YouVersion

When it comes to hate in the Bible, a lot of people have a hard time discerning what it means. They feel surely that God does not hate, even though we have two passages in Scripture that clearly say he does (here in Romans 9:13 and also in Malachi 1:3). We're also troubled by Jesus' words in Luke 14:26 that we are to hate mother, father, sister and brother to be a disciple of Him. So what does it mean to hate?

The common explanation comes from the likes of Bible commentators such as Matthew Henry who says, "he must comparatively hate them, must love them less than Christ, as Leah is said to be hated when Rachel was better loved. Not that their persons must be in any degree hated, but our comfort and satisfaction in them must be lost and swallowed up in our love to Christ, as Levi’s was, when he said to his father, I have not seen him. (Deut. 33:9)" This is a great explanation pulled from scripture, but the comparative is added to help us make sense of things.

The Jacob/Esau comparison is a comparison, but the "hate" there is an "opposition to." God opposed Esau, and blessed Jacob.

Interestingly, Esau was a successful person, as we see that he had many servants. Which shows what Jesus said that God causes rain to fall on the righteous and wicked. So this opposition/hate by God toward Esau could be seen as God hating Esau's wickedness, and blessing Jacob's righteousness.

But Jacob was in no way more righteous than Esau when he was blessed, or chosen, when he was born ("the older will serve the younger"). He was a deceptive young man, and even deceived his uncle later in life by interbreeding their sheep.

Paul's application of the Jacob/Esau divide was in explaining election. Clearly Jacob was elected before his birth, and Esau was despised. And this election was for the blessing of the Lord and of the lineage of the Messiah. Our election is to eternal life.

So from this we see that Esau is the image of the unbeliever and Jacob is the image of the believer. God's hatred is thus towards the unregenerate, and the elect are chosen to be saved through the washing by blood and renewing of mind by the power of the Spirit.

We too were hated by God, but he loved us so much he saved is. Paradoxical.

So what do we learn from all of this in relation to Luke 14:26 and onward? We are to follow Jesus and his commands while entirely disregarding the demands and commands of all others as they conflict with the Word of the Lord. As God both hated us and loved us, we are to hate and love the world. We are sojourners here. We are not of this world, and our work here should be the work of one from another world reaching into this one to show love and mercy to the enemies of God.

Because our language is so limiting, this hate is not spite, evil thoughts or anger towards anyone, it is then correctly placed, as Matthew Henry and so many others say, in a comparative view. This is a simplistic way on answer, but when you discover what it truly means, it's political, it's social, it's spiritual. It alters the way in which one lives.