by Pastor Patrick Cho
When I was a young kid, I remember my teachers telling me that “hate” was a bad word. Whenever the word would slip off of my tongue, I would hear a chorus of “Oohs!” from my friends and see a bunch of pointed fingers indicating that I would soon be in trouble, even after saying something innocuous like, “I hate eggplant.” Teachers would tell me that a better term was “dislike” – I dislike eggplant.
Certainly there is a sinful type of hatred. Titus 3:3 states that before we were shown the kindness of God and His salvation, we were appropriately described as “hateful, hating one another.” This kind of hate is antithetical to the Great Commandment we are given by Christ to love one another (John 13:34). Sinful hatred is ultimately oriented around self. You hate something or someone because of how it offends or disgusts you. This is the kind of hatred we are called to put off as believers.
But there is also a kind of hatred that is encouraged in Scripture, a God-honoring hate. Perhaps this notion rubs us the wrong way as believers because Christians are supposed to be known by their love (cf. John 13:35). Obviously a God-honoring hatred is not oriented around self but is oriented around God. It hates what is sinful and offends God because it is sinful and offends God.
Have you ever considered that God is a hateful God? Deuteronomy 12:31 warns the Israelites against behaving like the surrounding idolatrous nations because the Lord hates what they do for their gods (cf. Deut. 16:22). Psalm 5:5-6 communicates this truth in stronger terms as the psalmist declares, “You hate all who do iniquity” (cf. Ps. 11:5). God indeed hates sin, but the Scriptures also testify that the sinner who persists in his sin with unrepentance is the object of God’s hatred as well. God abhors sin.
This is why the Scriptures support the idea of hating what God hates. Consider Psalm 26:5, which states, “I hate the assembly of evildoers, and I will not sit with the wicked,” or Psalm 31:6, “I hate those who regard vain idols, but I trust in the LORD.” After thinking on the greatness of God’s understanding and knowledge, David concludes, “Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD?” He says he hates them with the utmost hatred (Ps. 139:21-22). The Scriptures even command “Hate evil, you who love the LORD” (Ps. 97:10).
Christians need to exercise caution because God-honoring hatred (hating what God hates because He hates it) can easily morph into sinful hatred. We are naturally inclined to orient our thinking around ourselves. It is easy to speak of our hatred of sin in a way that glorifies ourselves by highlighting our own piety. We need the Spirit’s guidance and conviction to lead our hearts to hate sin in a God-honoring way.
Of course, the Word of God also emphasizes the principle of love. We are called to love our brothers and sisters in the church (1 John 4:7). We are called to love our neighbors (Matt. 22:39). We are even called to love our enemies (Matt. 5:43). As believers in Christ, we are to be known for our love (John 13:35). How does this coincide with all these passages about hate? The difference seems to lie in one’s emphasis or focus. In as much as a person persists in unrepentant rebellion against God and is offensive to His holiness, God views that person and his sin as abhorrent. My hope and prayer, however, must be that they would turn from their sin and repent of their rebellion so that not only would they be forgiven of their sin but also no longer remain as objects of His hatred. Loving one’s enemies obviously does not mean condoning their sin. That is sin that God hates.
Why all this talk of hate? Because we realize that our struggle with sin comes down to the affections of our hearts. We love it, but we need to love the Lord. In the fight against sin, we need to cultivate a profound and overflowing love for the Lord such that there are no competing loves. But commensurate with cultivating a love for the Lord, we can also develop a healthy, biblical hatred towards our sin. Make God the object of your love, and make sin the object of your hatred. Hate the thing that seeks to destroy you, your family, and your testimony. Hate the thing that is stealing your heart away from the One you love most.