Hate the Sin. Love the Sinner.
- 08.04.09
- Christian Cheese, Love, Unity
- 15 Comments
Hate the sin. Love the sinner. I’m really starting to hate this saying. It’s a phrase that has been used repeatedly by Christians over the years who are trying to figure out how to deal with people who live like hell. For the most part, the Christian world has endorsed it, but I for one, can’t endorse it any longer, and here’s why.
First of all, it makes the assumption that those who live like hell are the only people who should be labeled “sinner.” But the last time I checked, the Scriptures say that ALL of us have sinned. In God’s eyes, we’re all in the same boat. All of us are sinners and all of us deserve hell. Therefore, not only should those who live like hell be labeled “sinners,” but ALL of us should. Christians who say, Hate the sin. Love the sinner. come across as if they are a notch or two above the person they’re referring to when the say it, but this simply is not true.
Secondly, how does one actually hate something about a person while also showing them the kind of brotherly love the Scriptures instruct us to show to one another? If I allow myself to hate something about someone, then it’s going to be very difficult (if not impossible) for me to show that person the kind of love that God requires of me. We should never give ourselves license to hate anything about anyone, because if we do, that hate will eventually ruin our entire view of that person much like making cookies with dog-poop morsels instead of chocolate chips will ruin the entire cookie no matter how good the other ingredients are.
Lastly, the phrase Hate the sin. Love the sinner. is not found in the Bible anywhere…nor is the essence of the phrase found there either. It was originally coined by Mahatma Gandhi and printed in his 1929 autobiography, yet Christians toss it around as if it was from the lips of Jesus. It wasn’t.
Jesus commands us to love one another; love our enemies, love those who persecute us, and forgive those who hurt us (not just once, but every single time). Does this mean that if we know of a fellow believer who is involved in blatant, on-going sin that we should not say or do anything about it? No. That would be sin as well (Matthew 18:15-17). Does this mean that we should not say or do anything about a non-believing friend or family member who is involved in blatant and on-going sin? No. But, no where in the Scriptures are we given license to allow hate to be a part of how we view other people.
The Scriptures tell us that the Lord hates sin and even hates those who practice wickedness and love violence (Psalm 5:5; 11:4-5). He hates sin so much that in an incredible act of love, He sent His Son to die a brutal and devastating death to pay the penalty for those rotten people who practice wickedness (of whom you and I are included). Therefore, we have no right to look at a fellow sinner and call him a “sinner” while not acknowledging that we are just as hard to love as he is.
I heard a comedian recently say that the phrase should be changed to Love the sinner. Hate your own damn sin. While I think this is kind of funny and is probably a little closer to being biblically correct, I still have some problems with it. Therefore, I propose that we just stick to the phrase that Jesus used. Love one another. Period. No exceptions.
Once again, I agree! Thanks for pointing this out.
Mike
I agree with you one hundred percent!!!!!!
I struggle with that saying, in fact, I have even found myself saying it. But before the last word has left my mouth I feel as though I am not acting like Christ and that I am judging that person. And I get reminded of Jesus’s teaching in Matthew: “Before you pull the splinter out of your brothers eye, you should first remove the plank from your own eye”.
In fact, just the other day, with my friend, I found myself becoming so frustrated with his decisions that it clouded my thoughts and made me become angry. I didnt even want to look at him. At that point I knew there was a problem. I am thankful that the Lord stepped in and convictied me of my thoughts and words, and that the situation went very well, better then I would have imagined! Praise God!!!!
Its good to have the reminder that “No one is righteous, No not one”
I need to remember to “Love” and not Hate. Once that word “hate” is spoken, it always seems to creep in, and before you know it, I am judging and there seems to be no “Love” in my heart……
There are many ways to approach our brothers and sisters, but so far I have found that the words dont come from my understanding, they come from the Lord. Also, When I find myself talking to people about things that are questionable, I find myself being convicted of the very thing that we are confronting, so it hopefully ends up helping both of us….. Crazy how the Lord works. Whoop Whoop!
Thanks Mike!!!!!
Amen…
I guess Jesus was wrong – Revelation 2:6
The Nicolaitans (Revelation 2:6) were pagan worshipers and, yes, Jesus commended the church at Ephesus for hating the works of the Nicolaitans. However, the Lord’s commendation of that shared response to pagan worship is expressed almost as an aside and not to be taken as the message of His letter. The message is that they have abandoned their first love. Our zeal against false doctrine and pagan worship is not to be the defining mark of a Christian. We are to be known by our love–His definition of love and not our own. Jesus was calling the Ephesians to repent and love Him and others for His sake. Their love was to be the vehicle for all their works. And even the Nicolaitans were to be objects of that love. People are what they do to a great extent. We all want to say that we “weren’t ourselves” after a bout of bad behavior. What rot! Who were we then? What delusion! When do I most need to be loved? How about when I am most unlovely! Just as the Ephesians were defined by their works and mistook those works to be acts of faith–without love, they were rebuked. When we profess to love a person and despise his works we are compartmentalizing him in a way that cannot avoid his being rejected. He already knows of our disapproval! We make him a project to be fixed in order to be more love-able. We focus on his “works” and not his need to know Jesus. We appear to be taking some sort of high road and it is arrogance. It is this very attitude that causes Christians to be so impotent to reach out to the homosexual community. We want them “fixed” so that they are more approachable and perhaps even grateful to us in some way rather than in love with Jesus. When we focus on the sin more than our love for the Lord and doing all out of love for Him, we inhibit His work…we quench the Spirit…we are in His way. We are to understand the commonality of sin and we are to look for the way of escape when we are tempted. We are to repent of our own sin. We are to love others and love them through the love we have for Christ. God is perfectly able to convict and draw men to Himself. He is more than able to cleanse hearts and minds and to eliminate sin from those who call upon His name. We need to speak the truth in love, to be the good Samaritan to the bruised and broken and wounded, to love and keep on loving in the wisdom of the Holy Spirit and stay out of the Lord’s way in the lives of those He is calling to himself. Hating our own sin is not enough. Repenting of it and loving others–being a Christian is our life’s grateful calling and it will take all of our life to express our gratitude. He has promised to complete the good work He has begun in each of us. Our cooperation is a way we are blessed. Our understanding that what He is doing for us He is doing for others is a mercy to those entrapped in sin like ourselves. Pagan worship is abominable. Loving the pagan right out of it through the love we have for Christ is an offering of kindness for those who have so willingly loved us.
Psalm 26:5
Psalm 101:3
Psalm 139:21-22
Just to mention a few….
Oh and can you tell me what hermeneutic you apply in deciding what message of Jesus is an “aside” and which ones are the real “messages?”
Nope! I cannot tell you what hermeneutic I am applying…and I said, “almost as an aside” anyway, not implying that it wasn’t a point–just not the main point. My point being that the theme of the chapter is a rebuke because the Ephesians have “abandoned the love” they had at first. The passages in Psalms are obviously not to be disregarded. They are imprecations. The curses are God’s to fulfill and they are directed at those who hate God. They are an appeal to God to demonstrate His righteousness.
One cannot read Scripture without recognizing how God feels about sin. And the Cross says it all. Jesus demonstrated astounding and remarkable love to the adulterous woman. He didn’t berate her further–in fact the lesson was to “God’s people”. He declared that He didn’t condemn her and instructed her to “sin no more.” Our deepest desire as Believers must be to see people come to Christ for His glory. Jesus taught us to love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. Perhaps if we at least began there we would understand more and our hermeneutics would not be a mystery. I desire to understand God’s word in context. I am not sure that the verses sited are in keeping with the point of Mike’s blog.
“Sited” should actually be “cited” yet I am hating the spelling, not the speller.
Thank you, I only feel corrected and not rejected as a person. I appreciate your kindness especially since spelling errors cannot be classified as life-dominating sins, although in my case…well.
Brian,
I’d love to see a good response to Evonne’s thoughtful postings. Perhaps you could dialogue rather than deflect. Thanks for the verses and the counter thoughts. A little more content and a little less adhominem flavor would be great.
Brian:
I will grant that my statement “no where in the Scriptures are we given license to allow hate to be a part of how we view other people” may be too strong in light of Revelation 2:6 which is a commendation from the Lord of the Ephesian church’s hatred for the works of the evil Nicolatians.
However, I still am not convinced that this should be seen as a mandate to “love the sinner, hate the sin” especially when we have such a hard time doing this without feeling disgust, disdain, and hatred for the person as well. Also, we must not forget that the commendation comes after a condemnation by the Lord of their own sin (forgetting their first love) which is my point exactly. We should never feel license to exclusively hate another person’s sin without at least hating our own sin. If the Ephesian church read these words and only walked away with the commendation of hatred for someone else’s sin without feeling repulsed by their own sin and falling on their knees in repentance, then they would have totally missed the point (and run the risk of severe discipline by the Lord – verse 5).
I think it would do us well to exercise our license to hate our own sin and worry a lot less about other people’s sin…which is my point. When we allow ourselves to “hate” the sin of others while forgetting to hate our own sin, it produces legalism, jugdmentalism, disdain for others, and just plain crusty-ness.
I think the whole post is a bit mute. We all agree that we, as followers of Jesus, are to hate sin. And we all agree that we, as followers of Jesus, are to love sinners. Done, readily accepted. If we do indeed hate sin and love sinners in spite of our own sin or in a patronizing, I’m better than you attitude then our sin is evident. However, that doesn’t preclude the reality of loving sinners and hating sin – the statement standing on it’s own is right, true and wholly biblical. If you don’t want to use the statement yourself, fine. But don’t disqualify it simply because some may forget it’s context and the log in their own eye.
I will go on seeking to love all sinners and hate both their sin and my own. This will be a life long journey, but I am committed to it. Surely you can find something else to post about. Are you not straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel?
Oops I meant “moot” and not “mute.” I need to proof before submiting! Please, again, hate the error and not the error maker.
Yes, Brian, I can find other things to post about (and I will) but I don’t agree that the post is moot. This post was written as a response to those who loosely throw out the statement “love the sinner and hate the sin” yet continue to be judgmental and unloving toward those in sin. This statement is often used by Christians these days when talking about homosexuals, adulterers, and the like. The blog was read by many, and my hope is that it will cause those who did read it to hesitate and look inward before opening their mouths…myself included.