Does God Hate Sinners?
Posted by clifgriffin | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 24-09-2008
8
“The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;
you hate all evildoers.”
- Psalm 5:5
There are some theological positions that seem so untenable and unpopular that the majority of Christians try to distance themselves from the ideas, while a minority embrace the ideas with fervor. They revel in the fact that their interpretation is non-mainstream and makes God more–insert some quality here: sovereign, powerful, etc–than other’s interpetations. Some of these ideas are true. Some are false.
Sometimes this begins with prominent teachers’ interpretations of the scriptures that filter down to less mature believers, who simply cling to the idea for its radicalism rather than its merit.
A good example of this would be the answer to the question “Does God hate us?”
Most Christians, whether they have good reason or are simply reacting in their gut would say affirmatively, no. Some, would say yes.
In fact, one of my favorite Bible teachers of all time, Mark Driscoll, takes this position. In this video, he explains his stance. The argument goes like this: God is holy. He hates sinners. <insert Bible references here> Jesus died and God poured his wrath on Him instead of us.
Which is very close to the truth.
God is holy.
He does hates sin, and a few verses do seem to generalize that hatred to sinners.
He did send Jesus.
He poured His wrath out on Jesus so that we might live in grace.
So, if God doesn’t hate sinners, why does Psalm 5:5 say so? Or, why does God say “Jacob I have loved; Esau I have hated?”
In order to properly understand scripture, we must look at verses in light of all scripture. We have to find the unifying theme. We have to attempt, as best as we can, to see the whole picture. We also have to apply common sense, or, in other words, we have to use our brains.
In order to properly balance the verses which speak of God’s love and the verses that speak of God’s hatred, we have to have a proper understanding who God is.
First, we have to remember that God is a person. That is, He is personal. He isn’t an impersonal force. Similarly, we have to remember that He is a God who desires to be in relationship with us. He desires to communicate with us.
Second, we have to look at His relationship with Adam and Eve, the first people and the first sinners. Did God go from love to hatred and then back to love again on one sunny afternoon in the Garden of Eden? Of course not.
Third, we have to take the idea of God hating sinners to its logical end. If God simply hates sinners, why would He send his Son to die for them? Why would He devise a plan by which all sinners (all people!) can be saved? It does not follow.
Fourth, the Bible is full of verses that more than hint at His great love for all His creation. As John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.” Romans 5:8 speaks in no uncertain terms about this. “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
God created us. He loves us. He hates some of the things we do. He sent Jesus to die for us because of that love. Jesus died to glorify the Father.
This is what the Bible preaches.
So how do we reconcile this with Psalm 5:5? Well first, we have to remember that our instinct on hatred and wrath are very human derived. We think of wrath as flying off the handle, uncontrolled, and irrational. We think of hatred as petty and, as Jesus said, equivalent to murder.
But those things don’t apply to God. His wrath, is a rational response to wickedness, as is his hatred. It is derived from His holiness.
But why should His wrath trump His love? The answer is it doesn’t! God loved us inspite of His wrath. God is patient with us, despite the fact that we in no way deserve patience. 2 Peter 3:9 says “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.” He isn’t speaking to believers there. He is speaking to the unrepentant sinners. God loves unrepentant sinners and is patient with them, desiring them to come to repentance so that they do not have to face His wrath.
Simply saying, “God hates sinners” relegates Him to only one of His attributes and prevents us from seeing His actions clearly.
God doesn’t hate sinners. He hates sin.
no. God hates sinners, He does NOT hate believers, that is nowhere in scripture. and verses liek john 3:16?? look up such unpopular doctrines such as limited atonement and it will all make sense considering Jesus died only for the elect, NOT for the unelect. it all comes down to logic basically. Jesus elected some to be saved, and died only for them. He didn’t die for those that weren’t elect and would not be saved;that is a logical contradiction and Jesus CHRIST would not shed His high, most holy blood and bear the WRATH OF GOD if it would have had no effect. if Jesus Christ said ‘it is finished’ and yet it requires someone’s faith to make it valid, then what does that say?
God bless you my friend.
Hi David,
I would actually agree with 95% of what you said.
However, I would disagree that there is a logical requirement for God to hate those He sends to hell. That is only a requirement if we are ascribing human traits to God.
We are created in His image. Elect or not, sinner or justified, God does not hate his creation. He does not hate our souls which are made in His image.
He may hate the result…the person our sin makes us, but I do not see sufficient biblical justification to say it any more strongly than that.
I also would disagree with your conclusion about faith. The bible is extremely clear in teaching that faith is the means by which we receive salvation. Even Piper says that faith is enabled by regeneration. He wouldn’t say that faith is unnecessary.
I sound like a full reformed Calvinist in this comment. But, I would say that I am neither fully reformed or a Calvinist for various reasons.
But, for the most part, I have minor reservations and I will admit that part of it is just wanting to avoid the labels.
Thanks for commenting,
Clifton
Where do you all get this? Bring your proof for what you say!
The words of Jesus, no one else words, not Paul, Mathew, Luke, or John! They never met him, saw him nor, even heard his voice!
You make things up and then, lead other astray!
Be brave and go open up your book and study it!
Stop listening to other and study for your self!
And when I say study ,that what I mean, look up time lines, people
places, language. Can you do that? Don’t make up things that you have
no authority from God to do!
Amir,
I’m not sure who you’re directing your remarks to.
I deleted the comment above yours as it was basically Christian spam and did not contribute to this discussion.
I will assume you were talking to him?
Clif
I’m researching the question, “Does God hate sinners?”, and I came across your site. Here is what I’ve concluded after much research time.
God not only hates sin, He also hates sinners.
That is a sobering fact. God is so holy and righteous that He hates the sinner (Psalm 5:5; Lev. 20:23; Prov. 6:16-19; Hos. 9:15). Some say that we should say that God only hates the sin but loves the sinner. But, the above scriptures speak contrary to that. God won’t be throwing the sinner into hell, not the sin. You cannot punish sin.
But it is also true (and we must never forget) that God IS love (1 John 4:8). But I tell you, if God is love, then God must also hate. I love the Jews therefore I must hate the holocaust. I love babies, therefore I must hate abortion. God is righteous, therefore He must hate that which is unrighteous. God hates the sinner.
Here is the real quandary. How can we logically say that God hates sinners when Scripture seems to say that “God so loved the world” and that “God desires that all men should come to repentance”? God hates sinners, but God loves sinners?!? How confusing! That would be a contradiction, would it not?
The golden answer is this:
**God hates all sinners who are not part of the elect.**
That’s the only way that Scripture will not contradict itself. The only sinners whom God loves are those sinners whom He has elected unto salvation – those whom He loved from the foundations of the earth. “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated”. It makes theological sense!
And, by the way, 2 Peter 3:9 absolutely IS speaking to believers. Look at the context. Also, see where Peter says “He is patient with YOU.” God is sovereign. God gets what He wants. God WILL save all the ones He desires to save. Is there anything that God wants that He will not get? NO! God always gets His way. 2 Peter is speaking to the elect about the elect.
Also, John 3:16 is also speaking about the “believing ones” or the “ones who believe” i.e. the elect – NOT the entire world. Christ did not die for every single soul. Otherwise, you have a double punishment – Christ punished for the sins of the unbelievers PLUS the unbelievers punished for their sins. Christ died for the elect only – the ones given to Him by the Father.
It is true that God commands all men everywhere repent, but they are unable. They won’t repent and they can’t repent because they are radically depraved, born into sin, dead in their sins and transgressions, hating God. They will not respond to the call because they cannot respond to the call – and God will be justified in casting them into hell. God does ALL things for His glory.
Let’s spread the Gospel far and wide and do our part to reach the elect!
Thanks for listening.
Jason
**correction**
God **will** be throwing the sinner into hell…
Jason – your response made a lot of sense to me, but it is still confusing. When you say that you love Jews but hate the holocaust, and you love babies but hate abortion. I don’t think that is an accurate example. I think you would need to restate it to say that you love Jews, but hate Hitler. You love babies, so hate the mothers who abort them. That is the point. You were saying you love the people but hate the crime (sin) and the question is the sinner. You have shed some light for me though. I’m still studying this but what I think I am coming to see is that God loves the believers, even when they sin, although he hates the sin. He is patient with them. But he hates the sinners, those who have not come to know him. Thanks!
All the same, it’s confusing.