@2023-10-18: DOES GOD "HATE" SINNERS?

Many professing Christians say today, "Hate the sin and love the sinner". But is this a biblical idea? Does God hate both sin and sinners? Have any of God's servants who had the Holy Spirit within them? 

First, who said, "Hate the sin and love the sinner"? Was it anyone in the Bible? No, indeed! Billy Graham, the famous Baptist preacher, did! Now Mr. Graham thought he was conveying God's will when he said that. But was he? 

What then do we do with the following statements (KJV) by King David, King Solomon, Hosea, and Malachi about God's "hatred" (and in David's case, his own) not just of sin, but of sinners? 

Psa 5:4-6 - For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the LORD will abhor the bloody and deceitful man. 

Psa 11:5 - The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. 

Psa 26:5 - I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked. 

Psa 31:6 - I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the LORD. 

Psa 139:21-22 - Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. 

Pro 6:16-19 - These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren. 

Hos 9:15 - All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters. 

Mal 1:2-4 - I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever. 

This cannot be merely a matter of God (or any man) "loving sinners less" than righteous people. Yes, this is a Biblical Hebrew idiom. Jacob "loved Rachel more than Leah" (Gen 29:30, KJV), and therefore "hated" Leah by comparison (verses 31, 33). 

Jesus drew on the same idiom (cf. Luke 14:26 with Matthew 10:37). In his parable about the cost of following him, "to hate" meant "to love less by comparison", just as Jacob "loved Leah less by comparison". 

But in the above examples, "love" and "hate" are value judgments. So are most cases when God "hates" sin and "loves" righteousness: He expresses His "true values". 

Most of God's "hatred" truly is against sin - against bad behavior. But what of the few cases in which God (and/or His servants) expresses "hatred" against sinners as well as sin? Again, in context it cannot mean "love less". It means total abhorrence of, and total opposition to, both the sinner and the sin. 

Many of us do not realize that "hatred", in the human mind, can be based on logical judgment, not on value judgment. The difference is vital. Let's explore it for a moment. 

We can "hate" a person or a group of people because we "devalue" them as people. God "hates" no one in that way. On the contrary, if it were solely up to Him, everyone would come to a knowledge of the truth and be saved thereby (cf. 1 Timothy 2:3-4; Ezekiel 18:23; etc.). We must follow that example and "love" the sinner as God does. 

But when we oppose someone's behavior - whether as a whole way of life or as a specific point of that way (say, adultery) - we exercise logical judgment, not value judgment. Basically, we say that both the sinner and the sin are "illogical" - "lawless" - by God's standards. God "hates" - "totally opposes" - both the sinner and the sin on that level. So did David. So should we. 

Again, such "opposition" to "lawlessness" doesn't mean we "devalue" the sinner as a person, or ignore the divine purpose for which he was born. It simply means we "totally oppose" both what he is and what he does, relative to God's way of life as based on the Ten Commandments. We do so that if possible, the sinner will repent both of what he is and what he does! 

John Wheeler (יוחנן רכב)