Does God Hate?

“The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.” Psalm 11:5

 You have probably heard someone say, “God hates the sin but loves the sinner”. It sounds magnanimous but the problem is the statement can lead to a misunderstanding of who God loves and hates.

Yes, God hates. When the Bible does speak of God’s      hatred, the object of His hatred is sin and wickedness. Proverbs 6:16–19 lists seven things the Lord hates:     pride, lying, murder, evil plots, those who love evil,      false witnesses, and troublemakers. Notice that this     passage does not include just things that God hates, it includes people as well. 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 who chooses to lie. God cannot judge the lie without also judging the liar. Look what Psalm 5:5 says about God, “You hate all evildoers” (ESV) and Psalm 11:5 is even harsher, “The wicked, those who love violence, he hates with a passion.”

Before a person repents and believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, he is an enemy of God (Colossians 1:21). Yet, even before he is saved, he is loved by God (Romans 5:8). The question then becomes what happens to someone who spurns God’s love, refuses to repent, and stubbornly clings to his sin? The answer is God will judge them,      because God must judge sin, and that means judging    the sinner. These are the “wicked” whom God hates, those who persist in their sin and rebellion, even in the face of the grace and mercy of God in Christ.

The problem is that we try to compare our love and hate with how God loves and hates. We can only understand hatred    from a sinful and broken perspective. We know when we hate something that it is tainted with sin. When we hear that God hates something we are shocked by it. We cannot love with a perfect love, nor can we hate     with a perfect hatred. But God can both love and hate perfectly, because He is God. God can hate without       sinful intent. He can hate the sinner in a perfectly holy way and still lovingly forgive the sinner at the moment    of repentance and faith.

The good news is that once someone believes in Jesus Christ  as Lord and Savior and repents of their sin they are no longer an enemy of God or hated by Him. They are now His son or daughter and are loved by God forever.

Your shepherd,

Pastor Mark