Day 36

Of God and of the Holy Trinity

Chapter 2, Paragraph 1.

“…hating all sin,…”

Scripture Lookup

Psalm 5:5,6.

Reflection

One summer, several years ago, the church my family attended held a Vacation Bible School. Along with other songs about God, the children sang a rendition of Proverbs 6:16-19:

There are six things – even seven, that the Lord hates – things He cannot stand!
Proud looking eyes
A lying tongue
Hands that shed innocent blood
A heart that thinks of wicked things to do
And feet that run to evil, too
Anyone who loves to lie about others
And the one who causes trouble with his brothers  -Judy Rogers, “Seven Awful Things”

Our neighbor, a nominal Roman Catholic, often let her children come and be part of each year’s VBS. When she picked up her kids after this presentation, she pulled me aside. “I have to tell you, I really don’t like that song. God doesn’t hate anybody!”

“God doesn’t hate anybody.” In today’s society, to suggest that God hates anything, much less anyone, is considered dangerous. Tolerance and open-mindedness towards nearly any type of thought and action is promoted, and conventional wisdom states God is loving and only condemns those really bad people like Hitler. However, His Word says otherwise. Psalm 5 states, “You hate all who do iniquity.” What are we to make of this?

What does it mean for God to hate sin? It means that God abhors it, since it is absolutely contrary to His nature and His will. God is holy. As such, He cannot be in the presence of sin. He hates it. That hatred is just, because God is most just. God is infinite. His hatred towards sin is infinite. It never stops or relents. God is impartial toward sin: each and every transgression is despised.

If he did not hate [sin], he would hate himself: for since righteousness is his image, and sin would deface his image; if he did not love his image, and loathe what is against his image, he would loathe himself, he would be an enemy to his own nature. – Stephen Charnock

As Christians, we know that God is “abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin”, as the Confession states. We should delight in that! Yet let’s not downplay how horrid and detestable sin is, and urgently press the need for sinners to be reconciled to Him.

Question to Consider

• Do you ever find yourself downplaying God’s hatred toward sin?