A good kind of hate

Hate is defined as a strong or passionate dislike. It is a feeling from within us directed towards certain objects, animals, people, and even ourselves. We are told by Jesus not to have this for one another but instead we are to love one another (Luke 6:27). But even though hate is wrong toward one another, this does not mean that we should never have hatred. In fact, if we want to make it to heaven, we must hate sin.

We can find a lot of passages, especially in Psalms, about hatred or abhorrence of evil. A familiar one might be Psalm 119:104: “Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.” A familiar passage in the New Testament would be Romans 12:9, which says, “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.” We not only hate evil but also we should cling to what is good. Since hatred is a strong or passionate dislike toward something, if we have hate towards sin, we are going to stay away from it. It’s only when we are charmed by temptation, and the hate within us for evil starts to fade, that we fall for sin. If we are going to make it to heaven, we must have a strong hatred for every false way. Then and only then can we have the strength to say no to temptation.

Jonathan Glaesemann