Love the Sinner

We like to point out that we need to "hate the sin but love the sinner." It sounds right and good. But ... is it biblical? Let's look. There is a lot of Scripture that tells us that God hates evil. Proverbs explicitly says God hates seven things (Prov 6:16-19), including arrogance and lying and scheming. He hates injustice and oppression (Isa 61:8; Zech 8:17). He hates ... hates ... hates idolatry (e.g., Deut 13:6-11). We know "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness" (Rom 1:18). That is, He hates the ungodliness and unrighteousness of suppressing the truth about Him. So far, so good. And we read in Galatians that salvation is available to all regardless of nationality or gender or status (Gal 3:28). That's good, too.

But we get tripped up when Jesus says things like, "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:26). Now, hang on. Jesus requires hating people? So maybe "hate" means something different than we're thinking. Oh! Like "love." We're to "love God," not in a romantic, emotional sense, but in a faithful, choosing, committed sense where we seek His best ... and the best of those around us. The same with "hate," not in an irrational and emotional sense, but in the sense of setting aside or opposing or ... deprioritizing, downgrading, demoting someone or something in favor of ... well ... God, especially. So biblical "love" is "to choose in favor" and "hate" is "to reject in favor of something else."

Now try it again. King David wrote, "You hate all who do iniquity" (Psa 5:5). God said, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated" (Mal 1:2-3). So ... it's not strictly true that God loves the sinner, but hates the sin. He definitely hates the sin, but there are sinners He hates. (As a side note, Scripture says Esau never repented (Heb 12:16-17).) It's not the "hate" we think of, and it's always for sin, not anything else, but ... if we're going to love what Jesus loves, we'd better love Him first and His people second and the world third, not ourselves, careful always to never embrace their sin ... or our own.