Taking every thought captive for obedience to Christ (2 Corinthians 10.5)

Outcomes
Hate
These days, being labeled a “hater” is about the worst thing anyone can say about you. “Hate” is attached as an adjective to certain kinds of crimes and speech, intensifying the heinousness of the crime or condemning and outlawing the particular manner of speaking.

With respect to speech, labeling some utterance with the adjective “hate” can be a fairly subjective matter. For some people, any expressed views or opinions they don’t like, or that do not agree with their perspective, can be easily dismissed as being motivated by hate. And not only dismissed, but made illegal.

“Hate” has become a true four-letter word – not the sort of term you’d want someone to use in describing you.

But are we ever justified in hating someone? This is the question addressed by Jeffrie G. Murphy in the summer, 2016, issue of The Hedgehog Review (“A Word on Behalf of Good Haters”).

In the current moral environment, hate has taken on an almost exclusively negative character, and it is readily applied to anyone who disagrees with certain moral positions. If you do not favor gay marriage, you obviously hate homosexuals. If you want to see immigration laws tightened, you hate immigrants. If your ministry puts restrictions on the roles women can fill, you hate women. 

The general opinion is that there is nothing virtuous or justifiable in hating anyone. To be labeled a hater is to be relegated to the status of social outcast and vermin.

But is this a good situation? Is hate only a negative affection? And is hating always a deplorable trait? How did we get to this place, and is there any virtue whatsoever in hating someone?

Mr. Murphy blames the Christian faith for this hatred of hating. He explains that Christianity’s teaching that we should at all times love all people has made hate an affection to be suppressed. There is some truth to this allegation, but only partial, and only because certain Christians have misapplied the Biblical teaching about forgiveness and loving our neighbors.

Mr. Murphy defends hating others on the grounds that some offenses are so heinous that it would be wrong not to hate the perpetrators and to wish them to suffer to the same degree as those they have harmed. He offers several scenarios in which not to hate someone would be unnatural and even inhumane. Hating evil people and wishing them to experience the suffering they have inflicted on others protects society against accepting evil as normative and inevitable.

This desire for the application of lex talionis in the case of certain crimes carries a certain Biblical endorsement, though the time and circumstances in which the Law of God sanctioned such practices is long past. The use of the death penalty for those who commit certain kinds of crimes is sanctioned by both the Old and New Testaments, and it is hard to think that society might inflict such punishment on someone it did not, at least to some extent, despise. So also for adversaries in a just war.

The Bible indicates a role for hate in the life of faith. Hate is a valid and useful affection, although allowing it to come to expression is carefully qualified. The Scriptures command Christians to hate sin (Ps. 97.10), especially the sin in our own hearts, but to love our enemies (Matt. 5.44). We must hate sin without qualification, for God hates sin, and all sin is an affront to His holiness. And love for our enemies must be qualified somewhat. Scripture commends a proper hatred for those who make themselves enemies of God (Ps. 139.19-22), yet not so as to justify personal vengefulness: Exacting vengeance is the Lord’s, to do in His way and time (Deut. 32.35, 41). The inflicting of retributive pain on evildoers is to be left in the hands of God, Who relegates some measure of retribution to civil governments (Rom. 13.1-4). Believers must sincerely wish and pray that those they hate may be so shamed by their wickedness that they might repent of it and turn in faith to God (Ps. 83.16).

I agree with Mr. Murphy about the legitimacy of hate as part of the equipment of human affections. But, following the Scriptures, we must be careful to direct our hate toward actions first and people second. When we hate, it must be within the parameters and constraints of love, focusing more on actions than on people, entrusting vengeance and justice to God, seeking repentance and salvation for evildoers, and guarding our own hearts from any misplaced or unbridled hate.

For reflection
1.      What does hate feel like? That is, how can you know when hate is beginning to rise within you?

2.      In most cases, it’s important to check hate before it gets the best of us. How would you counsel someone to do that?

3.      Do you agree with the fairly common notion that believers should “hate the sin but love the sinner”? Explain.

Next steps: Do you think being labeled a “hater” is keeping some Christians from bearing witness for Christ, or for taking a moral stand consistent with God’s Word? Jesus promised that the world would hate us just as it hated Him. But on what grounds? Talk with a Christian friend about these questions.

Today at The Fellowship
ReVision: Like any economy, the Kingdom economy has its own currency. But it’s not what you might think. Download this week’s free study, “Kingdom Currency,” by clicking here.

Crosfigell:Thus far this week we’ve seen that, since Satan is bound by our Lord Jesus, he can’t keep us from bearing abiding fruit for the Lord. Unless, of course, we let him.

Scriptorium: Download this week’s PDF of our Scriptorium study of Acts 14.1-15.10 (Part 13). Paul and Barnabas return to Antioch, only to become caught up in a major doctrinal dispute.

Voices Together: John Nunnikhoven’s daily meditations can help you in the practical work of prayer and obedience.

In the Bookstore: The Kingdom Turn and The Poetry of Prayer can help you realize more of the presence, promise, and power for Kingdom living as a follower of Christ.

Videos: Finally, check out the state of your Christian worldview by watching the video and downloading the Personal Discipleship Inventory, a tool for evaluating your worldview and growing in Kingdom vision, disciplines, and outcomes.

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T. M. Moore