In some recent conversations, including one with some fellow pastors, I’ve heard the familiar statement, “God hates the sin, not the sinner”. For some time now I’ve been thinking about that statement and have wondered if that’s really a proper Scriptural statement we can make.
It seems to me that that something is missing from that statement. Now I realize that when a statement is made in such a pithy way, there’s usually more that could be said or at least more explanation. The missing component in this particular statement, “God hates the sin, not the sinner”, however, seems to make this statement not quite scriptural or at the very least vague enough that it could be easily misunderstood.
The component that seems to me to be missing is the fact that apart from Christ, does not God, who is holy and just, hate the sinner because of the sin? At the same time, does not the same God, who is also gracious and loving, love the sinner because of the Savior? Perhaps such questions could be put into a pithy form that is clearer than the statement above:
God hates the sinner because of the sin.
God loves the sinner because of the Savior.
Like I said, I’ve been mulling over this for some time. Still perhaps I’m off-base on this and misunderstand. What do you think? Your thoughts are welcome!
Update – 11/02/09 – Thanks to Issues, Etc. host Pastor Todd Wilken for picking this post as his “Blog of the Week” on Friday, 30 October 2009. Here is an audio link for the ”Blog of the Week” segment.
Psalm 5:5 – “You hate all who do wrong.”
I think your statement sounds great.
I’ve never been a fan of that phrase either. It can be understood correctly, but for the most part I think it’s a confusion of law and gospel that could lead to the idea of “carnal security.” Your restatement does a nice job of dividing law and gospel properly.
Hi Jeremiah – I agree, I’ve always thought that was a mixture of Law and Gospel. God sends the sinner to hell, not just his sin. I like your revised statement, that keeps Law and Gospel clear.
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If God did not hate sinners in his perfect righteousness, then he could not love sinners unconditionally. He would instead love us because of something we are or have done. His grace would no longer be true grace.
If God did not hate sinners, then he could not demonstrate “his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Ro 5:8).
God’s natural hatred of sinners doesn’t make his love for sinners less astounding; it makes it more astounding. It also, ironically, makes his love for us more certain because the reason he loves then rests entirely within him and not within us.
Did you get my comment from before? I did not see it posted?
“God hates the sinner because of the sin.
God loves the sinner because of the Savior.”
I think this is a great distinction of Law and Gospel.
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by Rumor99: Great distinction of Law and Gospel: ” God hates the sinner b/c of the sin. God loves the sinner b/c of the Savior.” http://bit.ly/17M3p1...
Thanks again for an wonderful post! I’ve been absent for weeks due to computer problems, and realistically won’t catch up, but I’m sure going to try!