Worldly Love Versus Godly Love Part 2: God’s Holiness Demands Love and Hate

God’s Justice Is Love

If you ignore sin you are saying it is irrelevant and does not matter. If God did not punish sin He would send you the message, “it is no big deal.” A God who trivializes sin is not a holy God; and it is not the God you want to worship

God believes in justice, He does not ignore sins or let sinners escape justice. A culture without this fundamental concept would be rampant with uncontrolled crime and terror. Our culture even agrees that no justice for all the wrongs committed is unjust.

The hate the sin, but love the sinner philosophy does not accurately communicate the seriousness of the problem of sin. It was so serious it required the death of a blameless man on the cross. To love in a godly way is to punish sinners, a truth you cannot avoid.

If you have a gushy, or a postmodern view of love, you will view punishment of the sinner, disagreement with sin, or any upholding of a concept of sin as hate. This is what is happening in our world. Disagree with sin and you are labeled a hater with hate speech. This is being enforced increasingly in our culture, in the workplace, on Facebook, on YouTube and so on.

The Lord has no choice because of His love to confront sin, and punish sinners. The justice part of love demands it. Thankfully God gave you and I Jesus to receive our punishment so that justice is fulfilled. So, the phrase hate the sin, but love the sinner can twist your understanding of God by weakening His attributes, specifically His justice.

The questions that begs to be asked is, “Does God hate, and if God is love how can He hate?

“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8).

“The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong” (Psalm 5:5 NIV).

At first glance, it might seem a contradiction. That the God of love can also hate. Yet, that’s exactly what the Bible says is true: God is love, and God hates. Remember that you and I are finite beings and His ways are far above our ways. Sometimes what appears a contradiction is your lack of understanding.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.

“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways and my

thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV).

God’s nature is love; He always does what is best for others, and He hates what is contrary to His nature. He hates what is contrary to love.

God created you with the capacity to both love and hate. Sometimes you must acknowledge that hatred is something that is justified. You naturally hate something that destroys what you love. This is a part of being in the image of a holy and righteous God.

Because you and I live in a fallen world, sin has tainted your love and hatred. It is not a contradiction for human beings created in God’s image to be able to both love and hate. Therefore, it is not a contradiction for God to love and hate. The object of God’s hatred is always sin and wickedness.

Hatred is a feeling that can be both godly or sinful depending on what it is that is causing you to hate. The Bible speaks of loving God and hating evil (Psalm 97:10), and hating the assembly of evildoers (Psalm 26:5), and hating falsehood (Psalm 119:116).

The more you become like Christ and understand the love of God, the more you will hate hypocrisy, godlessness, and evil of the world. However, you are also warned over and over in the Bible of how hatred and bitterness can destroy you. God tells you in Scripture that hate is a heart issue and that someone who hates a brother is a murderer (1 John 3:15)!

This kind of hate is not a godly hate but filled with sin, malice, unforgiveness and unrighteousness. You are encouraged to love one another, keep short records of wrongs, and forgive others, not harboring bitterness or anger in your hearts. This is not contrary to hating wickedness and sin. You and I need to seek to reflect the holiness of God to love unconditionally but not compromise with sin and hate that which is contrary to God’s nature, praying for those who are lost in the deceitfulness of wickedness.