Does God hate sinners?
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A few weeks ago Walt raised the question, “Does God hate?” I thought of that question because I have heard it expressed in a number of different ways:
Doesn’t God love everyone?
God is a God of love and he loves you just as you are
God loves the sinner but hates the sin
God can do anything but hate
Rick original answer to the question was that God doesn’t hate - it is not part of His character. I wasn’t satisfied with that answer but I knew that as wise Bereans ( Acts 17:11 ) we would search the scriptures to see if these things were true. And we were not disappointed. Rick returned with a well thought out presentation, but I still didn’t agree on every point.
Does God Hate?
Does God Hate?
The bible clearly teaches that God does hate. Before we look at those verses, let’s get some obvious hard to understand verses out of the way. Walt mentioned Romans 9:13 where we read, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.” ( Rom 9:13; Mal 1:1-3)
— Both in Greek and in Hebrew the word “hate” is sometimes translated as “to love no longer” or “to love less”
— Genesis says that Leah was unloved (the Hebrew word literally means “hated”) by Jacob
—The point of Romans is not the emotional context of hatred towards Jacob but that God preferred to fulfill His promises through Jacob and not Esau
— On this point I disagree with Rick, the Lord did not look down the road and see that Esau would become the Edomites and therefore hate Esau
— The Lord chose Israel not because they were more numerous or better than other people ( Deut 7:7-9 ) but because He set His love upon them
Rick also made the point with this verse that it teaches that God does not yet hate the sinner until later just as Esau later became the nation of the Edomites — I will address that argument in a moment
Now, if you think that I have disproved my argument that God doesn’t hate, I haven’t. We clearly see in scripture that God does hate certain things. Sometimes the word is translated as “hate” and other times “to love less” Some verses to consider:
( Prov 6:16-19 ) These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: 17 A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil, 19 A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren.
( Ps 5:4-5 ) For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, Nor shall evil dwell with You. 5 The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity
( Ps 7:11 ) God is a just judge, And God is angry with the wicked every day
( Ps 11:5 ) The Lord tests the righteous, But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates
( Ps 26:5 ) I have hated the assembly of evildoers, And will not sit with the wicked.
( Ps 139:21-22 ) Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? 22 I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.
— The Psalmist is telling us that God does have anger against the wicked and the sinner and that they are both God’s and his enemies
— And if this is God’s attitude it should be our attitude as well
But Doesn’t God love everyone?
But Doesn’t God love everyone?
Rick made the argument that God loves the world (“kosmos”) and quoted some of the most beloved and encouraging words in all of scripture ( John 3:16; 1 John 4:10; 19 ). He then said that “The beautiful thing about God’s love is that he doesn’t wait for you to believe or even start loving him before he loves you.” and quoted Rom 5:8
( Rom 5:18) But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us
I would qualify this and say that God loves everyone but not without exception. Many preachers today will tell you that God loves everyone without exception. The logical extension of this is the “wider mercy” movement that teaches that everyone whether they trust in Christ or not will be saved. In other words, as long as you are living up to what you know in your heart you will be saved. One modern day Pope said, “atheists don’t have to believe in God to go to heaven. The issue for those who do not believe in God is to follow their conscience.” And if you think this wrong teaching is limited to the Catholic faith, consider these words from one well known evangelist:
“Well, Christianity and being a true believer, you know, I think there’s the body of Christ which comes from all the Christian groups around the world, or outside the Christian groups. I think that everybody that loves Christ or knows Christ, whether they’re conscious of it or not, they’re members of the body of Christ. And I don’t think that we’re going to see a great sweeping revival that will turn the whole world to Christ at any time. What God is doing today is calling people out of the world for His name. Whether they come from the Muslim world, or the Buddhist world, or the Christian world, or the non-believing world, they are members of the body of Christ because they’ve been called by God. They may not even know the name of Jesus, but they know in their hearts they need something that they don’t have and they turn to the only light they have and I think they’re saved and they’re going to be with us in heaven.”
What this evangelist is saying is that you can be saved apart from Christ. You don’t even need a personal relationship with Christ because He loves everyone. This wider mercy teaching is popular but heretical ( John 3:36; Rom 10:17 Act 4:12; 1 John 5:11-13; John 5:24, 2 John 1:9; Matt 10:33; John 14:6; Rom 3:21-26; Rom 5:9; Eph 2:12-13; Gal 1:6-9 )
Not only is this a wrong teaching but a dangerous teaching, "Because the message that is heard by the people that hear that is: there are no conditions, I can continue to live just as I’m living in full rebellion against God and I have nothing to worry about because there are no conditions that I have to meet. God loves me unconditionally. I don’t have to repent. I don’t have to come to Jesus. I don’t have to leave my life of sin. No strings attached, God loves me just the way I am.” (RC Sproul)
There is no denying that God has compassion on the lost. Jesus wept over Jerusalem ( Luke 19:41-44 ). And even the most vile sinner might enjoy the blessing of this life. God sends rain on the just and the unjust ( Matt 5:45 ). But God has a filo love that is reserved for those in the family of God. This is a salvific love and this is not a love that God has for everyone unconditionally (RC Sproul) There are a lot of words in the bible for love, but the kind of love God has for repentant sinners is Philo love. We are now adopted out of darkness and have become children of God ( John 1:12 )
I have heard it said many times, God always hates the sin but loves the sinner. This is the other side of the same coin that says that God doesn’t hate. The implication is that God doesn’t hate the sinner. But God doesn’t send sin to hell. God sends sinners to hell. What we should be telling people is that God abhors and is angry with the sinner every day and that they are in danger of hell fire at any moment.
When we studied Isaiah some months ago we read chapter one and we read this verse: “Therefore the Lord says, The Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will rid Myself of My adversaries, And take vengeance on My enemies” ( Is 1:24 ). J Alec Motyer, commenting on this verse said, “Any facile statement that God always hates the sin but loves the sinner needs to be countered by Isaiah’s insistence that those who transgress are my foes and my enemies. They have made themselves the adversaries of the helpless ( 23 ), therefore, the sovereign Lord holds them as his enemies.”
Who is a sinner?
Who is a sinner?
Returning to Romans 9:13 the comment was made that God saw Esau and Jacob at the end of their lives. God saw that Esau was vile and at that point he became a sinner
— All of us are born sinners, we don’t become sinners
— Whenever the term sinner is used in the NT it always refers to those who reject Christ
— We do people disservice when we tell people that God loves them without asking them to repent and turn to Christ
— What we should be telling people is that if you do not turn to Christ now, your only reward is hell
— Paul said, “ Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men” ( 2 Cor 5:11 )
— And the writer of Hebrews said, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” ( Heb 10:31 )
The theologian John H Gerstner once said, there is one place worse than hell and one place better than heaven. Can you guess where that is? It is right now. For those who are believers in Christ we are storing up for ourselves treasures in heaven ( Matt 6:19-20 ). When we get to heaven we will have treasures, but we wouldn’t be able to add to those treasures. Right now we can pile up treasure upon treasure. But for those who are wicked, they are heaping up wrath upon wrath ( Romans 2:5 ). Their punishment in hell becomes more intolerable with each passing day.
Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), who was at the forefront of the American Great awakening, reminded sinners that God has placed your foot on a slippery slope and your foot will slip in due time ( Deut 32:35; Ps 73:18-19 ). Two of his most frightening illustrations are found in his sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God are:
“Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering, and there are innumerable places in this covering so weak that they will not bear their weight, and these places are not seen. The arrows of death fly unseen at noon-day; the sharpest sight cannot discern them. God has so many different unsearchable ways of taking wicked men out of the world and sending them to hell, that there is nothing to make it appear, that God had need to be at the expense of a miracle, or go out of the ordinary course of his providence, to destroy any wicked man, at any moment”
“The God that holds you over the Pit of Hell, much as one holds a Spider, or some loathsome Insect, over the Fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked; his Wrath towards you burns like Fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the Fire; he is of purer Eyes than to bear to have you in his Sight; you are ten thousand Times so abominable in his Eyes as the most hateful venomous Serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn Rebel did his Prince: and yet ‘tis nothing but his Hand that holds you from falling into the Fire every Moment: 'Tis to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to Hell the last Night; that you was suffer’d to awake again in this World, after you closed your Eyes to sleep: and there is no other Reason to be given why you have not dropped into Hell since you arose in the Morning, but that God’s Hand has held you up: There is no other reason to be given why you han’t gone to Hell since you have sat here in the House of God, provoking his pure Eyes by your sinful wicked Manner of attending his solemn Worship: Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a Reason why you don’t this very Moment drop down into Hell. “
Knowing that God hates sin and the sinner, we must not hesitate to share the message of love and forgiveness found only in Christ. Unless sinners know their condition, the cure doesn’t sound so appealing. But once they know that that once stood under the wrath of God, but have recieved the forgiveness in Christ, they will say what Isaiah said, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things! “ ( Rom 10:15 )
Additional Resources
Johnathan Edwards. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1053&context=etas
Is it True that God “loves the sinner but hates the sin”?: https://www.ligonier.org/learn/qas/is-it-true-that-god-loves-the-sinner-but-hates-the-sin/
Is it biblical to stay “God loves the sinner, but hates the sin?”, https://www.ligonier.org/learn/qas/is-it-biblical-to-say-god-loves-the-sinner-but-hates-the-sin/
Does God love the elect and hate the non-elect?, https://www.gty.org/library/questions/QA184/does-god-love-the-elect-and-hate-the-nonelect
Love the sinner, hate the sin, https://www.gty.org/library/blog/B160205/love-the-sinner-hate-the-sin
God Loves the sinner, but hates the sin, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmW4asN97qI
R.C. Sproul, God hates the sin but loves the sin. True or False?, https://sedm.org/god-hates-the-sin-but-loves-the-sinner-true-or-false-r-c-sproul-and-john-macarthur-answer/
Does God Hate Sinners? https://www.premierchristianity.com/home/does-god-hate-sinners/3719.article
Pope Francis assures atheists: You don’t have to believe in God to go to heaven: https://charterforcompassion.org/understanding-our-differences-and-similarities/pope-francis-assures-atheists-you-don-t-have-to-believe-in-god-to-go-to-heaven
Wider Mercy Salvation - John MacArthur talking about Billy Graham’s view: https://soldiersofchristenduringhardness.wordpress.com/2014/02/22/wider-mercy-salvation-john-macarthur-talking-about-billy-grahams-view/