This is the third question in a row, and it touches money. Lending to someone you expect to pay you back is a business arrangement, not a gift. Jesus asks what grace there is in that. Gill explains that such lenders expected "The same again," or "what is equal" to what they had lent.

The question prepares for Jesus' command to "lend, hoping for nothing again" (Luke 6:35). Earlier He had said, "Give to every man that asketh of thee" (Luke 6:30). The question tests whether generosity depends on getting something back.

Jesus answered: "for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again" (Luke 6:34). Then came the command and the promise: "But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest" (Luke 6:35).

"Lend" translates the Greek danizō, to lend money. "As much again" translates ta isa, literally "the equal things," which the ESV renders "the same amount." The word for "thank" is charis, grace or favor, as in Luke 6:32-33.

Gill notes that in his sources Jews lent to fellow Jews expecting the same back, and to Gentiles with interest, and that they counted the first kind of lending "a very great kindness." Jesus' question shows that even such lending, if it only expects repayment, is something sinners also do.

Money often shows what we really trust. Jesus asks His followers to give in a way that does not depend on getting it back, because God is like that. He is "kind unto the unthankful and to the evil" (Luke 6:35).

Jesus does not ask for loss without hope. He promises, "your reward shall be great" (Luke 6:35). Matthew Henry says the one who lends this way is promised: "You shall not only be repaid, but rewarded, greatly rewarded." He also notes the cost honestly: "we must lend though we have reason to suspect that what we lend we lose." The reward comes from God, not from the borrower.