Are we as Christians supposed to hate sin on the same level as God? How can we hate the sin but love the sinner?
As believers, we should strive to love those things the Lord loves, and to hate those things the Lord hates. We are able to do that when Christ is our focus. We read in 1 Corinthians 2:16, “For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? BUT WE HAVE THE MIND OF CHRIST.”
Not only do we have the mind of Christ, we have the love of God as Romans 5:5 tells us, “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” With this mind and this love, we are able to appropriately hate sin, yet love the sinner.
It is love for the sinner that will compel us to speak to them about their sins, the consequences of their sins, and their need of salvation. When we exhibit the love of God, it will be a caring and concerned love. It is written of the Lord Jesus in John 1:14, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of GRACE AND TRUTH.” So, we should exhibit GRACE AND TRUTH in our dealings with others. Grace and truth are inseparable partners and to divide them is to destroy them. Grace without truth deceives people and ceases to be grace. Truth without grace crushes people and ceases to be truth. We should always be careful to SPEAK THE TRUTH IN LOVE as we read in Ephesians 4:15.
Before closing let me emphasize that before we concern ourselves with the sin in others, we must first be concerned about the sin in our own lives…sins that we despise to see in others, yet tolerate it in our own lives. Self-examination in the light of God’s Word will cause us to condemn and confess our own sins so that we might rightfully and lovingly address the sin in others. We should seek the Lord’s guidance in our self-examination, asking Him to reveal our hearts to ourselves. King David wrote in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” May we be humbled by the thought of the sins in our own lives and ask the Lord to reveal to us “any wicked way” that we may be tolerating and then to “lead me in the way everlasting.”
Matthew 7:3-5, “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and THEN SHALT THOU SEE CLEARLY TO CAST OUT THE MOTE OUT OF THY BROTHER’S EYE.” (242.3)