Matthew 5:43
Matthew 5:4343You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘Hate your enemy.’
JWs read as setting up Jesus' radical love-of-enemy command — but in practice, the categorical "worldly people are controlled by Satan" framing narrows enemy-love to evangelistic contact rather than genuine friendship across organisational boundaries.
Verse 43 introduces the saying Jesus is about to overturn — "love your neighbour and hate your enemy". The verses that follow (44-48) define the Father's love as common grace extended beyond the in- group: he sends rain on the just AND the unjust. The whole pericope rules out the categorical "Satan blesses worldly people" reflex — Jesus explicitly attributes worldly flourishing (sun, rain) to the Father's even-handed kindness, not to satanic counterfeit. Use this verse as the gateway into when the Witness reclassifies non-Witness flourishing as suspect.