“There is something we need to be praying about…” is how Christians rationalize gossipping. Remember… If someone will talk to you about someone else, they will talk to someone else about you! Gossipping under the guise of a prayer request is not godly.
Let’s go Bible for a moment. Do we take seriously Proverbs 6:16, 19? There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to Him… 19 a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.
Consider how strong the Scriptural truth is in this passage. “Hates” and “An Abomination” are not warm fuzzy words. They convey extreme emotion. Extreme passion. Extreme volitatiy.
Consider what the Scripture records that God hates… and what is not recorded there! According to the Scripture (Not my interpretation), God hates the false witness HIMSELF! THE PERSON who causes dissension is an abomination to God! (Pause. Reflect. Meditate.) It is not written that God hates the lies the false witness tells… but the false witness himself. It is not written that God hates the results of the one who sows discord… but the person who causes discord. (Pause. Reflect. Meditate.)
Objection! “I thought ‘God is love.’ What’s with the concept of Him hating someone?!”
God’s anger, wrath, and hate are expressions of His love! Because God loves so strongly, He is passionately opposed to whatever threatens what and who He loves. Because God IS TRUTH, He hates anything and/or anyone who opposes Him (Because He IS truth). Because God is a God of peace, He hates anything and/or anyone who disrupts His peace.
Blind Spot! The problem is that we NEVER EVER think or believe WE are the ones described in Proverbs 6! Unless God reveals it to us, we will ALWAYS believe the other person or someone else is the guilty party. Sin has so infected our hearts and we are so easily deceived by it, we just don’t believe we are the one in the wrong!
Remedy. Pray as David did… “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”
Oh… by the way… I wrote this post to be a reminder for me about my blind spots.
Pastor Ron,
You present a very interesting proposition that seems to go against the common idiom “God loves the sinner but hates the sin.” Furthermore, the famous passage Mal 1:3 where “LORD says. “Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated…” seems to also indicate his sovereignty of choice in addition to your idea of “expressions of His love.” Also I wonder if the emotion of hate can be attributed to God as the exact equivalent to what we as “humans” experience. Anyway, thanks for provoking my brain!
S.B. Fields
Okay; you are getting a little deep for me here. You say that God’s hate is an expression of his deep love; but what about when we hate someone that has willfully caused discord? And how does this work with “hate the sin but love the sinner” that we have always heard?
Beth,
Thank you for your comment and your question. As the first question… “What about when we hate someone…” I ask you to consider that what is sin in us is righteousness in God. The reason is God is perfect (All knowing, All wise, All comprehending, Perfectly just). We on the other hand are infected with sin. Our “hate” is sin because first of all we are commanded by God to love. That excludes our right to hate anyone. Second, we are incapable of an emotion, any emotion, being applied without sin infecting it. So without going into much greater detail, what is righteous in God can be sin for us… because God is PERFECT while we aren’t.
As for your second question, “God hates the sin, loves the sinner.” I agree with that statement completely… if you will allow me a couple of asides.
First aside… Everyone is a sinner and “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son.” Sin does not prohibit love. Keep in mind that it was God’s love FOR JESUS and acceptance of what JESUS DID on the cross that we are saved. BECAUSE OF JESUS God forgives sin and imputes His righteousness to us so as to make us holy and righteous. (Pause) You will need to chew on that one a while…
Second aside… If it were a universally true statement without need of any further clarification that God loves the sinner and hates the sin, then why doesn’t God just punish the sins people commit in hell for eternity instead of the person? If He eternally loves sinners, why is His wrath is poured out eternally upon a person He loves? There is a conflict here that has to be resolved in some manner. See below for consideration…
Food for thought: God’s wrath that is due to all who believe (The actual people themselves) was poured out on Jesus on the cross. So it’s not that the believer’s sin was overlooked or just forgiven, JESUS was punished… in their place… receiving God’s full wrath… as if He committed their sin. So the same thing that will happen to all who reject Christ for eternity was inflicted upon Jesus on the Christ. Thus the punishment for sin was still carried out… it was just transferred from the believer to Jesus. {This is a great mystery and the joy of our faith!} All will have to continually chew on this… probably for all eternity!
Thus I submit that God does not love those who spend eternity in hell who have rejected His Son and free offer of Grace. Because they trampled the precious blood of Jesus under their feet during life and turned their back on Him, God will give them what they want… an eternity without Him or His love or His mercy or His grace or His Joy.
Ron