Articles
Can a Loving God Hate?
When we talk about God’s perfection, and the great love that He has for His people (Ephesians 2:4 ;I John 4:7-8), we can sometimes limit the reality of who God is, and the spectrum of His attitudes and responses to human behavior. However, we fail to see that because He is the perfection of love and demands that people love Him and one another (Matthew 22:36-40), that means that He must necessarily hate what goes against that requirement. That is, He cannot be a perfectly loving God without hating the things that work against love.
God hates idolatry. This is perhaps the easiest to understand of the thing that God Himself says that He hates. When Israel came into the land, God warned the people in the law not to be involved in idol worship, nor “set up for yourself a [sacred] pillar which YHWH your God hates.” (Deuteronomy 16:21-22) This was not just an expression of petty jealousy on God’s part, but a warning not to follow the pagan nations into their immoral occult practices that involved every kind of gross conduct, even child sacrifice (Deuteronomy 12:29-31). It was these actions in particular that the prophets warned Israel to cease when warning about the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, but the people ignored them to their doom (Jeremiah 44:2-10).
God hates false worship to Him. The kind of justice and righteousness that God demands precludes hypocritical worship to Him done out of rote tradition. Because of the evil behavior of Israel, God told them to stop coming to Him in worship until they were ready to be contrite. “I hate your new moon [festivals] and your appointed feasts / They have become a burden to Me / I am weary of bearing [them.]” (Isaiah 1:11-15) The very acts of worship that He had ordained were an affront to Him because they were not done with sincerity and righteous hearts. (Amos 5:21-24) Bringing to Him worship when our actions are guilty necessarily taints our religious actions, and He hates it. (Isaiah 61:4-9)
God hates wicked and unjust behavior. He speaks often about His hatred for pride and injustice, and the wicked actions that follow. In promising restoration, God describes the behavior He sought from His people. “‘These are the things which you should do: speak the truth to one another; judge with truth and judgment for peace in your gates. Also let none of you devise evil in your heart against another, and do not love perjury; for all these are what I hate,’ declares YHWH.” (Zechariah 8:14-17) God’s testing and justice will find out all those who engage in violence (Psalm 11:4-7) which, ultimately, begins with a heart of arrogant pride (Proverbs 6:16-19). This is the same hardened attitude that leads to divorce (Malachi 2:13-16), which is associated with violence and injustice.
Since we are tasked with knowing what God’s will is for us (Ephesians 5:17), it behooves us to take to heart the things which God says He hates, and be careful to not let them gain a foothold in our lives.
