In a recent exchange between two people on Facebook, two views were juxtaposed against each other. One person posed the assertion that "Hate is strong". The other person responded with, "Is it? God too hates." Upon reading this, it opened a topic worthy of some consideration, especially in the world we presently live.
As I generally do, I took to my ChatGPT-4 service to start asking questions, gathering its responses, and using those as "thought-expanders" (i.e., whatever you focus on expands), where the AI tool provides information presented in a way that I would not otherwise have thought of. In this case, some of that exchange is presented below.
God hates vs man hates
THEOLOGY QUESTION: Does God "hate" the same way as human beings? This question basically sums up the matter and as a prequel to my proposed answer, I have to make a couple of assertions.
First, I have to assert that it ought to be quite obvious that what God does and what man does are quite different for obvious reasons. He is perfect and above. We are imperfect and beneath. There is plenty of scripture to demonstrate this. So, no one ought to think that the "hate" of man (naturally speaking) is the equivalent of God.
For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
My first step was to gather up some relevant OT and NT passages to help provide some background. A deeper study (which this is not) would explore each passage and its context, but this is a "quick-and-dirty" smash-up of scripture. Hopefully, it is sufficient. If not—please feel free to point that out (I will link this on Facebook). Now—on to the scriptures:
Old Testament Passages:
1. Deuteronomy 16:22: "Neither shall you set up a pillar, which the LORD your God hates."
2. Proverbs 6:16-19: "There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that hurry to run to evil, a lying witness who testifies falsely, and one who sows discord among brothers."
3. Psalm 5:4-6: "For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man."
4. Zechariah 8:17: "Do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, says the LORD.”
5. Malachi 2:16: "For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the LORD, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless."
NOTE: The last one is one suggested by the AI. Even though it does not directly have "hate", "abhor", or other similar word, it does imply something God strongly and righteously objects to. You be the judge of whether or not it belongs on the list.
And just three more from the NT:
New Testament Passages:
1. Revelation 2:6: "Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate."
2. Romans 12:9: "Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good."
3. Hebrews 1:9: "You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions."
Looking at the response from the tool (below) leads to several question on the basis of: Given the information regarding "human hate" as human irrational hostility, one has to wonder:
1. If we share the same reasoning as God are we then irrational in our hate or abhorring the same things?
2. All of the NT scriptures above demonstrate human beings having the same hate as God. By scripture pointing this out, are we being irrationally hostile in thoughtless raw emotion or are we in alignment with God in our hate?
The questions above are nearly rhetorical—meaning—their answers are self-evident, making the questions each a leading question with a predictable response.
CORE LESSON: Do not fall for the thoughtless garbage being pumped out by a paganistic worldly ungodly people as they defend what God hates and calls upon us to hate right along with Him.
QUERY: In the OT passages, give me the Hebrew and Greek LXX words used in the scriptures above for "hate" or "abhor". Define how the definition or grammatical use of the word differs from "human hate". Moreover, please define what YOU think "human hate" is and how it is qualitatively or quantitatively different than that of God.
RESPONSE: In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for "hate" is usually "שָׂנֵא" (sane'), while in the Greek Septuagint (LXX), it's "μισέω" (miseo).
The Hebrew word "sane'" means to hate, to be hateful, or to have enmity. It doesn’t just imply feeling intense hostility but also portrays the idea of rejection, turning away from, or neglecting. Sometimes it also means "to set against."
The Greek word "miseo" means to detest, to love less, or to disregard. Here as well, the term doesn't necessarily imply emotional hostility. It could mean "to love less" or "hold less dear", especially when contrasting love for God and love for the world or fleshly desires.
Human hate generally implies intense hostility, resentment, or a strong negative emotional response to a person, thing, or phenomenon - often resulting in harm, malice, or ill will.
Comparatively, when God “hates,” it's not a petty or malicious emotion but a righteous repudiation of what is evil, harmful, or against His nature and purpose. It signifies His divine judgment and rejection. God's "hate" is not capricious or arbitrary, nor does it deny His love and pity for the sinner, but it does affirm His absolute standard of holiness and commitment to justice.
When used in relation to God, hate takes on a more judicial sense. It communicates His intrinsic opposition to sin due to His perfectly holy nature. It's not a hate rooted in emotional malice, but one grounded in righteousness, justice, and love. It's a consistency in character that maintains His divine attributes in perfect balance — holiness with mercy, justice with forgiveness, and yes, wrath with grace.
It's important to remember that the language about God 'hating' is anthropomorphic, meaning it uses human terms to describe God, given our limited ability to fully comprehend the divine. Our hatred, tainted by our fallen human nature, almost always involves sin. God's 'hatred', on the other hand, never does.
Loyalty to King and Kingdom
There is a far more sublime point to notice from all of the above. To see it, you must imagine (for now) that you are given a choice by the King of all kings to choose your loyalties. This is where the true nature of what it means to repent is understood in its most meaningful way.
From birth, we entered into an arena of choice. Each of us made the choice to align ourselves with the passions, lusts, and desires of the flesh. We further chose (in blind ignorance, laziness, and inherited weakness) to align our loyalties with the kingdoms of lesser pagan gods, demon spirits, and all the forces of darkness, principalities, and rulers of these ages, from Adam until now.
Regardless of Testament (Old or New), each of us has been under a call to realign our loyalties. Doing so requires seeing the outcome of our former loyalty in comparison to the King of kings and Lord of all lords. We must see the form and function, irrational reasoning of the kings and kingdoms of earth—in stark contrast to—the form and function, rational reasoning of the King of Heaven.
What this yields in us is the very strong reason to desire the Kingdom of Heaven over the kingdoms of darkness; one leading to eternal life, while the other leading to eternal death. The dilemma for us is that we lack the power, capacity, and means by which to transform and heal ourselves of the damage done to us—setup for us by the choices of Adam and sealed by our own choices to join him in rebellion, which throws our loyalties into the kingdom of darkness.
This cleanup, healing, transformation, and translation from one kingdom to that of the King is impossible for us. We lack in every way needed to get the job done. There was only one Person by Whom it could be done: Jesus Christ, the unique Son of God, yet also Son of Man (once born of Mary by the Spirit of God overshadowing).
The promise was set in Eve at the fall in Genesis 3. Why? So that this promise would be available to every man by testimony, remembrance, and preaching and proclaiming. The very message was set in the stars of heaven by God's own design to preach and proclaim, where man lacked and failed. All of providential history would be the tablet upon which God inscribed this promise of redemption to humanity through His own work on our behalf. Add to all of this, the proclaiming of God's mercy through the Jews and Israel was the cherry on top: A people to carry redemptions story to the ends of the earth!
Therefore—in the OT, there was the strong message of two kingdoms and loyalties, but it was not enough. It was one half of a whole, where the second half was the promise (and promises in service to the one promise) of God, that He, Himself, would save what was impossible for man to save—either others or himself. It was upon this that Abraham looked. It is the hope Adam and Eve had. Such hope was passed through the lineage of men to Noah. And on and on it went through generations of humanity, patriarchs, matriarchs, and the people of God until Jesus came in the due time for Him to come!
What changed in the NT? Did loyalty change? No. The same fallen sons of God (Watchers and gods) and their demon kids (dead Nephilim hybrids) remained. And while their power was smashed in reality in a now, but not yet fashion, the lies continued and men continued to fall as they once did. However, there was a new hope—the revealed Savior and Messiah had come. His victory at Calvary and then in death, resurrection, and ascension was rock solid in heaven and on earth. What men could only believe as a promise yet to come in the OT had now come and was activated in the NT.
With the activation of the promise, the equation shifted into full power. What was the shift? The shift was an activated war of the Church of Jesus Christ assaulting the very gates of hell and taking that activated promise into men and women held in bondage, darkness, lies, pain, and power. The very Person of Jesus Christ was now living in the hearts, minds, and bodies of every soul formerly in chains, but now freed. In this way, loyalty could now shine in ways it was before-times incapable of expressing.
Where OT Jews were in constant spiritual danger as they brushed against the people of the kingdoms of darkness—NT Christians could boldly stride not only before the Throne of God in confidence, but they could operate fearlessly in enemy territory. Loyalty was now linked to the raw inner power of God residing in men. Moreover, each of those were transformed at the Cross by the regeneration of their spirits, which could grow in strength and maturity over time. The now, but not yet of being a loyal member of the family of the King was underway! So it is to this very day!
The Problem Today?
We have a problem today that the Church of Christ did not suffer from in the first three centuries. The informational basis for understanding loyalty and what the "other side did (and does)" was stripped away starting in the third century. Without this critical information, the useful tool of Kingdom loyalty was blunted. It wasn't totally gone, but it was blunted to the point that it lost its former power.
This age of Enlightenment and Rational Logic has further blunted this tool of understanding kings, kingdoms, and loyalties. How? By promoting "democracy" and removing the understanding of kings and kingdoms from much of the world. It has replaced it with "I-have-my-rights", voting, "my voice", and on the other side—tyrants and despots. Almost the entire understanding of kings, kingdoms, royal family members, courts, lords, ladies, and so on has been lost to where modern Christians rarely give it thought as they claim relationship (royal status) to the King of all kings and Lord of all lords!
Therefore—it is critical that we, as royal family members of the King, rediscover what it means to be who we are in Christ and the part played by not only declarations of loyalty, but demonstrations as well.
What Loyalty Means to the KING!
Loyalty to a king—especially the King of all—is not lip service and mere words spoken or written. Loyalty is measured by the King in actions taken. In this case, the King through His Cross, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension has provided His very own Self (Spirit of Christ) inwardly to empower us beyond what people in the OT were capable of: DEMONSTRATED LOYALTY.
By His power imparted to us (the Gift of the Father) in us as His Spirit is for a single purpose: To OBEY the KING! To be like the King. Literally, empowering us to love, serve, give, show compassion, self-sacrifice, and even—stand up against our former (or future) actions that were modeled after the kings (gods) of darkness and their children (royal family members) as now disembodied spirit beings we call demons. The entire thing is a package.
Let me be very clear to you: The above view of loyalty is precisely why NT scripture notes that certain words and actions will bar every human being from the Kingdom of God. The King will not allow you to pay lip-service to Him and then turn around and live in demonstrable rebellion by continuing in the sins of the Watchers! The scriptures are everywhere. They are unavoidable and flimsy attempts and scriptural gymnastics will not stand up before the Lord of lords when He finally examines our lives and loyalties.
Allow me to be even more clear to you—this disallowance of lip-service will be especially bad for those claiming to be loyal family members of King Jesus, yet they continue in the same rebellions of demonstrated actions that align with the enemies of God: Fallen Watchers and their demon royal family members! We cannot have it both ways. This was Jesus' clear message to the Laodicean church: I wish you were either hot or cold, but because you are luke-warm, I will spit you out of my mouth, declares the Lord.
There are consequences for rebellion, even cloaked rebellion. The Lord sees. Yes—there is the Cross. We can appeal to Him there. That is what confession is all about. The Lord understands our weakness, but more than that—He also understands the raw Strength of His Spirit within us to help us overcome and overcome is precisely what He calls us to.
Fear is GOOD!
Why don't you do certain things? Because you fear the consequences of them. How many of you regularly flirt with jumping off high buildings? Do you flirt with aggressive driving or do you obey the rules (loyalty) to keep your self out of danger? Why do you think we spend so much time, effort, money, and resources in our personal lives, businesses, and governments to create rules designed to avert injury and death? Because we FEAR injury and death. Therefore, fear is a good thing.
Therefore—if your theology tries to minimize the fear of disloyalty by falsely removing the consequences of disloyalty and disobedience, then your theology is a lie. This leads then to a question: If your theology either diminishes fear of disloyalty or removes it completely, then what set of kings is happy with your theology: God or gods? Jesus or fallen beings?
If your theology is telling you that fear is a lie, an illusion, and it needs to be "debunked" or otherwise done away with, minimized, and so on, then all your theology is doing is removing the necessary guard rails off a very dangerous road.
Does this mean that fear is the primary motivation? Of course not! To believe that is to be childish and ignorant of scripture and the story God is telling. Of course the Lord wants you focused on the family—His royal family and the benefits of being empowered by His Spirit in you to operate as a Royal Family Member of His own. However, removing the guard rails as though they are bad will cause you more pain. I hope, dear reader, that you can see this reality and fact.
The Good News of the NT kept the guards of loyalty. It kept the story of the fallen sons of God and dead Nephilim for a reason. What reason? They are lines on the road and their judgment and condemnation put up the guard rails to warn human beings when they were crossing into dangerous territory. Removing those lines and guards only serves to remove what will keep you safe and sound in the Royal Family of Jesus, the King of kings. Do not despise the chastisement of the Father!