We have all often been told to: "Hate the sin, but love the sinner." But on Sunday (listen here) I told you to hate both - the sin and those parts of the sinner that produced it. Why?
It's very simple: you don't find the command "Hate the sin, but love the sinner" in the Bible. It isn't a hard-to-find Proverb or an instruction tucked away at the end of one of Paul's letters. It just isn't there. Anywhere.
You will, of course, find verses that tell of God's love for the whole world - saints and sinners (John 3:16) and a consistent call to love our neighbours as ourselves - good and bad (Matthew 22:39). God loves sinners. He sent his Son to die for them (for us). We are to love those he loves because he has so graciously loved us. There is some Biblical thinking behind this saying - which has, no doubt, helped give it traction.
But, crucially, it separates something Jesus never separates - what people do from who they are. Jesus makes it very clear that our sin springs from who we are. He makes this point starkly in Mark 7:20-23. So my pride is not something that can be handily separated from me in Jesus' eyes - no it springs from the desires of my heart. So if you hate my pride (which you should) you need to hate part of me too - my proud heart. God does (Proverbs 6:16-19). And we are to hate those things he hates (Romans 12:9). You need to hate both the sinful actions that spring from my pride and where that pride springs from - my heart!
But where should that hatred of my proud heart lead you? Not to hate me in my entirety (I hope!). But to hate my pride and so do anything you can to help me see it and treat it. To pray that God will rid me of it. You see part of his true love for me is to truly hate anything that is bad for me - including my pride. If you truly love me you will truly hate that part of me too. So please hate both my sin and the parts of me that cause it.
The blog of the Emmanuel Bristol churches
