What Does God Hate?

 

So, dear readers, before we delve into our topic question, let's have a look at the question you are probably asking yourself right now: “How can a God who is love, hate?”

Well, here we go, this is what I think!

At first appearance it seems like a contradiction in terms that a God who is love can also hate. But that’s exactly what the Bible tells us:

1 John 4:8 (NIV)

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Psalm 5:5b (NIV)

You hate all who do wrong;

So, let’s look at things this way, if God is love than it stands to reason that He would hate anything that is contrary to His love. What is contrary to love? Anything or anyone that is evil and acts contrary to His Word! In this same vein God cannot love evil nor the perpetrators of evil as that would be contrary to His loving nature.

So, the statement, “God hates the sin but loves the sinner” is not Biblical. The only sinner that God loves is the repentant sinner who has accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. This is why mankind needs a Saviour – it’s all about Jesus! Jesus is the only name by which mankind can be saved! If God loves the unrepentant sinner, then Jesus died for nothing - there would be no need for a Saviour!

Acts 4:11-12 (NIV)

11 Jesus is

“‘the stone you builders rejected,

which has become the cornerstone.’

12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

God therefore does not only hate sin but the unrepentant sinner as well.

Psalm 11:5-6 (NIV)

5 The Lord examines the righteous,

but the wicked, those who love violence,

he hates with a passion.

6 On the wicked he will rain

fiery coals and burning sulfur;

a scorching wind will be their lot.

Right, I think right now is a good time for us to look at: “For God so loved the world….”

John 3:16 (NIV)

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

When we examine the word ‘world’ in this verse from the original Greek word we see exactly what God is talking about.

The Greek word for world in the verse is ‘kosmos’ (Strong’s 2889) and it literally means ‘something that is ordered’. God created an orderly universe (He put the sun, moon stars and everything else in place) and an orderly world in which He placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. This world was in Godly order and man was in order in that he started off living in obedience to God and the Word He had spoken to them. This was the world that God so loved and the reason why He created it!

Proverbs 8:27-29 (NIV)

27 I was there when he set the heavens in place,

when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep,

28 when he established the clouds above

and fixed securely the fountains of the deep,

29 when he gave the sea its boundary

so the waters would not overstep his command,

and when he marked out the foundations of the earth.

Now here’s where the ‘but’ comes in, man, because He was disobedient to God, fell into sin and the world and mankind fell into disorder and the world and mankind has been deteriorating ever since. This is the consequence of our sin. This is not the world that God so loved, but He does want His order back again! This is why He gave up His one and only son so that man can receive salvation through Jesus and come back into God’s order!

God has a new heaven and a new earth ready for His children where there will be no sin – Godly order is going to be restored and this order is going to have a place called Hell where the devil and the wicked will reside in torment forever!

Revelation 21:1-4 (NIV)

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Revelation 20:10 (NIV)

And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Matthew 25:41 & 46 (NIV)

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 (NIV)

8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.

God hates sin because it opposes His very nature and sin is the work of the devil and unrepentant man in corroboration.

John 8:44 (NIV)

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

God describes sin as wounds and bruises,

Isaiah 1:5-6 (NIV)

5 Why should you be beaten anymore?

Why do you persist in rebellion?

Your whole head is injured,

your whole heart afflicted.

6 From the sole of your foot to the top of your head

there is no soundness—

only wounds and welts

and open sores,

not cleansed or bandaged

or soothed with olive oil.

as a burden,

Psalm 38:4 (NIV)

My guilt has overwhelmed me

like a burden too heavy to bear.

as something that corrupts and defiles,

Titus 1:15 (NIV)

To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.

a heavy debt around one’s neck,

Matthew 6:12-15 (NIV)

And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

a stain on our lives,

Isaiah 1:18 (NIV)

“Come now, let us settle the matter,”

says the Lord.

“Though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red as crimson,

they shall be like wool.

and as darkness.

1 John 1:6 (NIV)

If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.

GOD HATES ALL SIN!

Proverbs 6:16-19 (NIV)

16 There are six things the Lord hates,

seven that are detestable to him:

17 haughty eyes,

a lying tongue,

hands that shed innocent blood,

18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,

feet that are quick to rush into evil,

19 a false witness who pours out lies

and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.

You cannot call yourself a born-again Christian and carry on willfully sinning.

James 4:4 (AMP)

You adulteresses [disloyal sinners—flirting with the world and breaking your vow to God]! Do you not know that being the world’s friend [that is, loving the things of the world] is being God’s enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Romans 6:1-4 (AMP)

What shall we say [to all this]? Should we continue in sin and practice sin as a habit so that [God’s gift of] grace may increase and overflow? 2 Certainly not! How can we, the very ones who died to sin, continue to live in it any longer? 3 Or are you ignorant of the fact that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 We have therefore been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory and power of the Father, we too might walk habitually in newness of life [abandoning our old ways].

Dear readers, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us habitually walk in the newness we have in Christ Jesus who died for us, and not live in our old ways – the ways of the world!

Always have the following words from the Apostle Paul close to you and remind yourself of them as often as you can!

Philippians 2:12 (AMP)

12 Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. 13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

14 Do everything without complaining and arguing, 15 so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.

Prayer
Dear Father in Heaven
I ask today in the name of Jesus that you would fill me with your Holy Spirit and help me walk in the ways of Jesus. Help me to shed my old ways and abandon the ways of the world, keep me Lord from sinning against you. Amen.

To Jesus belongs all glory, honour and praise!

Jesus the Name above all names!