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Kristy

So then, is this a fair statement:

God requires us to love everyone, including enemies of the cross, but he himself hates them?

Did Jesus love the many sinners he encountered?

Here's where I think one needs to define 'love'.

I think that this ' love sinner but hate sins ' business can be quite tricky and destructive to ourselves if we find ourselves loving them by yoking or mingling with the sinning brethren or the unregenerates.

Instead, we should love them through prayers and perhaps admonitions whenever possible. This is by far an unwise call when it comes to our children.

2 Corinthians 6:14
Be ye [b]not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: [/b]for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

Separate ourselves from them, whether they be unbelievers or sinning believers ,( sin = unbelief ), while restore fellowhip with the them upon repentance.

Here's another precept of God from:

2 Chronicles 19:2
And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, [b]Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD.[/b]

We know that our Lord told us to love even our enemies, again, with HIS kind of love. But the thread is about whether GOD HIMSELF hates sinners, the answer, in my mind is yes. If God doesn't hate sinners, there's really no need for the Cross or for hell. One would think. HE could just easily come out and forgive sins..and forget about everything.

God loves mankind and He is love.....hang on to those truths. The Bible clearly teaches that God is love, as well as that God shows love. For example, 1 John 4:8-9 says, "He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him."

Many Christians use the cliché "Love the sinner, hate the sin." However, we must realize that this is an exhortation to us as imperfect human beings. The difference between us and God in regard to loving and hating is vast. Even as Christians, we remain imperfect in our humanity and cannot love completely, nor can we hate without malice. But, God can do both of these perfectly well, because He is God! God can hate without any sinful intent at all. Therefore, he can hate the sin and the sinner in a perfectly holy way and still be willing to lovingly forgive at the moment of that sinner's repentance and faith (see Malachi 1:3; Revelation 2:6; 3 Peter 3:9). Mysterious, but true, God can perfectly love and hate a person at the same time. This means He can love them as someone He created and can redeemable, as well as hate them for their unbelief and sinful lifestyle. We, as imperfect human beings, cannot do this, thus we must remind ourselves to "love the sinner, hate the sin."

How exactly does that work? We hate sin by refusing to take part in it and by condemning it when we see it. Sin is not be hated, not excused or taken lightly. We love the sinner by being faithful in witnessing to them of the forgiveness that is available through Jesus Christ. A true act of love is treating someone with respect and kindness even though they know you do not approve of their lifestyle and/or choice. It is not loving to allow a person to remain stuck in sin. It is not hateful to tell a person they are in sin. In fact, the exact opposites are true.

Recommended Resource: The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God by D.A. Carson.

http://www.gotquestions.org/love-sinner-hate-sin.html

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Tom

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Josh Parsley

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Kristy

this is tricky...of course the bible says he loves people...god is love ..and so on...but we cant deny the other verses... it clearly says he hates...now i can understand even if he hates that to is good... but if someone can make some of this... i can clearly see how we can get "of track" whit this, ive heard this sermon by mr
Leiter
https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/mydownloads/singlefile.php?lid=8309&commentView=itemComments

its called wrath of god... but i cant see clearly how it all fits toghter...i see two sides

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CHRISTIAN

Wow, I am amazed at some of the statements here. I cannot believe what I am reading. Some of you speak as if God delights in "casting" sinners into hell as if it is some sort of sport. I can imagine that He weeps over every one because He died for each of them.

If God hates sinners then He certainly goes through alot of trouble to bring them to salvation.

I remember a popular verse that says "For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son." It doesn't say "For God so loved the righteous" but "the world."

1 Timothy 2:5, "For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." It seems that He is even mediating on behalf of those whom He hates (as some here may believe).

When Jesus walked the earth He showed compassion, mercy and love to humanity, healing their sick and raising their dead, who were sinners by the way. Wow that sounds like a hateful God to me (sarcasm added).

In Matthew 5:43, 44 Jesus tells us to love our neighbor and our enemies, many of whom are sinners. How can He expect that from us if He Himself hates sinners.

Luke 6:32, "If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them." How could God hold us to that standard if He only loved those who loved Him?

Or how about Luke 6:35, "But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men." Showing kindness to those whom He hates?

This verse says it all. Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

Look at the great commission. He gives the comission out of His love for the sinner. If God hates sinners because of His holiness, then (according to some here) since we are commanded to be holy as He is holy we aught to have the same hatred, right? Why then should we evangelise those whom we should hate? Why do people evangelise to begin with? Because they have a passion and a love for the people to come to Christ.

In Philippians Paul tells us the attitude that Christ has towards sinners. Phil 2:5-8, "Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." Let me paraphrase that for you. In other words, the attitude that Christ had was that it was not worth being equal to God if all of mankind went to hell.

Here is more, Ephesians 2:1-5, " And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)"

1Th 3:12 "and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you"

Tit 3:4 "But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared"

1Jo 4:10 "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."

1Jo 4:19 "We love, because He first loved us."

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Keith