But does He hate too? "God hates every false way and evil way.." This is reflected in Psalm 119. Proverbs 6:16-19
Psalm 119:128:"Therefore I have esteemed all Thy precepts concerning all things to be right; I have hated every false way." This verse highlights the true believer's personal dedication to God's commandments in the word, and their rejection of paths that deviate away from Him/them.Proverbs 6:16-19:This passage identifies specific examples of actions that God really hates, such as the falsehood, violence, and the wrong kind of pride.. "haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood".Psalm 119:104:"Through Thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way." This verse emphasizes that understanding God's word leads to growth for a believer, and leads to a strong rejection of every false way.
Let that sink in deep. Overall, the Bible clearly portrays God's real hatred of falsehood and of wickedness. He doesn't change, and that won't. Yes, as a reflection of His real righteousness and fierce love for truth, people and goodness.
"God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day." Psalm 7:11 kjv"God is a righteous judge, yea, a God that hath indignation every day." asv"God is a righteous judge and a God who feels indignation each day." bsb Berean
- God's love is unlimited in extent. (speaking of this in general terms of the love He has for all of mankind in his heart).- God's love is limited in degree.- God's love is ultimately directed at His glory.
1. God’s love is totally unlimited in extent!2. God’s perfect love is limited in degree.3. God’s love is ultimately directed by the Holy Spirit at His glory. Let Him direct your every step! We’re here to glorify the Lord in all things. We're, by choice, going to start today right!?
God’s love is totally unlimited in extent. There is that love of God which the Scriptures clearly display to us. I mean in a general sense, in a universal, indiscriminate, unconditional, unlimited – whatever English term you want to use for this – and this evangelistic LOVE extends toward all people groups and individuals in all eras and at all times. That's what Titus 3:4 refers to as God’s love for mankind that He created. It is that general love for all mankind that moves us to go tell. Yes, Scripture attests to this passionate love in several Bible places. See Matthew 5, stay focused on Jesus -- this is going to yield for you wonderful fruit as you live the life and witness. It's in Matthew 5:43, that Jesus established the background to John 3:16. Lord, we're surrounded by brokenness, but want to live red-hot on fire for you.. wherever you lead each of us today! Please keep and use us to glorify you as we evangelize with your zeal and Message. Help us accurately share our own stories of faith!
The Savior of the World Loves all Kinds of People
In John 4:42, the Samaritans said to the woman at the well, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.” This profound confession came from those long despised and rejected by society at the time—who? The Samaritans were very much disliked. Not at all loved by the Jews back in the day. See the Scriptures, the very fact that they call Jesus the Savior of the world strikes at the very heart of the racial and religious exclusivism of the day.
Jesus came to overturn the narrow O.T. Jewish bias and hatred that said, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.”
Yep! Instead, He proclaimed, “For God so loved the world..” (John 3:16). Not just the Jews. Not just the privileged. God loves those of the world. His evangelistic love is unlimited.
See 1 John 4:14, which echoes this: “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.” That’s why Scripture says God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11), and why He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). The offer of salvation is wide like Christ outstreahed arms on that cross, and real, and very sincere. We've heard the bad news. We've all blown it in sin and we know what they wages of sin is. Death. So God has given us His,“good news of great joy which shall be for all people” (Luke 2:10).
Let's talk about four clear manifestations of this unlimited love:
1. Common Grace
God’s love is seen in His kindness to all people—even to those who do not acknowledge Him. Jesus says in Matthew 5:45, “He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Every sunrise, every sunset, every good joke at a laughter-filled dinner table time, every colorful or not-so-colorful blooming flower is a testament of His loving generosity.
The Apostle Paul affirms this in Acts 14:17: “Yet He did not leave Himself without witness, for He did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” Every type of joy that we sense in this life here—even enjoyed by the ungrateful—is a whisper of divine love in our direction. He's given you and me so much.
2. Compassionate Love
God’s love is not due to our worthiness or loveableness. “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). It is a love of kind pity, of compassion, and of mercy.
Remember when Jesus looked and wept over Jerusalem, crying, “How often I would have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing” (Matthew 23:37). And in Luke 19:41, “When He drew near and saw the city, He wept over it.”
This speaks of the BIG heart of God—it speaks of a brokenhearted love over ruined potential. You and I hate to see a person's or a people-group's potential wasted and lost. God does too. As Jeremiah records, “My eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive” (Jeremiah 13:17). His love flows, and has flown out of Him even for those who reject Him.
3. Love that Clearly Warns
Because God loves, He warns people. That's caring. Every thunderous warning in Scripture about a real placed called hell is motivated by His love. Luke 13:3 declares, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Why would He plead for repentance if He did not care?
2 Thessalonians 1:8 speaks of judgment that's coming “on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.” We live by His promises and want to memorize them, and go show His love. These above are very sobering truths that should make us shed tears—but they are not cold threats. They are heartfelt pleas from a holy yet loving God who desires all men to be saved (see 1 Timothy 2:4 and the context).
4. The Gospel Invitation
God's love is made plain in His gracious invitation: “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters.. without money and without price” (Isaiah 55:1).
Has God expressed his animosity towards sin and sinners on occasion? Has He in the past? Yes. Does he hate everyone that he sends into hell?
There is a place for hate (not for petty, carnal, childish hate).
Yes, I mean that righteous indignation. That there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears. (Hebrews 12:16–17)
Perhaps the saddest and most godless person in Scripture outside of Judas is Esau. On the surface, their acts against God do not seem as wicked as those of many brutal and heartless pagans. But the Bible strongly condemns them. They had great light. They had every possible opportunity, as much as any person in their times, of knowing and following God. They knew His word, had heard His promises, had seen His miracles, and had had fellowship with His people; yet with determined willfulness they turned their backs on God and the things of God.
The Israelites doubled God's love for them, so God proves His love to His people in two ways:
1.) God graciously chose Jacob, their father, and rejected Esau, who in some ways was a better man. God hates unbelief.
2.) God judged the Edomites (Esau’s descendants) and gave to Israel the best of the lands.
"The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. 2 'I have loved you,' says the Lord. But you say, 'How have you loved us?' 'Is not Esau Jacob's brother?' declares the Lord. 'Yet I have loved Jacob 3 but Esau I have hated (a verb h8130 śānē' hated, to hate one hating, enemy). I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.' 4 If Edom ('ĕḏōm noun Edomite, Idumean - descendants of Esau) says, 'We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,' the Lord of hosts says, 'They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called ‘the wicked country,’ and ‘the people with whom the Lord is angry forever.’” Malachi 1:1-4 esv
Hate in the original language means hate. Esau not only was immoral, but was godless. He had no ethics or faith, no scruples or reverence. He had no regard for the good, the truthful, the divine. He was totally worldly, totally secular, totally profane. Christians are to be vigilant that no persons such as Esau contaminate Christ’s Body. See to it.. that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau. Jacob, Esau’s brother, was not a model of ethics or integrity, but he genuinely valued the things of God. The birthright was precious to him, though he tried to procure it by devious means. He basically trusted God and relied on God; his brother disregarded God and trusted only in himself.
When Esau finally woke up to some extent and realized what he had forsaken, he made a half-hearted attempt to retrieve it. Just because he sought for it with tears does not indicate sincerity or true remorse. He found no place for repentance. He bitterly regretted, but he did not repent. He selfishly wanted God’s blessings, but he did not want God. He had fully apostatized, and was forever outside the pale of God’s grace. He went on “sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth,” and there no longer remained any sacrifice to cover his sins (Heb. 10:26).
We must be vigilant so that no one turns from the truth, becomes bitter, or follows the course of selfish Esau, who wanted God’s blessing desperately—but not on God’s terms (cf. Mark 10:17–22).
God really hates sin, but it's not sin he throws into the lake of fire (the place originally created for fallen angels) it's the sinner.
R.C. Sproul puts it, “The fact that God loved Jacob and hated Esau does not indicate that God had a malicious sense of odium within his being against Esau.”
James Montgomery Boice said: “Hatred in God is of a different character than hatred in sinful human beings—his is a holy hatred—hate in God nevertheless does imply disapproval.. [Esau] was the object of [God’s] displeasure.” put it, “In a very real sense, God hated Esau himself. It was not a petty, spiteful, childish kind of hatred, but something far more dreadful. It was divine antipathy—a holy loathing directed at Esau personally. God abominated him as well as what he stood for.”
Paul in Romans 12:9 exhorts us belivers to “hate what is evil; cling to what is good”.
John Stott wrote: “It may seem strange that the exhortation to love is followed immediately by a command to hate. But we should not be surprised. For love is not the blind sentiment it is traditionally said to be. On the contrary, it is discerning. It is so passionately devoted to the beloved object that it hates every evil which is incompatible with his or her highest welfare.”
Mr. R. Kent Hughes remarks, there is a morality to love: “Some might suppose that love is soft on evil. Not so! Evil is to be hated. Sincere love demands God-honoring moral resolve regarding good and evil.”
Mr. Sproul rightly said: "The hatred about which Paul writes is hatred of the highest dimension. He uses one of the strongest words for hatred found anywhere in the Bible. The word implies not mild displeasure or mere dislike; Paul is commanding in the name of the Lord that we loathe evil. We are to see evil as an unveiled assault on the character of God and on his sovereignty."
Mr. Boice said: Love must be discerning. Real love does not love everything. On the contrary, it hates what is evil and clings to what is good. ‘God is love’ (1 John 4:8). That is one of the most sublime statements in the Bible, but God is not only love. He is also hate in the sense that he hates what is evil with a proper, righteous hatred. Proverbs 6:16-19 tells us seven things that God hates..Therefore, if we love as God loves – and we must if we are Christians – then there will be things for us to hate, just as there will be also things we must love.
In the parable of the wedding banquet, Matthew 22:3 says, “He sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.” Still, God pursues us. In 1977 He did that for me in Dana Point California when I was lost as a wild billy goat! I wasn't pursuing or seeking for Him, He was for me until I let him catch me. I said Yes Lord. I now want Yes Lord to be the motto of my whole life. The King sends His servants to the highways and byways—His love extends outward from Himself even to those who refuse.
Jesus invites, “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). That is not a limited invitation. It is for all who are weary. For all who are willing to repent, to believe in Christ, to be changed by Him.
In the Bible, it is explicitly stated that God has a "hatred" for Esau, in Romans 9:13. He hated Esau due to everything Esau stood for.
When you look at the original language, the word means He “hated" Easu. That doesn’t mean that God never showed love to Easu, or that He never gave Esau chances to repent and believe. It can be interpreted to mean God clearly had a holy loathing directed at Esau for who he stubbornly chose to become. A very evil person. Remember God doesn’t send sin into the Lake of Fire. He sadly sends unbelieving people there (they each send themselves there by rejecting God). Such wasted potential! It's sad to see people get what they personally choose after a life of rejecting God, reject the Holy Spirit, and reject Christ. Remember not to decide for Christ.. is to decide.
However, it's important to note that this is a unique instance in the Bible where God's hatred is directed towards a specific individual, and it's often understood within the context of God's sovereign choice and purpose, rather than what it is not -- a display of carnal personal animosity.
The verse in Romans 9:13, referencing Malachi 1:3 about Easu, teaches that God absolutely loved Jacob and hated Esau. It means what it says. In the Bible these are the only references where God's hatred is explicitly directed toward an individual unbelieving sinner. And yes, it indeed is found in a context dealing with God’s Election (meaning God's choice of individuals for salvation and His purpose for their lives. He is above the whole parade so to speak. He is outside of time seeing the end from the beginning. He sees both the start, the end and all that's in between simultaneously.
So What’s the dif? Holy Hatred versus Human Hatred?
While the word "hate" is used in the Bible, it's crucial for each of us to distinguish it from that petty, carnal, childish, selfish type of hatred. God does have righteous indignation as well as deep love for people.
It’s a holy, righteous kind of hatred we see with Esau, a divine antipathy against sin and Esau and all that he represented, rather than a mere paltry or malicious feeling.
I used to be God's enemy before I was born again and He showed me loves several times before I decided to repent and follow Jesus. God is completely just and fair; there is no darkness or evil in Him. God's "hatred" for Esau is indeed linked to His Holy justice and His judgment against sin and rebellion.
Never forget that God deeply loves his children, those who trust in Jesus and by faith follow His commandments. Will you?
God's love by degree? It’s with a different kind of love than what He expresses towards those who reject Him. He has shown His love to all of humanity. How many times? I can't count that high.
We can judge ourselves early, before we need to be judged. I evaluated early enough and am thankful that Christ took the judgement I deserved in the cross at Calvary.
God still disciplines His beloved children, but judgment is different. I don’t see God "hating" another individual human in the Bible, do you, but there are instances where He shows His displeasure or judgment towards individuals and unbelieving groups for their evil actions, such as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, or remember the exile of the Israelites?
The Take Away: Tryin' To Weave In And Wrapping It All Together For You
God’s love is not weak sentimentality; it never has been. It is strong, wide, HUGE and sacrificial. It grieves over sin, warns of judgment, and yet opens the doors of mercy to the worst of sinners like me. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). And He is “the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2).
Lost church goers can actually gain a hard heart even inside a church by hearing and putting it off, hearing and resisting the truth. Many people resist the Holy Spirit, resist the gospel, and the Jesus of the Bible (both inside and outside, even at a healthy church). They choose to love the world, and their sin to a point where God gives them over. Some even commit the unforgivable sin (blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, which is going through their whole life rejecting Christ as Savior).
No Kurt, Oh yes indeed and I hate for that to happen to anyone. Be warned!
Come just as you are to Him. Do it now, don't wait, pause or put it off.
"But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the right [the authority, the privilege] to become children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name—who were born, not of blood [natural conception], nor of the will of the flesh [physical impulse], nor of the will of man [that of a natural father], but of God [that is, a divine and supernatural birth—they are born of God—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified]." John 1:12-13 amp
Q: Is the love of God limited only to the elect whom He saves? There's a serious Scriptural problem with that view. The Bible doesn’t teach a love so SO narrow. Instead, it reveals something far more worldwide, beautiful and expansive.
John 3:16 declares, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” That verse alone should silence any claim that God’s love is reserved only for the elect.
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God’s love is unlimited in extent—He genuinely loves all of humanity. He knows your name and knows exactly the number of hairs on your head.
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God’s love is limited in degree—He loves in different ways and to different ends, most fully and meaningfully in saving those who repent and believe.
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God’s love is ultimately directed toward His glory—He expresses His love in ways that magnify His goodness, justice, and mercy. You and I are to.. by obedient faith.. worship, praise, thank, and glorify the Lord daily.
And here’s a kicker: Jesus teaches us to go live the life where He leads each of us, to go share the gospel message in their language, including this: showing His love not just to our family and friends but also to our enemies. We serve as much as He leads. It's because that’s what our Father does and has done. Shown pure love. That’s what Jesus and the Holy Spirit do and have done. Shown pure love. It’s a family thing—we reflect His heart when we love both friend and foe wisely.
You've got this in Him, Sport! Let us never shrink in the slightest way.. what actually happened on the cross due to His love for those in the world. It was a display of God's agape love for all those in this world. Let us never narrow the BIG heart of God -- people need to see Him in us. Instead, let us clearly proclaim with joy: Jesus is the only Savior and He still LOVES the people of this world! Instagram.com/KurtwVs
