursi ".