Love, God, Hate, Sin

There are some people in the Church who think that personal holiness and social justice are some how independent from each other. They think that the practice of personal holiness in accordance with sound, biblical teaching has nothing to do with loving God and each other. But if we, the Church, have sin and falsehood within ourselves, and we encourage it in others, then all the worldly aid that we offer to those in need is 100% worthless! Because while feeding hungry stomachs, we leave souls to die in the gutter that is sin.

There are some who actually think it is wrong to even speak against sin. They get upset if you so much as recognize sin as sin. But the truth is that one must hate sin in order to love God. Don't hate the sinner; all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But definitely do hate the sin. Christ's purpose in coming was to take away our sin; to lead us to repentance - reconciliation with God. If you love God and people, then you will long for yourself and others to be freed, by Jesus Christ, from sin. 

It is an inescapable reality: everyone must love, and hate. If one loves God, the same will hate sin. If one loves sin, the same will hate God. Whoever loves God, hates sin. And whoever loves sin, hates God. God and sin are diametrically opposed to each other so that no one can simultaneously embrace both. To love the one is to hate the other.

As Jesus taught, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other" (Matthew 6:24). No one can love God and sin, both at the same time. "For the LORD is righteous, He loves righteousness" (Psalm 11:7). "You who love the LORD, hate evil!" (Psalm 97:10). And what does the Holy Spirit say about the man named Job? That he revered God and shunned evil (Job 1:1). He despised sin. He hated it; because he was loyal to God who "is righteous, and loves righteousness". To love sin is vile, wicked, shameful, and disgusting. To love God is to love what is good and right and pure and holy. And that necessarily amounts to hating sin. 

Through Christ, the universe was made (John 1:1-3, Hebrews 1:1-2). Everything, life and all blessings and strength and beauty and love come from God (John 1:4-5, James 1:17). He is the eternal First Cause and Owner of the universe. And He is the Absolute Decider (Standard) of what is good. On the cross, He made the highest sacrifice to free us from our sin. 

Jesus did what He did at the cross because He loves people. He hates sin because it separates people from Him, the Originator of life, light, love, and everything that is good. He is very patient with humanity, allowing us to live when He would have been justified in pouring out His final judgement on the world centuries ago. Jesus said that our heavenly Father made and allows His sun to shine "on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust" because He is love, and He is patient. But eventually He must judge sin because He is righteous, and He loves righteousness. Sin has to be judged.

So Jesus gave His life on the cross to pay for your sin, and mine. None of us is without sin. But we can not be saved unless we confess - admit that we are sinners; that our sin is sin. We must do this in order to rightly trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sin. No one will enter the kingdom of God until they have their sin taken away from them. And no one will have their sin taken away from them until they admit that they have sinned against God, and are alienated from Him by their sin; and are willing to be reconciled to God by His Son Jesus Christ. "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5). He is the Lamb of God who takes away our sin (John 1:29).

So yes, Jesus is about love, forgiveness, and compassion. But He is equally about repentance on our part and reconciling us to our immaculately holy, righteous God (Matthew 4:17, 2 Corinthians 5:18-21). And that means identifying - recognizing the sin that is in ourselves; and putting that sin to death (Romans 6:1-14, Colossians 3:1-10). Jesus had compassion on the adulteress. But He told her to leave her life of sin behind. She would have to in order to follow Him. In order to turn to God, one has to turn away from sin (John 8:1-12, James 4:7-8). 

I admit I am not perfect. But I love Jesus Christ enough to want to love Him more. And in order for me to love God more, I necessarily must learn to hate the sin within myself more. In order to love God with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my mind; I must hate sin with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my mind. And I must strive, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to rid myself of sin, and urge others, for the love of Christ, to do the same. "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). And if anyone has Christian love for me, they will not encourage me to harm my own soul with any kind of sin. 

Arbitrary Or Absolute?

Apart from faith in the Creator/Owner of the universe, there is no rational basis for moral/spiritual laws. Some atheists claim that the survival of the species is the rational basis for morality. But on what rational ground is the survival of "rearranged pond-scum" (assuming that is what the species is) so important? Still, some atheists object, and say that in the Christian worldview God just arbitrarily decides and tells us what is good. But is God's standard really arbitrary? Or is it absolute?

Well for one thing, a person has only two options. One can either submit to God's standard of what is good; or go by another. So how can one say that God's standard is arbitrary, and their's is not? But since God is the Creator and Owner of the universe, He is the Absolute Standard/Decider of what is good. And there is a difference between arbitrary rules on the one hand, and the Absolute Standard on the other. 

John the apostle, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, informs us that God is love (1 John 4:8). The triune God is the eternal First Cause or Source of love. And by "love" I mean more than some fluttery and elusive emotion. Jesus described His love in this way: "I have come that they (who trust in Me) may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). As the Scriptures also say, "All things were made through Him (Jesus), and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men" (John 1:3-4). 

God who is love is characterized by light and life. He is the eternal First Cause of life. Jesus called Himself the life (John 14:6). He is love. And His love generates and creates life. Jesus also called Himself the light of the world, and said that whoever trusts in Him, whoever follows Him, will not walk in darkness. (John 8:12). Light is often used in the Scriptures to symbolize truth, wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. Darkness represents the absence of those things. 

Biblically, the verb "to love" means to have a conscious (and that means personal) determination for the good of another person. God has always existed from eternity past as three distinct Persons; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He has always been love, life, and light; infinite in wisdom, purity, and blessedness. Love has always existed from eternity past in the Persons of the Trinity. 

As C.S. Lewis wrote, "the living, dynamic activity of love has been going on in God forever and has created everything else" (Mere Christianity; book four, chapter four, paragraph five). And so God who is love created the universe. He owns the universe. From the astronomical to the microscopic; all matter, all space, all time belongs to God who is love. 

And He created humanity in His own image (Genesis 1:26-27) for the purpose of love. Jesus Christ taught us that the first and greatest commandment is to love God with all your being. And He said that the second is like it: "Love your neighbor as yourself". Jesus said that these two commandments summarize all the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 22:37-40). Every one of God's commandments stem from His righteous love. 

Nothing that He commands is arbitrary. Every word that He speaks is purposeful. Every judgement that He pronounces; every action that He takes is for a reason. The Ten Commandments, (Exodus 20:1-17) the Sermon on the Mount, (Matthew 5-7) the Last Supper Discourse, (John 13-17) every word that our holy God speaks, and everything that He does, flows forth from His righteous love. 

In the Scriptures we learn about the fruits of the Spirit as opposed to the fruits of the flesh Galatians (5:16-26). The fruits of the flesh are counter to the love of God. And the fruits of the Spirit are in harmony with the love of God. These are not arbitrary rules that God "made up" to afflict our souls. The commands of God emanate from His love for us. His desire for us is love; and that means life, light, joy, peace, and everything that is good.

However, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Sin is diametrically opposed to everything that God is. It alienates us from the light and life of our Heavenly Father. It separates us from God who is love. God does not want us to be estranged from Him. He wants us to have everlasting life, light, and love. He wants us to abide forever in His blessings of joy, and peace. 

That is why God the Son took on human form and received unto Himself the wages of our sin. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23). Everyone who trusts in Jesus Christ is reconciled to God. We are saved from the coming judgment. "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5).

Do Christians Peddle Sin?

Sometimes Christians are accused of "peddling sin" because we believe that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). However, calling a thing what it is is not the same as making a thing what it is. Christians do not peddle sin. We do not make people into sinners. Sin is simply the reality of fallen human nature. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8).

When Adam and Eve committed that first simple act of disobedience, it resulted in the corruption of human nature. Sin became the human condition. It is a regressive condition, and the cause of death - both spiritual and physical (Genesis 2:16-17, Romans 5:12). It may seem a small matter. Especially when one considers a relatively "good" person. But it is not a small matter. Our nature now tends toward disobedience against our Creator; crimes against Divinity. People often try to defend their particular sin by saying they where just born that way. What they do not realize is that we are all "born this way" (i.e. as sinners).

This is why humans deny their Creator. This is why even the best societies tend to regress and fall apart over time. This is why every attempt to forge a Utopian society fails, which is one thing about which Nathaniel Hawthorne and others of his philosophy were right. Spiritual and moral regression is in our nature. And a man is never more wicked than when he thinks he can be good without God. As long as humanity is not at peace with God, humanity is not at peace. Every individual is called by the gospel of Christ to be reconciled to God. Only when we turn to God and receive the forgiveness that He offers through Christ can we be saved. (Romans 7:13-25, John 14:6, Acts 4:12, 1 John 1:9) "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 2:5).

So Christians actually do quite the opposite of peddling sin. We proclaim reconciliation with God. "Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God" (2 Corinthians 5:20). This reconciliation, then, can only be accomplished by admitting that reconciliation is needed. As long as we deny that there is a problem, we remain in sin and are calling God a liar. (1 John 1:10). Through His Son Jesus, God is standing in the doorway of every human life saying "Let's talk about our relationship. If you are willing, I can make you clean so that I don't have to condemn you for your sin." (Isaiah 1:18 paraphrase).