The Wrong Opposite

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The Bible teaches that God hates. We prefer a sentimental faith to a biblical one, and so we tell ourselves that God is love, which is biblical, and that the opposite of love is hate, which is unbiblical.

God hates insolence. God hates lies. God hates hands that shed innocent blood. He hates wicked imagination. He hates mischievous feet. He hates false witness. And He hates the one who sows discord among brothers.

Not only that, but we cannot take refuge in that famous line about hating the sin but loving the sinner. This text says that God hates the people doing these things, and not just the things that are done. This makes sense if we think about it for a minute. At the Day of Judgment, it will be the sinners that are pitched into Hell, not just their sins. The place where God has made it possible to distinguish sins and sinners is in the cross of Jesus Christ. Because of that, our sins can be taken away from us, and separated from us.

 

But this is not because God decided to stop hating sin. No, He hates sin so much that He poured out His wrath on it, even though the place where that wrath was located was in the person of His Son Jesus Christ. His act of love was also an act of hatred. So they are not opposites. The greatest act of love in the history of the human race was the death of Jesus. But at the same moment, in a different respect, the greatest act of divine hatred was also the cross of Jesus.

Remember that our worship presupposes that distinction.

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