Love Hates

To Hate With Love

As we exercise passionate love and hatred, we must be guided by the Spirit. Godly hate is expressed through love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. In contrast, ungodly hate is expressed through violence, abuse, fits of rage, disrespect, impatience and selfish ambition, and other unloving qualities mentioned in Scripture.  

When we engage in ungodly behaviors such as these in our passion to “hate what is evil,” we end up hating the people God loves. Love hates appropriately, not unbecomingly. It’s better that we love people by hating these behaviors in ourselves. First John is filled with instruction to love one another (3:11, 3:23, 4:7, 4:12, 4:21), to love not just with words, but with actions (3:18), and to live in love (4:16). Godly hatred is not the Fred Phelps variety of hatred. God does not hate people. He loves people and hates what hurts them. Ecclesiastes 3:8 reminds us that there is “a time to love and a time to hate.” Let us hate what love hates passionately, righteously and with our whole hearts.