The creation story tells us that we are made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27). While sin has corrupted us, affecting how closely we follow after that image, the basic design remains intact. This isn’t so much talking about our physical form looking like His, as God doesn’t have a body; but rather, talks about our spirit man, the character we are supposed to have and the things we are capable of doing. Because of this, we can understand God, at least to some extent, by looking at ourselves.
One of the things that God gave us, following after His image, is the capacity to Love. We know from John’s first epistle, that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). While love can be a decision, it is also an emotion, showing that God gave us our emotions. This would at least imply that God has emotions as well. He likely has much greater control over His emotions, not allowing them to take Him into sin, than we do; but He still has emotions.
One such emotion that people wonder about is hatred, probably the most dangerous of human emotions. Does God hate and if He does, how does He do so without falling into sin (something that is impossible for Him to do)? There are a few verses in the Bible which give reference to God hating something. So, we know that He can and does hate; but just what does that mean?
When we talk about human hate, the definition that the dictionary gives us is, “to feel an intense or passionate dislike (for someone).” This is a bit controversial, but the Bible doesn’t actually call hate a sin, although it does admonish us to avoid it. That may very well be because it is not the hate that is the problem, but rather what that hate drives us to do. Whether that is merely speaking rudely to someone or committing murder, just about any human reaction to hate is wrong.
But there can also be hatred of things, such as hating a particular type of food. As far as I can tell, there is no way of committing a sin towards a type of food, because one hates it. One might also hate their car, especially if they have a real lemon. But even if they were to destroy that car, it would not be sin. The means they used to destroy it might run afoul of the law; but that’s man’s law, not God’s.
The question is, is this the same for God? Can hatred drive God to do things to people that He otherwise would not do; things that could be considered sin?
When the Bible speaks about God’s hatred, it is talking about another aspect of hatred. Rather than the emotion that we think of, it’s referring to, “having an aversion, unwilling or unable to put up with” something. If you think about it, that definition fits within what we know of as the human emotion of hate; so, it’s not like the Bible is redefining it. When we say we hate someone, it is common for that hatred gives us an aversion to that person, expressed as an unwillingness or being unable to put up with them. What we find here, is that God has that part of hate, without the uncontrolled emotion that drives people to sin.
We must keep in mind that “God is love” as I quoted above. Since that is the defining characteristic of His personality, He can’t leave it behind, just because He hates something or someone. So, even though He determined that He hates someone, that won’t stop Him from loving them as well.
This may sound contradictory to us; but we need to keep in mind that we are looking that that through the lens of our own emotions and experience. As humans, I’m not sure that we are capable of both loving and hating someone at the same time. People talk about having a “love-hate relationship” with someone or something; meaning that they love part of it but hate another part. But just how do you do that with a person? It would have to either be that you love the person, even though there is one thing about them that you hate or that you hate the person, even though there is one thing about them that you love. But one feeling or the other will certainly be predominant.
A common quote amongst Christians is that “God hates the sin, but loves the sinner.” While that concept makes sense, if we understand who God is, the Bible doesn’t actually contain that quote in any verse. Rather, we have to look at several verses and put them together to see that concept clearly.
Are there Things that God Hates?
It may seem odd that God can hate anything, when we view that hatred through the definition I gave above, it is clear that He can hate sin. God does not tolerate sin and will not allow it in His presence. He is holy and unholiness cannot survive in His presence. It is literally destroyed by being in His presence.
Although it is not a commonly used image in the Bible, there are verses in prophecy that refer to God’s holy fire. We see this appearing on the day of Pentecost, settling on the heads of the disciples, gathered together in the upper room.
Then there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and sone sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. – Acts 2:3-4
Without getting into theological debates about being filled with the Holy Spirit, allow me to look at the fire which sat or rested upon each of them. This seems a bit like the fire that Moses saw in the desert (Exodus 3:2), in that it sat on them, but did not burn or consume them. Taken like that, we can refer to it as a “holy fire.” That’s significant when we do look at the various verses which talk about fire in prophecy, because those verses make it clear that prophetically speaking, fire comes to purify.
But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and a launderers’ soap. – Malachi 3:2
I will turn My hand against you, and thoroughly purge away your dross, and take away all your alloy. – Isaiah 1:25 (jewelers do this with fire)
Looking at those verses, and others, we can see the purification work of fire. When that purification work is done to a believer, it removes the bad from their hearts, leaving the good that God has placed there. We can see this process as something that will allow us to become more like Jesus.
But what about the unbeliever? Since there is nothing good within us, in and of ourselves (Romans 7:18), when that same fire falls on the unbeliever, burning out the bad, there is nothing good left. It would literally destroy them. God knows this and will not allow those people into His presence, for their own protection.
But there seem to be sins which God hates more than others; sins that he refers to as “abominations.”
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. – Proverbs 6:16-19
Let me say here that these sins are not going to get someone sent to hell or to any special part of hell that is worse than the rest. The Bible shows us that there is only one sin which causes people to go to hell, that’s to not accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Actually, we’re all on our way to hell to start with and it is accepting Jesus that gets us out of hell.
Anything that is an abomination is something disliked or abhorred; it is something detestable. Using that definition, any sin can qualify as being an abomination, even though the Bible doesn’t use that term in reference to each and every sin mentioned in the Bible.
This is a pretty broad definition of sin. But does this mean that these sins are worse in God’s eyes? Not necessarily. Again, we’ve got to look at the passage in context. In this case, this is part of the instruction that King Solomon wrote to his son, in the book of Proverbs. He is talking about how to live a godly, productive life and starts talking about foolish, wicked men and what will happen to them. We can see these verses as further definition of what those foolish, wicked men are and what they do.
Does God hate these sins? Absolutely. But we should not take this in any way as saying that these sins are more serious or that we can commit some other sin because it will not bother God as much. Rather, we should see the greater concept that God abhors sin and that all sin is an abomination to Him.
Are there People Who God Hates?
The idea that God hates people or even that he hates everyone comes from one verse in the book of Psalms; a psalm written by King David:
The boastful shall not stand in Your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity. – Psalms 5:5
The first thing we must realize about this verse is that this is David speaking, not God. It isn’t even God speaking through a prophet. Although some of David’s psalms can be said to be prophetic, this particular psalm is not considered to be one of those.
David wrote this particular psalm during the time when he was part of the court of King Saul, as his personal musician, playing his harp for the king when the king was afflicted by an evil spirit (1 Samuel 16:22). We know from scripture that King Saul was not a godly king, so his court was filled with sin and political infighting. This was not a good environment for David and the other godly men in the king’s service. It is quite possible that this verse of this psalm shows us some of the frustration that David felt, living and working in that environment.
But accepting it at face value, what can this verse say to us today?
Sin Verses Iniquity
To answer that question, we must look at the difference between sin and iniquity. We know from the Scriptures, that all sin. Therefore, all are sinners.
For all have sinned and falls short of the glory of God. – Romans 5:12
There are other verses that talk about this, but we’ll stick with just this one for now. There’s a widely accepted concept in the Body of Christ that there is a difference between sinning and living a lifestyle of sin. The two are not equal. Using adultery as an example, one might fall into adultery if they had a few too many drinks, while out of town on a business trip; a one-time sin. While that is still a grave sin, there’s a huge difference between it and the person who has an ongoing affair for two years.
While we tend to use the words sin and iniquity interchangeably and understand them as being interchangeable when we read them in the Bible, they are not. Iniquity is sin, but not all sin is iniquity. Sin, by definition, is breaking any of God’s commandments, whether those are found in the Old or New Testament. Using the example above, it’s that person who committed adultery one time, while on that ill-fated business trip.
Iniquity is much more serious than sin, in that it is a lifestyle of ongoing sin. Those who practice iniquity continue walking in the same sin, over and over again. That can include the person mentioned above who had an affair for two years, or someone who had short-term affairs or one-night-stands with a whole bunch of different partners.
The verse that David wrote in Psalms refers to iniquity, not just sin. It is understandable that God would hate iniquity, because of its destructive power. One of the most insidious things that iniquity does to the individual is to sear their conscience, so that they can no longer recognize their actions as sin.
Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron. – 1 Timothy 4:1-2
The more one’s conscience is seared, the harder it is for them to recognize their own sin or even to recognize the conviction of the Holy Spirit. They will rationalize their sin away, refusing to see that what they are doing is taking them down a road to destruction. That alone is enough for God to hate it.
We can see an excellent example of this in King David’s life, in the story of David and Bathsheba. In this well-known story, David saw Bathsheba bathing in the courtyard of her home, which was presumably surrounded by walls. He was able to see her because he was on the roof of the palace, which would have been higher than her walls. Stricken by lust, David calls for her to be brought to him and lies with her.
That was clearly sin; but what followed was even worse. First, David didn’t repent of his sin, which would have changed everything. Then, when Bathsheba turned out to be pregnant, David tried to cover up his sin, leading to his arranging for Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah the Hittite, to be killed in battle, essentially an act of premediated murder. Even then, David kept his sin secret, until he was confronted for his iniquity by Nathan the prophet.
But what About Esau?
But Esau I have hated, and laid waste his mountains and his heritage for the jackals of the wilderness. – Malachi 1:3 (quoted in Romans 9:10-13)
This verse seems pretty clear on its face, if we take it out of context. But if we look at it in chapter one of Malachi, we see that it is referring to Edom, rather than Esau. The nation of Edom was the children of Esau, so it is within biblical norms to refer to the people of Edom by their patriarch, Esau. That means that God isn’t referring to one individual, but rather a race of people.
Edom and Jacob were fraternal twins, born to Isaac and Rebekah. God chose Jacob to be part of the lineage of His people and ultimately of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Esau was not part of that lineage. While there is no biblical evidence to show that Esau served God, there are no verses which say that he did not. However, Edom, the nation which he founded, was opposed to Israel on several occasions and was likely complicit in the fall of Jerusalem. This leads me to believe that they did not serve God.
There are two ways we can look at this. One is to accept as an article of faith that God chose to hate Edom because of their iniquity. But there’s another way to look at it. That way is based upon God’s election of Jacob, a decision that had nothing to do with Jacob’s righteousness and everything to do with God’s grace. In this regard, we can say that God’s “hatred” falls under the category of God not being willing to put up with Esau and his dependents, quite possibly because they ignored having a relationship with Him.
What About Our Hate?
There are many who think that those who are saved should not hate. While I would not recommend hatred as a way of life, I cannot say that there is a single verse in the Bible which tells us that hate is a sin, although we are admonished not to hate our brother in the Old Testament Law (Leviticus 19:17). On the other hand, there are many different verses which deal with things we might do out of that hate, such as speaking badly of them or committing murder.
Jesus spoke of hating our brothers, as well as the rest of our families, in a surprising way:
If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciples. – Luke 14:26
This seems like such an odd thing for Jesus to say, especially since He also preaches about love, giving the “new commandment” to His disciples to “love one another” (John 13:34), especially if we take it using the normal definition for hate. But if we take it in the definition I gave above, talking about God’s hate, then it makes much more sense. We are being told to “have an aversion, and be unwilling or unable to put up with” their sinful nature. That doesn’t mean condemn them for it; but rather avoid being part of it.
Take care with this, as we don’t want to project the image of being “holier than thou” to them. The only thing that makes any of us righteous is the atonement bought by the blood of Jesus. But at the same time, we don’t want to put ourselves in the place of wallowing in their sin and partaking of it. We need to keep some distance from unsaved family members, without offending them, for our own protection.
At the same time, we are not going to be able to get them into the kingdom of God without loving them. So, we are put in the position of both loving those family members and hating them at the same time. Which should be predominant? Loving them; but that means loving them according to the definition of love given in 1 Corinthians, chapter 13; not loving them as the world says to love them. Loving an unbelieving family member doesn’t include accepting their sin and “supporting” them in that sin; but rather, trying to lead them out of that sin and into the love and grace of God.