The Hate Delusion Blog 2: The Bible’s Call to Love and Hate

The Bible condemns hatred of people and yet commands hatred of evil. That tension sits at the heart of Christian ethics and demands careful thought.

Jesus calls His followers to love even their enemies—people whose actions or beliefs they cannot affirm. At the same time, Scripture speaks without embarrassment of the Lord’s holy hatred for those who persist in rebellion. How can these truths fit together?

The answer requires careful attention to Scripture’s own definitions and examples. This post establishes that biblical foundation, examining key passages that show how God’s people are called to hate evil while loving people—even enemies. Rather than rushing to contemporary applications, we’ll focus on building a theological framework solid enough to support wise discernment in future discussions.

The distinction begins with recognizing our limits. Unlike the Judge of all the earth, we hate what God hates without claiming His right to hate whom He hates. Psalms such as 139 may seem to blur that line, and we will examine them carefully.

Everyone who sins is not automatically our personal enemy. Yet sin wounds relationships and corrupts hearts, often turning people into adversaries—but even then we are commanded to love them.

Christians are called to love justice and hate evil, to speak the truth, confront error, and stand for what is right. Many in our culture, however, view personal freedom and self-expression as the highest good and often see moral limits as harmful.

Scripture teaches that we become whole only by confessing our brokenness, while many voices around us treat such confession as weakness and claim wholeness comes through self-affirmation. For those outside the faith this tension will feel unavoidable. But for those inside the church the call is clear: do not surrender Scripture’s authority to cultural pressure. Hold fast to the Word of God, and do so with a love that is unmistakable even as you assert its truth. Do not submit to the world’s definition or expression of hate—live out the love the Bible commands and let God’s Word define what hatred truly is.

Hating Evil Without Hating People

The Scriptures call us to a love that is both sincere and morally discerning. Romans 12 gives perhaps the clearest command:

Romans 12:9–10 (ESV) Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

The NIV renders it, “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.” Other translations say, “Love without hypocrisy, abhor what is evil, cleave to what is good.”

Two Greek words sharpen Paul’s command:

ἀποστυγέω (ah-po-stoo-GEH-oh) – “to abhor,” to shrink back from with horror. This present participle carries the sense of continual, active revulsion. Love is not mere sentiment; it includes moral discernment and rejection of what God calls evil.

κολλάομαι (ko-LAH-oh-mai) – “to cling,” to glue oneself to what is good. Genuine love doesn’t simply avoid evil; it attaches itself firmly to what is good.

John Calvin comments:

“Love is to arise from pure sincerity of mind… He afterwards subjoins two things by which love is preserved pure and entire—that we hate evil and cleave to good. For where a hatred of evil is not, there will be no love of good.” —Commentary on Romans

Paul is not introducing a new ethic. Throughout Scripture the same pattern appears:

Psalm 97:10 – “O you who love the LORD, hate evil!” Proverbs 8:13 – “The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil.”

How Hating Evil Looks According to Scripture

Hating evil begins with personal holiness. Before we confront the sins of the world, we must first confront the sins of our own hearts. Paul reminds Timothy, “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching” (1 Timothy 4:16). Jesus warns that we must remove the log from our own eye before addressing the speck in another’s (Matthew 7:3–5). Romans 12 calls us to “present [our] bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” (Romans 12:1), for the hatred of evil must start with the evil within. This is not self-loathing; it is the love of God that refuses to make peace with sin.

From personal holiness flows active opposition to the works of darkness. The same Scriptures that command believers to “abhor what is evil” (Romans 12:9) also charge them to “take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them” (Ephesians 5:11). Love that is genuine cannot remain silent when sin destroys.

Paul gives a vivid example in 1 Corinthians 5, where a case of blatant sexual immorality had been tolerated in the church. A man was living with his father’s wife, and the congregation, instead of mourning, had grown proud of their supposed tolerance. Paul rebukes them sharply and commands decisive action:

“Purge the evil person from among you” (1 Corinthians 5:13).

This removal was not an act of spite but of grace— “deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord” (v. 5).

Paul warns that unchecked sin is like yeast in dough:

“Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump” (vv. 6–7).

To leave the man uncorrected would not only endanger his soul but also spread corruption through the entire body. Love for Christ and for the rest of the believers required a painful but necessary separation so that the church might remain pure and the sinner might be brought to repentance.

Here hatred of evil takes the form of loving discipline. The offender is not cast off as an enemy to be despised, but treated as a brother to be warned and, if possible, restored (compare 2 Corinthians 2:6–8, where Paul urges forgiveness once repentance has occurred). This is biblical hatred of evil: a fierce commitment to holiness and the good of the whole community, joined with a hopeful desire for the sinner’s salvation.

Christians who obey these commands—exposing darkness and, when necessary, practicing church discipline—will often be accused of hatred. But we cannot allow the world to dictate what love looks like. God says this is love—to put someone out of the community, not out of hate but out of love. This did not start in the New Testament but comes from the Old.

Leviticus 19:17–18 (ESV) “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.”

Leviticus 18:29 “For everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people.”

The Levitical commands about removing or even executing the unrepentant can sound harsh and raise understandable questions: “Is The Church supposed to enforce these punishments today?” The answer is no. Christians are not called to carry the sword—that responsibility belongs to the civil authorities (Romans 13:1–4). Within the church, theologians continue to debate how the Old Testament law should be understood and applied under the new covenant, and most agree that these commands are not to be enforced in the same way today.

Under the new covenant the church responds to unrepentant sin with discipline, not execution—warning, exclusion from fellowship when necessary, and always a hope for repentance (1 Corinthians 5; 2 Corinthians 2:6–8).

The point is clear: hate is condemned, vengeance is forbidden, and discipline is an expression of love. Calling out sin or practicing church discipline is not hatred—it is obedience to God and mercy toward both the sinner and the believing community.

From Law to Gospel: The Continuity of God’s Hatred for Sin

The shift from Old Testament law to New Testament grace doesn’t eliminate God’s hatred of sin—it transforms how His people respond to it. Under the old covenant, physical removal from the community (and sometimes physical death) pictured the spiritual reality of sin’s deadly consequences. Under the new covenant, church discipline serves the same protective and restorative purposes without the physical penalties.

The principle remains constant: God’s people must take sin seriously because God takes sin seriously. What changes is the method—from civil punishment to church discipline, from physical separation to spiritual restoration, from fear-based compliance to grace-motivated holiness.

This continuity helps us understand Psalm 139. David’s “hatred” of God’s enemies flows from the same holy concern that motivates New Testament church discipline—a refusal to make peace with rebellion against God, combined with hope for the rebel’s restoration.

The Psalm That Seems to Blur the Line

Psalm 139:21–22 (ESV) Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies.

At first glance David seems to boast of personal hatred. But a closer look shows something more nuanced.

The Hebrew verb שָׂנֵא (śānēʾ, saw-NAY, “to hate”) can describe more than raw emotion. It often carries the sense of covenantal opposition—to take one’s stand against someone precisely because they have set themselves against God. David is not indulging private spite; he is pledging allegiance. His enemies are those who rise up against the Lord, and David wants no part of their rebellion.

The context of the psalm makes this clear. Psalm 139 exalts God’s omniscience and justice from beginning to end. David closes not with a call to arms but with a prayer for self-examination:

“Search me, O God, and know my heart…see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (vv. 23–24).

Even in the Old Testament, personal vengeance was forbidden (Leviticus 19:18). David’s “complete hatred” is a declaration of loyalty to God, not a license to harm His foes.

The New Testament deepens the contrast. Jesus commands His followers, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). Christians share David’s zeal for God’s honor, but we express it through hatred of sin and opposition to evil systems, never through hostility toward people. Like David, we side with the Lord against all that defies Him, but like Jesus, we pray for the salvation of those who oppose Him.

Psalm 139 therefore strengthens, rather than weakens, the biblical call of Romans 12:9. We hate evil because we love God. We resist rebellion, but we leave judgment to Him. Our task is to cling to what is good, to confront sin with truth and mercy, and to love even those who have made themselves enemies of the cross.

Bringing the Witness of Scripture Together

Taken together, these passages paint a clear picture. God calls His people to love without hypocrisy and to hate evil with holy resolve. He commands discipline inside His church so that sin does not spread, yet He forbids personal vengeance and hidden malice. He reveals His own hatred of persistent rebellion while offering salvation to the very ones who oppose Him. The biblical pattern is unmistakable: love and hate are not opposites but partners—love for God demands hatred of the evil that destroys His creation, even as love for people seeks their restoration.

A Closing Reflection

This survey of Scripture’s teaching on love and hate establishes the foundation we need for the challenges ahead. We’ve seen that God calls His people to love without hypocrisy and to hate evil with holy resolve—that faithful conviction and genuine love are not opposites but partners.

We must also remember that we are not given the option of ignoring the situations around us. As Paul writes:

2 Corinthians 10:3–5 (LSB) For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the tearing down of strongholds, as we tear down speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

Yet questions remain. How do we apply these truths when the culture around us labels any moral boundary as “hate”? What does it look like to speak biblical truth with both courage and unmistakable love when that very act of speaking is seen as an attack?

These are the challenges we’ll tackle in our next post. We’ll explore how Christians can faithfully articulate what Scripture teaches about sin without being dismissed as bigots, and how we can disagree about matters of justice without assuming malice in those who see things differently.

With this foundation in place, we’re ready to ask how these truths apply to our real-world conflicts—where calling sin “sin” is often treated as hateful, and where Christians must speak with both courage and unmistakable love.