1. Often I see this kind of idea:
“If you hate anyone because of your faith, you’re doing it wrong.”
I always recoil. It’s a poor statement of what Christianity is about, and it suggests an important error.
Did God ever say he doesn’t hate anyone? Did Jesus?
Jesus did indeed say “love your enemy.” But what for? In what way? And is that kind of love in that passage a kind which would exclude the possibility of also hating one’s enemy?
Have you ever put much thought into the fact that God himself has said the following?
Psalm 5:5, “The boastful shall not stand before Thine eyes; Thou dost hate all who do iniquity,”
Psalm 11:5, “The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, and the one who loves violence His soul hates.”
Lev. 20:23, “Moreover, you shall not follow the customs of the nation which I shall drive out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I have abhorred them.”
Prov. 6:16-19, “There are six things which the Lord hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: 17 Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, 19 A false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers.”
Hosea 9:15, “All their evil is at Gilgal; indeed, I came to hate them there! Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of My house! I will love them no more; All their princes are rebels.”
More here: https://carm.org/does-god-hate-anyone
Does your worldview have room for the above kinds of reactions of God, or for the kinds of action we see Jesus taking in turning over tables, shouting “hypocrite!” calling Herod a fox, not actually turning the other cheek (John 18), and warning of hell constantly, as well as judgment and conquest against his enemies?
I don’t mean to imply that the answer is easy. I’m just bringing up some relevant and challenging facts about the God many of us are claiming to follow.
As an answer, I suggest that love has more than one meaning (an act of kindness vs a positive evaluation). One kind of love is commanded; the other is not. That would explain why we are to be kind to our enemies (to change them) and yet at the same time we are to be wise as serpents.
The real question we Christians need to ask is whether there is hell and judgment and whether there is salvation apart from repentance and following Jesus. Once we return to what the Bible says about this question, it becomes a lot more clear how we should feel about those who are perishing and causing others to perish.
2. How Should We Understand “Burning Coals” in Romans 12:19-21
I see a few possibilities:
1. That your enemy will literally and physically suffer because of your good deeds.
2. That he will suffer terrible humiliation (metaphorically referred to as burning coals).
3. That the coals refer to a purifying change in character which burns away the impure and leaves the person with a new character.
Commentaries don’t usually give sufficient attention to the possibility that the statement may have been just as ambiguous to its original audience as it is to the modern reader. They tend to say either “It is X,” or “We are not sure what it means and here are some possibilities.” But they really ought to point out that the statement could have been intentionally open-ended. You have to think carefully before assuming you know what Paul meant. Perhaps he meant all three of the above possibilities, depending on the situation.
Whichever the case may be, I’m eager to pray for my enemies. I want them to be destroyed or changed. Yes, I said that. This is true as a matter of definition, if they are indeed my enemy—for to love oneself *is* to desire the destruction of one’s enemies.
“But doesn’t Jesus tell us to love our enemies?” some will ask.
Yes Jesus does, many times. Perhaps we have been too quick to assume that love and hate are opposites and that they are mutually exclusive. There is a sense of the word “love” by which we are to love our enemies: the sense of chosen action. But I doubt Jesus, the one who referred to Herod as a “fox” (a heavy insult in that culture) was commanding us to *feel* positively about our enemies.
Is it appropriate to call people “hypocrites” and a “brood of vipers”? WWJD…
Many Christians have a fundamental misunderstanding of love and hate from the point of view of Scripture. If a Christian finds the following verses difficult to understand, he or she needs to take some time to think more about the character of God and the concepts of love and hate:
1 Corinthians 15:24-25
Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
Psalm 11:5
The LORD tests the righteous,
but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
Psalm 5:5-6
The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;
you hate all evildoers.
You destroy those who speak lies;
the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
Hosea 9:15
Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal;
there I began to hate them.
Because of the wickedness of their deeds
I will drive them out of my house.
I will love them no more;
all their princes are rebels.
Proverbs 6:16-19
There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that make haste to run to evil,
a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers.
Psalm 7:11
God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.
Psalm 34:16
The face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
Proverbs 8:13
The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil.
Pride and arrogance and the way of evil
and perverted speech I hate.
Leviticus 26:30
And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols; and My soul shall abhor you.
Matthew 25:31-35
When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in. Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
Another piece of the puzzle: can it ever be “good” to harm one’s enemies? For example, when Jesus stands on the heads of those he conquers, will this be “good”? If so, then we have a broader concept of what is good and pleasing to God. What is good for God and his people is not good for God’s enemies. This means we cannot necessarily rule out the possibility that the right thing to do is to harm an enemy.
Could it be as simple as this: as Christians when we do good deeds toward evil people it actually harms them, and this is what God wants? It would be similar to the way several prophets (especially Jeremiah) were sent to preach to those who would not listen, as a sign against them and a way to increase their condemnation. God knew they wouldn’t repent, but that wasn’t God’s plan. For Christians this principle is still in effect in some cases and not in others. I think shame, destruction, purification, and help are all potential outcomes when we do good toward evil people.