Understanding Scripture

Understanding Scripture  Scripture  can people who believe they are so right, be so wrong when it comes to the understanding and interpretation of scripture and the attributes they ascribe to our loving God? 

Because of the way they believe the meaning and understanding of words are the way God means and understands them to be and if God understands words the way they do in their narrow mindedness, their understanding must be correct. They become self-appointed "Doctrinal Police" armed with hate verses that they shoot from their mouth anything that does not fit their narrow mindedness in understanding scripture,

Let's take a look at the word "hate" and see why the sinner haters believe God hates sinners and makes them feel justified in their hate mentality. 

Rom 9:13, As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

According to them, it cannot be any plainer. God does not just hate the sin, but the sinner as well. Case closed, it is as plain as the nose on your face. "The Bible says it, I believe it and that settles it!" 

But is that the case? Let's take a close look at that. Let's find out whether this verse really is about God hating a sinner the way sinner haters do:

Rom 9:10-13, And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth; It was said unto her (Rebecca), The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

This scripture is not even about God hating a sinner. The Bible states, God had made a decision about Esau, and Jacob without them "having done any good or evil."

The scripture reveals clues about what God really means by "hating Esau" and it has nothing to do with the way man understands hatred, Obviously God is using "linguistic hyperbole" (extravagant exaggeration to make a point, ex...“enough food to feed a whole army” is a common example of hyperbole, meaning there was more food than enough) to illustrate His choice before either son had been born, before either had done good or evil. His choice to hate was not based on that criteria of good or evil. God made a choice, and by action, He loved Jacob (by choosing him) and hated Esau (by not choosing him). This verse has nothing to do with lustful human hatred from a heart that is "deceitfully wicked.

The theological people haters fail to understand that when they refer to God's "hate" toward Esau is the same hatred they use to judge and condemn people are guilty of spreading their ignorance and false doctrine to illustrate an emotionally hate-filled God.

Let's continue looking at the story of Esau. First, it begins with God's "love" toward Jacob and God's "hate", (not man's hate) toward Esau each manifested at the proper time:

Gen 25:29-34, the story; One day, Jacob was cooking some stew, when Esau came home hungry and said, "I'm starving to death! Give me some of that red stew right now!" That's how Esau got the name "Edom." Jacob replied, "Sell me your rights as the first-born son." "I'm about to die," Esau answered. "What good will those rights do me?" But Jacob said, "Promise me your birthrights, here and now!" And that's what Esau did. Jacob then gave Esau some bread and some of the bean stew, and when Esau had finished eating and drinking, he just got up and left, showing how little he thought of his rights as the first-born.

Now the Prophecy is fulfilled. Esau probably had no idea that he was making a choice to fulfill God's will (as did many others in Scripture and exterior to scripture). He probably just thought he was making a choice to fill his stomach. Nevertheless, he sold his birthright. Let's go back to the end of that last line. Here is how the King James Version rendered it: Gen 25:34, Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau DESPISED his birthright. Is that word "despised" to be understood as we humans understand it...as hate?

Esau hated his birthright. Or, did he? If Esau despised his birthright, he had a strange way of showing it when he went to his father. Esau said, "My brother deserves the name Jacob, because he has already cheated me twice. The first time he cheated me out of my rights as the first-born son, and now he has cheated me out of my blessing." Then Esau asked his father, "Don't you still have any blessing left for me?" (Gen 27:36)

Does that sound like a man who emotionally hated his own birthright? If Esau emotionally despised his birthright, he sure has a strange way of showing that by grieving for it and sorely wanting it. The fact is, Esau did hate his birthright...in the sense that he chose Jacob's stew over it. It had nothing to do with emotion.

Clearly, God "loved" Jacob and "hated" Esau and we just witnessed how. But, let us keep on with these two. Let's not give up on them too soon. Jacob stole Esau's rights and blessing. Then he ran far away, because Esau, in his human way, was angry with Jacob and swore to kill him. Time passed. One day though, the Lord said to Jacob: "Jacob, go back to your relatives in the land of your ancestors, and I will bless you." (Gen 31:3)

Esau, having been tipped off, amassed troops and waited to strike and kill Jacob.

But just look what happened:

Gen 33:1-12, Later that day Jacob met Esau coming with his four hundred men. So Jacob had his children walk with their mothers. The two servant women, Zilpah and Bilhah, together with their children went first, followed by Leah and her children, then by Rachel and Joseph.

Jacob himself walked in front of them all, bowing to the ground seven times as he came near his brother. But Esau ran toward Jacob and hugged and kissed him. Then the two brothers started crying. When Esau noticed the women and children he asked, "Whose children are these?" Jacob answered, "These are the ones the LORD has been kind enough to give to me, your servant."

Then the two servant women and their children came and bowed down to Esau. Next, Leah and her children came and bowed down; finally, Joseph and Rachel also came and bowed down. Esau asked Jacob, "What did you mean by these herds I met along the road?" "Master," Jacob answered, "I sent them so that you would be friendly to me."

"But, brother, I already have plenty," Esau replied. "Keep them for yourself."

"No!" Jacob said. "Please accept these gifts as a sign of your friendship for me. When you welcomed me and I saw your face, it was like seeing the face of God. Please accept these gifts I brought to you. God has been good to me, and I have everything I need." Jacob kept insisting until Esau accepted the gifts. "Let's get ready to travel," Esau said. "I'll go along with you."

According to people haters, God hated Esau. God HATED him. God had a passionate gut wrenching emotional revulsion for Esau, the way people haters believe God has for sinners, right? In fact, God hated Esau so much, He sent Jacob back to him, promising Jacob a blessing. And what a blessing Jacob received: HE BOWED TO ESAU SEVEN TIMES AND WAS REUNITED WITH HIM. Jacob's blessing was his reuniting and reestablishing his relationship with Esau. What kind of screwed up hatred (as compared to us humans) does God have, it is nothing like the hatred the people haters have!

God is nothing like you or I in the way we think. His ways are not our ways, they are higher than our ways. His thoughts are not like our thoughts, they are higher. Even His so-called "hate" is "love" compared to our weak human emotional hatred we show our enemies. Do you see how easy it is for God to melt the human heart with His "hatred?"

How absurd to think that God, who tells us to love our enemies and do good to those that despitefully use us, would Himself HATE His enemies. Such is the deception of the warped thinking of sinner haters.

God says many things in the Bible that shock the carnal mind. Make no mistake, "the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom." But if you understand "fear" in human terms or understand the things God says within your own human psychology and fail to understand that His thoughts are much higher than our thoughts and how ancient people talked you will not understand "fear" of God correctly. Some preachers go so far as to label God's anger with sinners as "Holy Hatred." If they are marrying the word "holy" with their human emotional hatred, which proceeds from a deeply flawed, dark, and desperately wicked heart, the deception they are deceived by is devilish.

The bible states, "God hates ALL who work iniquity." Now, the haters of sinners use this scripture as a poison arrow to pull from their hate quiver to shoot from their crooked bowed mouth to accuse God of hating the way they understand hate. Be very careful how you use that statement, this is where hate mongers get slippery. If a believer gets out of line and begins to declare that God loves the people of the world enough to die to save them through Christ, they will whip out that scripture and slam it on the table. Psalm 5:5 clearly and plainly states: God hates ALL who work iniquity. That leaves us in an perplexing situation regarding scripture, one that without correct contextual understanding leaves people saying God hates sinners, therefore, we as believers should hate sinners as well. Thus, the judging and condemning of people who do not believe their understanding of scripture continues. 

Paul said it very plainly: Rom 3:23, ALL HAVE SINNED, and come short of the glory of God; 

Isa 53:6: All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned EVERY ONE to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. That means you. That means me. That means "every one." That means, according to the the way sinner haters understand the Bible, God hates ALL, because ALL have been "workers of iniquity, therefore, everybody that has ever been born has been at one time or another hated by God." Are you following me so far in the absurdity of sinner haters accusing God of hating people? 

2 Corinthians 5:14, For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead. Everyone was dead in sin. However, Paul said: when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (Romans 5:6). That is quite loving, no? If people interpret God's hate as being an emotional reaction, which would AS A RESULT, preclude Him from loving too much, what is going on here? Would God send his Son to die for people He hates, or people He loves?

As a human, have you ever HATED anyone? I mean have you felt that hot poison in your stomach to where you wanted to spew the poison on the person you hate that would cause them to be in torment forever? Would you then be able to emotionally love that same person that you would kill your son for them? It's a bit hard to imagine isn't it? But, God did it. That's because God's ways are higher than our ways. Even His hatred is higher.

God hated this world of sinners, yet he loved those same sinners. From a human emotional perspective, it is a contradiction. Ancient Semitic people understood exactly how these love/hate statements were intended according to their language traditions: "the language of absoluteness to express a preference."

Regarding God's hate to Esau, Vincent's Word Studies has this to say:

The expression (hatred) is intentionally strong as an expression of moral antipathy. Compare Mat 6:24; Luk 14:26. No idea of malice is implied of course.

The Barnes Commentary on the Bible has this to say:

"Have I hated" - This does not mean any positive hatred; but that he had preferred Jacob, and had withheld from Esau those privileges and blessings which he had conferred on the posterity of Jacob.

This is explained in Mal 1:3, "And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness;” compare Jeremiah 49:17-18; Ezekiel 35:6

It was common among the Hebrews to use the terms “love” and “hatred” in this comparative sense, where the former implied strong positive attachment, and the latter, not positive hatred, but merely a less love, or the withholding of the expressions of affection;

Compare Gen_29:30-31; Pro_13:24: “He that spareth his rod hateth his son; but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes;” Mat_6:24, “No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other,” etc.; Luk_14:26, “if any man come to me, and hate not his father and mother, etc.”

So "love" and "hate" are not only linguistic exaggerations, common for Hebrews of the time, but are an expression of preference which do not necessarily imply a visceral emotional reaction. So God chose/loved Jacob, and God hated/did-not-choose Esau. 

Jesus says: "Unless you hate your mother and father, you cannot be my disciple."..."Unless you prefer me above all others in your being and in your doing, you cannot be my disciple"

Jesus says: "You cannot serve two masters, you will love one and hate the other."..."You cannot serve two masters, you will prefer one over the other."

In fact, we often see people serving two masters and emotionally loving both. If an alcoholic stops drinking, to save his family from the destructive results of his problem, he is hating alcohol and loving his family. According to the Semitic tradition of hyperbole, this is true, but emotionally, the man still loves the alcohol, and fights cravings every day.

2 John 1:5-7, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. And this...is...love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

Love does not concern the human emotion first. Love is a walk REGARDLESS of emotion. And by that walk human emotions are modified to line up with love. Do you believe God is as low as a human to be a puppet of emotion, which is so prevalent in christendom? 

Is the perfect heart of God as low as a human heart, motivated by hurt, controlled by anger, deceived by ambition and controlled by lust? Reading the Bible in our limited human understanding you might think so. You may have heard that the God of the Old Testament is the angry God, and the God of the New Testament is the loving God. But God says "I do not change." (Malachi 3:6).

God hated the world, and God loved the world. What a paradox. What if I told you that by sending His son to die for sinners, as much as God was loving us, He was also hating us as well. Don't let your emotions sneak up on you when you read that. 

Consider this: 2 Peter 1:4, Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

The Heavenly Father has a stake in changing us. The apostle Paul said in 1 Timothy 1:14, And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. By the way...to you sinner haters who think you are no longer sinners because you are now a born again saint, notice that Paul here call himself the "Chief of sinners" though He is born again. He does not say "of whom I WAS chief, he says "of whom I AM chief!

The grace of God is EXCEEDING ABUNDANT. It's exceeding! The Greek word for "exceeding abundant" comes from a Greek word that means to "super abound." God's love is OVER THE TOP, UNDER THE BOTTOM and EXTENDS BEYOND THE SIDES! It's a love that cannot be contained, so that it goes beyond. It overflows. It exceeds.

Do you ever wonder why God changes people's names? The apostle Paul was first a Pharisee, known as Saul of Tarsus. In his writings, Paul claimed that he was a murderer, a "chief sinner" and lest you forget, God hates ALL who work iniquity, right? The Bible says so. That included Saul of Tarsus. If any man exists who God should hate to the highest degree, it would be THE CHIEFEST SINNER! Did the Lord NOT hate a murderer of Christians? When a human being hates something, usually his reaction is to condemn, to kill, to destroy. God has the same goal, but in a much higher way.

God's expression of hate for the sinner is that he does not favour the sinner to REMAIN in sin, and thereby destroys the sinner by creating a new person through the Spirit. The old man being freed from iniquity, removes the wall of partition between man and God by Jesus Christ, leaving a new man because of His love and grace. In other words, God hated the "chief sinner" Saul so much that He put His Holy Spirit into Saul and named him Paul. God utterly consumed and destroyed Saul. He ground Saul into powder. The Lion of Judah crushed Saul under his claw. Then, Paul emerged and was born. God loved Paul.

God sending his Son to redeem us and save us from sin is the ultimate act of hatred against sinners. It is the ultimate rejection of sinners. God hated Saul. God loved Paul. God rejects sinners by healing them of sin. God's hate is so much higher than whatever evil proceeds from the heart of mankind.

Thank God for His LOVE and GRACE, praise His Holy Name!

1 Co 1:25, The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

God hates sinners so much He destroys them by making them His sons and daughters.

Don't let anyone intimidate you into lowering God to their level. Trust Him always.

Making saints of sinners destroys the sinner, God loves the sinner so much that through Jesus Christ His Son He loved the sinner out of them. Would to God we hated the way God hates...we could then love the way He loves.