Hate the Sin

The other half of "Hate the sin, love the sinner" is to "Hate the sin." Hate is a strong word, and I try not to use it often. I don't think I would have the heart to tell someone I hate their behavior, but perhaps that's not what that phrase really means. Perhaps "hating the sin" doesn't mean hating the behavior of those who sin, but rather hating the sin itself and the effects it has on people, including the sinner.

Sin has many negative effects. It breaks hearts, it damns the sinner, it causes Jesus intense pain, and it spreads like a disease from one victim to another. As a sidenote, I like that phrasing. Sinners aren't just vile evil-doers. They are, in many ways, victims of sin, including their own sins. Sin does terrible things to people, including both the people who commit sin and everyone in their sphere of influence. There are many good reasons to condemn and reject sin and to attempt to stamp it out. But should we really "hate" it?

Some definitions of hate refer to hostility and animosity. Hostility and animosity refer to each other, antagonism, and enmity, which, by some definitions, refers back to hatred. Underlying all of these definitions, there is a general sense of opposition, and we certainly have that. We should oppose sin as strongly and as often as we can. But does that mean that we hate it? I may be something of an idealist, but I don't like even the idea of hatred, and I believe that we can oppose things, including people and ideas, without having to hate them.

I suppose that my revulsion to "hatred" as opposed to more general "opposition" stems from my revulsion to the emotions that generally fuels hatred. When we hate something, is usually means that it makes us angry, and anger is one of the seven deadly sins. We should avoid getting angry, if we can. Is it possible to hate something without getting angry? If so, it may be that my only problem with "hating" sin comes from my own personal definition of hatred.

I have no problem with opposing sin or being antagonistic or even hostile to sin. I would love to eradicate sin and I try to make some effort to do so, at least in my own life. If, according to the dictionary definitions of those terms, that means I hate sin, then so be it. Maybe hatred doesn't have to mean what I think it means. Maybe not all forms of hatred are evil. Maybe we can "hate sin" by opposing it without falling victim to the sin of getting angry at it. Hating sin might be as delicate a balance as it is to hate a sin while loving the sinner. This is all very tricky, but perhaps I'm making it trickier than it needs to be. I know that it's good to oppose sin. If that's what it really means to "hate the sin," then I don't really have a problem with "hating" sin.