Hate Sin: Rejected by People but Loved by God

When we hear the word hate, the first thing that usually comes to mind is something negative. Hating others (Imamat 19:17), the truth of the word (Yohanes 17:14), or discipline (Amsal 15:10) is indeed a bad thing, and even harmful to ourselves.

On the other hand, there is a positive kind of hate, namely when we direct it toward sin.

“The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride, arrogance, evil conduct, and a deceitful mouth.” – Proverbs 8:13

Let us learn from two Bible figures, Joseph and Phinehas, how to make hatred of sin a trigger for living righteously.

1. Joseph - Courageous to Refuse Temptation Even if Hated (Kejadian 39:1-23)

Joseph, Jacob’s eleventh son, was said to be handsome and to have a pleasant manner. The Lord was with him so that he always succeeded in his work and pleased his master. It is no wonder that Potiphar’s wife was attracted to Joseph. Again and again the woman urged him to lie with her, but he always refused.

To the world, this may seem like a foolish reaction. Refusing to be given pleasure, even though no one would know. After all, as the captain of the king’s guard, Potiphar often went with Pharaoh on various visits, both inside and outside Egypt. Yet Joseph realized that God is all-knowing, and that sin, no matter how pleasurable it may be, will lead him to death (Yakobus 1:15). Then the woman grabbed Joseph’s garment and said, "Come lie with me." But Joseph left his garment in the woman’s hand and ran outside. – Genesis 39:12

The first lesson from Joseph: leave a person or a thing that pushes us to sin.

No matter how attractive the temptation is, we can firmly refuse it if we hate sin. Often we actually know what the temptation looks like, yet we still fall again and again. This is because we love and do not want to leave that sin behind.

The second lesson: keep doing your best according to God’s will, even if you have to suffer.

Because of Potiphar’s wife’s slander, Joseph was thrown into prison. Yet he did not complain to God, “Why am I in prison when I refused to commit adultery?” He also did not blame Potiphar, who immediately declared him guilty without investigating first. What Joseph did was remain submissive to God.

“If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” – John 15:19

Hating sin may make us hated by people, but that is far more valuable than being hated by God in order to be loved by people.

Then, did the rest of Joseph’s story, after choosing obedience, end well?

Yes, God blessed his life’s path in an extraordinary way: from being a prisoner, Joseph became Pharaoh’s trusted man (Kejadian 41:43).

2. Palus - Rebuking Peter for acting hypocritically (Galatians 2:11-14)

Speaking of reputation, Peter was the leader of the apostles and was highly respected among the early church. Yet when facing social pressure, Peter too fell into sin. He acted hypocritically by not wanting to be seen eating with brothers who were uncircumcised. Seeing Peter’s action, which was then followed by the other Jewish believers, Paul boldly spoke up.

But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all: "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force uncircumcised brothers to live like Jews?" (Galatians 2:14).

When we sincerely love someone, we will surely want the best for that person and not want them to come to harm. When we see our brother or sister sinning, we do not hesitate to rebuke them so that they may come to their senses and repent. Keeping silent on the pretext that it feels awkward, being afraid the person will be offended, or being afraid of embarrassing them is actually not a loving action.

Paul loved Peter. Paul opposed Peter not to shame him, but to awaken him. When we rebuke a brother or sister who sins, that person may be annoyed at first. Yet they will see that you do it out of love.

Did Peter then hate Paul? No. 2 Peter 3:15 says: Regard the patience of our Lord as an opportunity for you to be saved, just as Paul, our beloved brother, has written to you according to the wisdom given to him. Peter called Paul his beloved brother, because he appreciated Paul, who always loved him.

If right now we have many enemies, our efforts are being made difficult, we are slandered, mocked, tripped up, rejected by many people because we refuse to sin, we are not alone. Joseph experienced it, Jesus experienced it. We ought to be glad to be hated and rejected by people who love to sin, because that is a sign that our lives are straight and in line with God’s word.

If someone rebukes us when we fall into sin, give thanks. Say thank you and love that person, because they love you. If you know or see someone falling into sin, love that person by rebuking them and helping them repent of their sin. Hate the sin, but keep loving the person, so that we are able to do various acts of love for that person.

“Know that whoever turns a sinner back from the error of his way will save that person’s soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.” – James 5:20

The temptation to sin will always be there, but we can fight it by first hating sin. Blessed are we when we are rejected by the world, because it is a sign that we are living uprightly and storing up spiritual blessings in heaven (Lukas 6:22-23). Amen.