Abhor
Sin But Love Sinners It can be difficult to separate our feelings toward a person’s sinful behavior and the person himself. But as Christians, trained by God through His word, we are commanded to abhor sin while loving the person committing sin. God Hates Sin There are some things God specifically says He hates:
Christians Hate Sin The word “abhor” means to detest or hate something. As a matter of fact, the Revised Standard and New Revised Standard use the word hate in Rom. 12:9 — Christians are commanded to hate evil. As God’s children, we hate sin because we understand God’s word. In Psalms 119:104, David says, “From Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.” Although we teach our children not to say hate as it’s used in the world, maybe we should teach them to use the word Biblically and confess their hatred of sin. Perhaps this would help them grow up hating sin as God commands. As I think about hating sin, I remember a young man in Thomasville who had a new laptop computer. He was using it one day and pornography started to come up on the screen. He rushed to shut it off before he saw the vile picture, and crashed his new computer. He called me and we installed an old copy of the computer’s registry, restoring it to the way it was before the pornography. I was impressed that day by a young man who hated sin so much he crashed his computer to avoid it. God Loves Sinners Paul explains God’s love for sinners like this: “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:6-8). And John tells us of God’s love to save us while we were sinners: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16). “By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 Jn. 4:9-10). Christians Love Sinners In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches us to be like our Father in heaven by loving sinners — even people who persecute us. He says, “‘You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. . . .’” (Matt. 5:43-45). Paul, summing up our relationship with other people, commands, “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Rom. 13:8-10). As Christians, we love our neighbors. Therefore, we love sinners. Summary Though we work hard to hate sin, we must work equally hard to love the people who commit the sin we hate. When we do this, we are like our Father who loved us when we were sinners.
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