Does God Hate?

Many people seem to have the impression that hatred of any kind is wicked and unjustifiable, with Christians appealing to how God's nature of love (1 John 4:8) allegedly contradicts the notion that he could ever hate anyone.  But popularity does not guarantee veracity--and may often signal its absence.  Is the position that the Christian God does not hate true?  Any informed Christian will concede that God's nature sometimes possesses more complexity than we may initially (or currently) imagine, so the answer to this question requires far more than a cursory examination of the Bible or the recitation of popular church teachings.  After all, it is never enough to merely accept what others claim about God anyway (Acts 17:11 shows us an example of the opposite occurring), and careful examination is made even more necessary by the way some people do not hesitate to conceal inconvenient truths or to hide from knowledge for fear that the truth may contradict their desires.

In truth, the Bible directly states in multiple places that God hates certain types of people, especially the violent and the perverse.  Years ago, as I began more thoroughly reading and contemplating the Bible, I found some of these verses and wondered why more people aren't aware of them.  In all honesty, you will likely never hear about these verses from the pastors or congregations of most churches.  Many American Christians would probably prefer the nonexistence of these passages to the sometimes difficult prospect of acknowledging that the Bible teaches something they subjectively dislike.

But why do some people universally object to hatred?  People sometimes credit hatred with motivating crime and evil, blaming it for the most malicious and destructive of human acts.  However, it seems people confuse hatred and malice by using the terms interchangeably.  Hatred can be distinguished from malice, with the former meaning a great dislike and the latter meaning the desire to inflict harm on someone.  Defined as such, hatred does not intrinsically equate to malice at all.  So, with the definitions set, where does the Bible say that God hates anyone?


Leviticus 20:23--"You must not live according to the customs of the nations I am going to drive out before you.  Because they did all these things, I abhorred them."

Psalm 5:5-6--"The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong.  You destroy those who tell lies; bloodthirsty and deceitful men the Lord abhors."

Psalm 11:5--"The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence his soul hates."

Proverbs 3:31-32--"Do not envy a violent man or choose any of his ways, for the Lord detests a perverse man but takes the upright into his confidence."

Proverbs 11:20--"The Lord detests men of perverse heart but he delights in those whose ways are blameless."

Hosea 9:15--"Because of their wickedness in Gilgal, I hated them there."


Above I listed only six examples of verses proving that the Bible does indeed teach that God hates some people because of their depraved actions and hearts.  Do they surprise you?  I find it intriguing that scattered throughout the Bible lay more than one reminder of this truth, and yet only rarely will a Christian ever know about them or reference them with regards to a more extensive theology of God's character.  Defying the rather simplistic expectations of some, God, while hating some, also possesses great love for the humans he fashioned to bear his image.  Verses from the Bible addressing this aspect of God's nature, not surprisingly, have enjoyed far more popularity than the ones I have already listed above.


John 3:16--"'For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.'"

Romans 5:8--"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

1 Timothy 2:3-4--"This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."

2 Peter 3:9--"He (God) is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."


Does the proposition that God hates at least certain evil people contradict the proposition that God loves everyone and wants everyone to be saved?  No.  Now, this certainly requires an explanation, which I will grant first with the presentation of a film analogy.  An example from cinema that I often use to illustrate this point is the scene from The Fellowship of the Ring where Gandalf says that Gollum hates and loves the Ring just like he hates and loves himself.  Gollum was not in contradiction because he both loves and hates the same object at the same time.  For instance, someone can both love and loathe a destructive habit all at once, loving it for whatever pleasure it may bring while hating it for its results.  This does not defy logic, as love and hatred do not represent mutually exclusive concepts, whereas it is logically impossible for someone to love something and be apathetic towards it simultaneously--to hate something while having indifference for it simultaneously.  With regards to the same things, indifference cannot exist at the same time as either love or hatred, for the presence of one towards a person, item, or concept excludes the others during the time that the other remains.  Nothing about God hating certain people contradicts his desire for everyone to become saved.  God does indeed desire the repentance and restoration of all humans, but he is not just saddened by or disgusted with people who, for instance, sadistically derive pleasure from harming or exploiting other people; he harbors deep abhorrence for them and their actions.

My 21st century American culture generally would not find verses mentioning God's hatred comforting or easy to accept.  Many non-Christians already find the exclusivity and morality of Christianity offensive and repulsive even when combined with the common preconceived notion that God loves and does not hate, and Christians can share this attitude--after all, the fact that the Bible blatantly declares that God sometimes does hate people is irreconcilable to the shallow and selective message of many popular pastors.  But I have demonstrated that God's hatred and love do not form some logical contradiction.  Generally, it appears that people either do not know that the Bible actually teaches divine hatred or they refuse to incorporate it into their Christian theology due to subjective dislike.  Thus ignorance and suppression due to dislike seem to constitute the two primary reasons that God's hatred is not more commonly known by Christians.

God hates, but he also loves--and he prefers the salvation of humans over the alternative of their destruction (2 Peter 3:9).  Consistent Christians will not try to evade passages that challenge or obliterate inherited traditions or subjective preferences and will welcome a deeper understanding of God's character.  It is dishonest to intentionally avoid these passages or to act as if they do not exist, but it is not evil to wrestle with them.  But acknowledgement of the truth need not mutate into fear.  After all, God's divine hatred does not nullify his divine love!