Hate the Sin, Love the Sinner?

The Myth of “God Hates the Sin, But Loves the Sinner”

It's become a pulpit cliché to preach that God hates the sin, but loves the sinner. Well, hold on to your seats, because that's not in the Bible. On the contrary, scripture says that God hates sinners.

What? Psalm 5 -5, God hates all evildoers. Proverbs 6 -19, God hates those who cause division. Jeremiah 12 -8, God hates his own rebellious people. Romans 9 -13, God hates Esau. In fact, 14 times in the first 50 psalms alone do we read about God hating those who do evil.

God Hates Sin and Sinners in Malachi

Oh, and you'll love this one. When the Lord hates the very statement, God hates the sin, but loves the sinner. In Malachi 2 -17, it says you have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, how have we wearied him?

By saying, everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them. God does not merely hate sin, he hates those who do sin. And that's what we read about when we understand the text.

The Cross as the Answer to God’s Wrath

All right, all right, get out of here. Fortunately for us, that's not the end of the story. Because God does indeed love us, he did not leave us in our sin. He sent his son, Jesus Christ, as an atoning sacrifice, dying on the cross in our place.

The wrath that we deserve for our wickedness was poured out on Christ instead. Romans 5 -8 -9 says God shows his love for us, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

The Righteousness of Christ for Those Who Follow Him

Now when God looks at us, he sees not our sin, but the righteousness of Christ, all those who follow him. How is it that God can both hate the sinner and love us too? The answer is the cross, the beauty of which we read about when we understand the text.