Any reader of the Bible is abruptly
confronted with unsettling verses in the Bible that seem to communicate that
God hates sinners. Many of us have heard that “God hates sin but loves the
sinner”, but these verses speak of God’s hatred for persons/sinners! For example we read:
- “The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.” (Psalm 5:5–6, ESV)
- “The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.” (Psalm 11:5, ESV)
- “but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.”” (Malachi 1:3, ESV)
As
Dr. D.A. Carson points out: “The reason is simple: sin cannot be separated from
the sinner except by the forgiveness available in Christ alone. God hates
lying, yes, but lying always involves a person—a liar—who chooses to
lie. God cannot judge the lie without also judging the liar.”[1] Those that believe the Gospel should not be
surprised at this because we know that prior to our redemption “. . . we
were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, . . .”
(Romans 5:10, ESV).
In
Psalm 5 the word “hate” translated in English is noted as שָׂנֵא [pronounced saw·nay/] and Strong’s dictionary translates it no differently that “hate”.[2]
In Romans 9 (which refers to the
Malachian verse) the word in Greek is μισέω [pronounced mis·eh·o/] and also is translated hate or detest. [3]
We understand as Christians that unrepentant sinners are ALREADY
condemned and experience NOW the wrath of God upon them (Note: “For
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth . . . Whoever
believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not
see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (Romans 1:18, John 3:36,
ESV).
All this is incredibly difficult to understand because the Bible
is also very clear about God’s love for sinners. Romans 5:8 (ESV) is clear: “but God
shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Not only that the very character of God is
love, not hate (“Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is
love” (1 John 4:8, ESV). This might
suggest to some that the Bible is contradictory and erroneous. The Christian cannot accept that answer. I would suggest the resolution of the problem is found in
definitions. I think we err to think
that hatred is the opposite to love.
It is possible (and exegetically supported) that the opposite
of hatred is indifference, passivity and rejection. In the classic passage of
Malachi 1, God’s hatred to Esau is not as our world would define it (“to dislike intensely or passionately; feel extreme
aversion for or extreme hostility toward”) but it’s God’s rejection of
Esau. To the loved Jacob, God purposes
blessing and great favor – an inheritance of mammoth proportion. To the hated
Esau God leaves desolate and rejected.
(See my blog post HERE.) In Genesis 29, Rachel felt hated by God. Why would she feel that way? She was barren. The people of God translated calamity or desertion
as God’s hatred. They did not attribute
to God contemporary definitions of hatred.
The ultimate hatred of
God to unrepentant sinners is to leave them in their sin and allow the
consequences of their sin to take their course. (“Therefore God gave
them up . . . For this reason God gave them up . . .” (Romans 1:24–26, ESV). Even in Divine discipline of professing
Christians it is necessary to “. . . deliver this man to Satan for the
destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the
Lord.” (1 Corinthians 5:5, ESV). In such a case there is a removal of Divine
pleasure and protection. Of course the
ultimate hatred of God was dispensed toward His own Son on Calvary where we
hear this awful cry: “. . . ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me’”
(Matthew 27:46, ESV)?
In Israel this is the worst malediction. Shown oppositely we could say that God’s
hatred is:
“The Lord bless [not bless] you and keep [discard]
you;
the Lord make his
face to shine upon you [turn
away from you] and [not] be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his
countenance upon you [take no notice of you]
and give you peace
[unrest].” (Numbers 6:24–26, ESV)
For an eternal moment this is what Christ endured for whom
He died. But this is not the end of the
story. The presupposition in all the
Bible is that God will change His disposition of “hatred” to sinners when they
repent and trust Him. Within all the
warnings and terrifying promises of judgment, there is always a presupposition
in Scripture: if you repent, God will be merciful. (For example: “Thus says
the Lord of hosts, the God of
Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place
. . . For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds . . . then I will let you
dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever”
(Jeremiah 7:3–7, ESV); and “let the wicked forsake his way, and the
unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God,
for he will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:7, ESV).)
Not only will God pardon the penitent sinner, God is by
character:
- Compassionate. “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9, ESV); and
- Merciful and slow to anger. “. . . merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” (Psalm 86:15, ESV)
Ultimately the “hatred” of God toward His enemies is the
removal of His graceful, merciful Presence (“For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell
with you.” (Psalm 5:4, ESV). So when
I read “. . . you [God]
hate all evildoers.” (Psalm 5:5, ESV) I understand that Biblically
to mean:
God’s merciful,
graceful, providing Presence is withdrawn from that unrepentant unchanged
person and what is left is barrenness, desertion and unrest.
So in conclusion I think we err when we make “hate” the
opposite of “love”. Biblical hatred is a
separation, a desertion, a rejection. Rather
than a disposition of grace and blessing, it is a disposition of passivity without
blessing.
[1] https://www.gotquestions.org/does-God-hate.html
[2] Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s
Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.
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