Does God Hate?

Here is a questions someone asked me on Twitter. It’s time to wrestle with our understanding of God once more. Are you ready to let your brain hurt? I’d appreciate your comments.

Question:

What are your thoughts on Psalm 5:5? Just got into a heated debate about it. Have any resources?

Answer:

Psalm 5:5 says:

Therefore, the proud may not stand in your presence,
      for you hate all who do evil.

First off we need to take every verse in context. The context is what’s in the rest of the chapter, book, testament and Bible.

It fits with the passion of the chapter it’s in. The book of psalms has words for every emotion of the human condition and shows us a great deal of God’s in words we can understand. It’s also in line with the old covenant.

Under the old covenant we have many references to God hating people as well as their actions. Here are many of them. There may be more.

• “You are not a god who delights in evil; no wicked person finds refuge with you; the arrogant cannot stand before you. You hate all who do evil;” Psalm 5:4-5
• “The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, and the one who loves violence His soul hates.” Psalm 11:5
• Do not live according to the customs of the people I am driving out before you. It is because they do these shameful things that I detest them. Leviticus 20:23
• “Into your hands I commend my spirit; you will redeem me, LORD, faithful God. You hate those who serve worthless idols, but I trust in the LORD.” Psalm 31:5-6
• “Your throne, O God, stands forever; your royal scepter is a scepter for justice. You love justice and hate wrongdoing; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellow kings. Psalm 45:6-7
• There are six things the Lord hates— no, seven things he detests: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family. Proverbs 6:16-19
• The Lord says, “All their wickedness began at Gilgal; there I began to hate them. I will drive them from my land because of their evil actions. I will love them no more because all their leaders are rebels. Hosea 9:15
• As it is written: Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated. Romans 9:13 (Quoting Malachi 1:3 where God is talking about Esau’s descendants to make a point about God loving someone, namely us Gentiles.)
• “For I hate divorce, says the LORD, the God of Israel, And covering one’s garment with injustice, says the LORD of hosts; You must then safeguard life that is your own, and not break faith.” Malachi 2:16

Under the New Covenant

Under the New Covenant we see God hating behaviour.

• “Your throne, O God, stands forever and ever; and a righteous scepter is the scepter of your kingdom. You loved justice and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions”; Hebrews 1:8-9
• “But you have this in your favor: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. ” ‘ “Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the victor I will give the right to eat from the tree of life that is in the garden of God.” ‘ Rev. 2:6-7

I can’t find any other reference after the cross to God hating. If I’m wrong, someone please mention it in the comments.

This is significant. We fail to remember that everything changed at the cross. Because of the cross…

1. Guilt was removed (Justification).

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. Romans 3:23-24 (New Living Translation)

2. The price of sin was paid (Redemption).

For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. Romans 3:25 (New Living Translation)

3. Our sins were washed (Propitiation).

Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:11 (New Living Translation)

4. We were made friends again with God (Reconciliation).

For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:19 (New Living Translation)

5. We are no longer fallen (Identification).

But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-6 (New Living Translation)

6. Satan’s Rule Was Ended (Reclamation).

In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross. Colossians 2:15 (New Living Translation)

7. The curse of the law was canceled (Expiation).

But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” Galatians 3:13 (New Living Translation)?

The problem I see in many Christian’s attitude is that they  take verses from the old, inferior covenant that are there to show us glimpses of divine and use them to justify their condemnation of others and say, “If God hates the evil doer, I’m loving God by hating him too.” Paul thought he was doing God a favor persecuting people too…before  he came out from under the law.

We can never forget God says in Ezekiel 18:23:

“Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign Lord. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live.

And so many of us in the church would rather just sit back and condemn them to the judgement of an angry God. It grieves me because I know it grieves God. He’s not willing that any should perish and his Bride is debating if we have to bother with those he “obviously hates”.

Three Things to Consider

1. If we don’t love others we can’t love God.

If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 1 John 4:2

2. The more God forgives, the more people love Him.

“Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”  Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. Luke 7:40-43

3. God loves sinners because He first loved you.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

We don’t serve an angry God. The cross and Christ’s sacrifice took care of that. I wish we all would stop living under the law and I admit, I have a ways to go. At times I look forward to the coming judgement as much as anyone wronged in this life.

Add to this discussion. Tell me how wrong I am or let me know how you see the Bible. Since we have a God who changes not, how can I say everything changed at the cross?

~Trevor

Resources

• Your Judgment of Others Limits Your Destiny
• Why Shouldn’t We Pick On People When They’re Wrong?
• What the Bible Say About Judging
• What Does Living Under the Law Look Like?
• 7 Things That Changed at the Cross
• How to Judge and Not Be A Jerk