Hating Sin... And Sinners?

We must hate error, we must abhor falsehood; but we must not hate men, for God's warfare is against sin. May God help us always to make that distinction. -- Charles Spurgeon

That is the quote which not only inspired this blog post, but also started an in-depth discussion between myself and several of my friends.  The discussion came about because one of my friends said that he was surprised that even Spurgeon fell into this heresy, by which he meant the heresy of love the sinner hate the sin.

My friend’s comment surprised me and, to be honest, I didn’t really address it much.  My other friends were far more involved in the discussion than I, who merely sat on the sidelines and gave an occasional comment.  But, the longer I have thought about this, and the more I have conveyed my thoughts to others in discussions about the discussion, the more I feel like I need to actually say something and give my opinion on the matter.

Which is why, my poor blog readers, this post is now before you. 

Are we called to both hate the sin, and the sinner?  I believe not.

My friend’s stance was that God is a holy God because He hates sinners and that we therefore, who are called to be holy as God is holy, ought to hate sinners and their sin.  And, while he did not site either of these verses, I did do my homework and came up with these two verses from the Bible that many people would probably use to back up his statements. (please note I will be using the KJV only for the scripture verses I give, as my friend is a very strict KJV only)

 For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee.  The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.  Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.  Psalm 5:4-6

 The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord's throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men. The Lord trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.  Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.  For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.  Psalm 11:4-7

Now, the verses that immediately sprang to my mind were as follows:

Romans 5:6-8 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

And finally, in one of the most beautiful verses in the bible, 1st John 4:10, John writes, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins”.

Based off of these scripture verses we see that in Romans, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, and we see that in John 3:16 God loved us, despite the fact that at the point in time which He loved us, we were yet sinners. 

So, because our sins separated us from perfect fellowship with God, the Salvation plan was put in place in order to redeem mankind.  In essence, God’s love for sinful man necessitated that our sins, which He could neither condone nor overlook, be paid for in order to absolve us so that we might once more be in fellowship with Him. 

In addition to these verses, the story of the rich young ruler also comes to mind.  In the narrative of the rich young ruler, Jesus explained that the young man lacked something necessary to be pleasing to God. Yet even though the young man was lacking and lost, the Bible says that Jesus “loved him” (Mark 10:21).

So how is that possible, if he were a sinner?  I mean, doesn’t it seem like the Bible is contradicting itself here? How can we possibly reconcile the verses that seem to suggest that God hates sinners, with the ones that say He loves them? 

One of the most plausible solutions is that the Bible writers are using a figure of speech called metonymy when they write that God hates sinners. Metonymy is defined as: “A figure by which one name or noun is used instead of another, to which it stands in a certain relation”.

Now you all think I have really flipped my lid, right?  No, not really.  In fact, we have examples of scripture where metonymy is actually used.  For instance, in Luke 16:29, the text says: “They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them.”

Now, we know that in reality they don’t have Moses or the prophets, but they did have their writings. The name Moses is a metonymy that stood for his writings, since he was the cause of the writings.

Let me give you a modern example.  If I were to say I hate Jules Verne (which I don’t in any ways shape or form) would that mean that I hated Jules Verne’s person?  No.  It would mean I don’t like his books, not that I hate the brilliant literary author himself. 

So, if we apply that same figure of speech to the passages about God “hating sinners,” we can see that the sinner is put in place of the sin. Thus, when God says He hates “a false witness who speaks lies” (Proverbs 6:19), if metonymy is being used, then God hates the lies, and the one who is doing the lying (the cause) is put in place of the lies (the effect). It is interesting to see how clear this can be in other contexts. For instance, Proverbs 6:17 says that God hates “a lying tongue.” Does that mean that God hates a physical tongue, made of muscle and whatever other nastiness a tongue is made out of?  Of course not. It means God hates the sin that a tongue can perform. In the same context, we learn that God hates “feet that are swift in running to evil” (6:18). Again, does that mean that God hates physical feet? No. It simply means that God hates the sin that those feet can perform.  In essence, the nouns are put in the place of the things they cause—sin.

Furthermore, I think it is poignant to note that we are all sinners.  Saved and unsaved alike.  So, I find it difficult to believe that the Lord, who calls me to love my brothers and sisters in Christ, even when they drive me crazy or wound me, would turn right back around and call me to hate them.  To me the argument makes more sense if you say we are called to hate the unsaved and love the saved (which I still don’t think is biblical based off of the above defense) then for someone to say we are called to hate the sinner, which encompasses all of us.

Now, I know the argument is often brought up in these kinds of discussions that James 4:4 states:

Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

I want to point out here, though, that enmity with someone does not necessarily translate into hating them, though that is often implied.  See, an example of an enemy of God who was still loved, and even called friend, is Judas, one of the twelve disciples.  No one can argue that Judas was not the enemy of God, for he was literally working against Him.  He sold the Son of God for silver.  He actively sought out the demise of Christ.  And yet, as Judas hands Him over, Christ calls him friend.

And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, ‘Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast.’ And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him.  And Jesus said unto him, ‘Friend, wherefore art thou come?’ Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him.   Matthew 26:47-50

So, if Jesus hated the enemy of God, why would he then call him friend?  To me that makes no sense.

To be honest, I am not fond of the phrase hate the sin, love the sinner.  It is often used in reference to greasy grace as well as in the seeker friendly movements.  However, just because I don’t like the phrase because it has been ill used, doesn’t mean that I don’t think the phrase, in a biblical sense, is accurate.

We should never condone sin.  Ever.  And we should always be careful in our associations with sin, but this does not mean that we should turn our backs on the sinner.  Had Christ done so, He would never have eaten with the sinners and tax collectors (Mathew 9:10). 

If I hate the out of wedlock mother, the substance addicted teen, or the man who has done time that comes to church to hear the word of God, then how on earth will they see the love of Christ living in me?  If I hate them, what on earth would make them want to even look at Christ? 

There is a Casting Crowns song which states:

A traveler is far away from home
He sheds his coat and quietly sinks into the back row
The weight of their judgmental glances
Tells him that his chances are better out on the road

This is the product of hating the sinner.  If all the sinner feels amidst the body of Christ is judgment and hate, he’s not going to stick around to find out about Christ.  Why?  Because if those hate-filled Christians are an example of Christ, why would we want anything to do with them? 

To be honest, I have walked into churches before and been repulsed by the judgmental attitudes of Christians.  And I was saved.  If it turned my stomach, what do you think it does to the hurting, unsaved sinner?  And if we feel that bad over someone being judgmental, how much more will we feel unwanted if they are hating on us? 

To hate the sinner and the sin means to hate not only your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, but also yourself.  For we better than anyone should know the sin that dwells in our sinner’s heart.

So I say with Spurgeon, our warfare is against sin.  May we always remember that.