Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Earlier in my Christian journey I embraced the popular belief that God hates sin but loves the sinner. It seemed incongruous to me that God could both love and hate people.
As my sentimental theology came up against biblical theology, I realized that I needed to conform my beliefs to the Bible, and not vice versa. After all, Ps. 5:5 says, “The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong.” Notice that the psalmist did not describe God as hating sin, but as hating the sinner. (Indeed, from the Bible’s point of view, one cannot separate sin from the sinner.)
Likewise, Ps. 11:5 declares, “The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence his soul hates.” As unsettling as the thought may be, notice again that God hates particular people. Furthermore, Prov. 6:16-19 describes God’s hatred of sin and sinner. According to Scripture, all people are by nature objects of God’s wrath (Eph. 2:3) apart from God’s saving grace in Jesus Christ.
We are told that God loved Jacob, but hated Esau (Rom. 9:13). And what about the Egyptian soldiers who pursued Moses and the Israelites across the Red Sea? “The horse and its rider [God] has hurled into the sea,” Scripture says (Exod. 15:1). Elsewhere, the Bible speaks of God destroying the enemies of His people (Ps. 135).
All that is to say we must consider and take seriously the whole counsel of God. Let us remember that God is love. But let us also keep in mind that holiness—and not mere sentimentality—characterizes God’s love. In the words of New Testament scholar I. Howard Marshall, “We do wrong to exalt the love of God as his supreme feature just because it is more congenial to our thinking.”
This is exactly what many people do; they exalt love as God’s most important quality, while saying comparatively little about His holiness or biblical passages that speak of His hatred. It is important to remember that God’s love and holiness (including His holy hatred) are a both/and not an either/or proposition, as theologian Donald Bloesch points out:
"The love of God is generous, sacrificial, self-giving. It is the love that issues in forgiveness, but it is a costly forgiveness resulting in the death of God’s own Son. It is also costly for the Christian, since it calls him to a life of discipleship under the cross. The love that comes from God accepts the sinner as he is, in his sins, but because it is also a holy love, it demands that the sinner change his ways."
As a pastor, I emphasize the love and grace of God in Jesus Christ. Although Scripture does indeed speak of God's hatred, it also speaks of His love for the world. My understanding is that we must distinguish between His redemptive love for His people (1 John 4:9-10) and His merciful forebearance--or love in a more general sense--toward those outside of Christ.
At the same time, we must not ignore or change the meaning of unsettling passages of Scripture (such as those that reference His wrath and hatred). We must not let sentimental theology trump biblical teaching.
To be sure, God’s wrath and mercy met at the cross, where Jesus atoned for sin; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Christ (Isa. 53:5). God is love, indeed! What a wonderful declaration.
