📖 Biblical Definition
Hate in Scripture operates on multiple levels. God hates sin — He hates the hands that shed innocent blood, the heart that devises wicked plans, the feet that run to evil. This is not emotional rage but righteous opposition to all that violates His holiness. Christ commands His followers to "hate" father and mother, wife and children, for His sake — this is not emotional hatred but the absolute prioritizing of allegiance to Christ above every other relationship. The Hebrew concept of hate often means "to love less" or "to not choose" — as in "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." Biblical hate is directional and moral: it is the proper response of a holy God to wickedness, and the proper posture of a disciple who subordinates every earthly loyalty to the lordship of Christ.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
To dislike greatly; to have a great aversion to; the opposite of love.
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HATE, v.t. [Sax. hatian.] 1. To dislike greatly; to have a great aversion to. It expresses less than abhor, detest, and abominate. 2. In Scripture, it sometimes denotes to love less. Webster recognized the scriptural nuance — that "hate" in biblical usage often indicates comparative preference rather than emotional hostility.
📖 Key Scripture
• Proverbs 6:16-19 — "There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him."
• Luke 14:26 — "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children... he cannot be my disciple."
• Romans 9:13 — "As it is written, 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.'"
• Psalm 97:10 — "O you who love the LORD, hate evil!"
• Amos 5:15 — "Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Hate has been weaponized as a political label to silence moral conviction and biblical truth-telling.
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Modern culture has redefined hate to mean any moral disapproval of behavior that the culture has decided to celebrate. To call sin what it is — sin — is now labeled "hate speech." This linguistic manipulation makes it impossible to exercise biblical discernment without being accused of hatred. Yet Scripture commands believers to hate evil. God Himself hates sin. To refuse to call evil by its name is not love — it is cowardice dressed as compassion. The modern equation of moral conviction with hatred inverts the biblical framework entirely: true love tells the truth even when it is costly, while false love affirms people in their destruction and calls it kindness.
Usage
• "Scripture commands us to hate evil — and a generation that refuses to hate what God hates has no right to claim it loves what God loves."
• "When Christ said to hate father and mother for His sake, He demanded an allegiance so absolute that every other loyalty is secondary."