Perfect Hatred

Hosts

Woe

aka Eschatologuy

As Christians, we are required to affirm the whole counsel of God — and that particularly includes those parts that the modern world would prefer to ignore, or even to condemn. We are told that love is a matter of permissiveness and that Christians must not — cannot — hate. But is that what Scripture says about the matter?

The numbers certainly tell a different story. For Scripture certainly speaks of love:

  • αγαπη (‘love’) — 115, NT; 15, LXX
  • αγαπαω (‘to love’) — 143, NT; 213, LXX
  • αγαπησις (‘loving’) — 0, NT; 8, LXX
  • αγαπητος (‘beloved’) — 61, NT; 17, LXX

but it just as certainly speaks of hate:

  • μισεω (‘to hate’) — 40, NT; 143, LXX
  • μισος (‘hate’) — 0, NT; 11, LXX
  • μισητος (‘hateful, hated’) — 0, NT; 4 LXX
  • εχθρα (‘enmity’) — 6, NT; 15, LXX
  • εχθρος (‘hostile’) — 32, NT; 320, LXX

We dare not attempt to be more righteous than God, and we dare not call anything God does or commands wicked. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” If God says to hate, then it is our duty to understand what we must hate, and (if possible) why.

He, who does not hate, does not love.

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4 Replies to “Perfect Hatred”

  1. From 01:11:53 – 01:12:00, you note that “[some Lutherans] have already ceased to be Lutheran because of what Jordan Cooper said online.”

    What are the statements from Cooper that “sounded reformed” and are “crap?” What was so objectionable that it would drive people to leave the church?

    Reply

    1. By his own admission, he has sent men across the Tiber and the Bosphorus.

      Reply

  2. Pseudonymous Pseudonym Wed 26 Jun 2024 at 10:05 EDT

    The New International Version translates Psalm 139:22 as, ‘I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.’ Am I correct in understanding that this is not only a poor translation, but a false one?

    Reply

    1. That seems in line both with the ESV and the LXX (Swete):

      I hate them with complete hatred;
      I count them my enemies.

      τέλειον μῖσος ἐμίσουν αὐτούς,
      εἰς ἐχθροὺς ἐγένοντό μοι.

      Literally translated:

      With perfect hatred I hated them;
      they became enemies to me.

      Reply

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