Many have heard the saying, "God hates the sin but loves the sinner." But is this statement true?

When we turn to Scripture, we find that it challenges this notion. Psalm 5:5 tells us that God hates "all workers of iniquity," and in Romans 9:13, He declares, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." These passages suggest that God’s hatred can extend to individuals, not just their sinful actions. So, how do we reconcile the idea of God's hatred with His nature? Both the Psalm and God’s words about Esau offer valuable insight into understanding this profound and often misunderstood aspect of His character.

A Righteous Hatred

It can be difficult to grasp how someone who is perfectly loving can also hate, but we must not view God’s hatred through a human lens. God is righteous, holy, and perfect, and His hatred is directed at everything that opposes His righteous light—darkness, sin, Satan, and demons. He despises these things not out of malice, but because He understands how destructive they are to His creation. To God, sin and unrighteousness are like a deadly cancer, threatening the very souls He loves and seeks to save.

Only God Can Hate Righteously

God is all-knowing, and only He can hate righteously because He sees the end from the beginning. Psalm 5:5 reveals that God hates the workers of iniquity. The term "workers" implies more than occasional missteps; it refers to a deliberate, ongoing lifestyle of sin—a life lived in defiance of God, fully committed to rebellion and rejection of His ways.

In Romans 9:13, when God declares His hatred for Esau, it reflects His foreknowledge of Esau's heart. Esau would never turn to God, whereas Jacob, despite his deceit and many failings, would ultimately surrender to Him. The distinction lies in their ultimate choices: Jacob sought reconciliation with God (Genesis 32:22-32), while Esau persisted in rejecting Him. God’s hatred is not arbitrary but directed at all that rejects Him—Satan, Hell, and those who will ultimately choose eternal separation from His light, truth, and love. God hates all that is destined for eternal hell, even as it exists on this earth now.

Our Limited Understanding

As humans, we lack the full picture. We do not know who the true workers of iniquity are or who will ultimately be condemned. For this reason, God calls us not to hate but to love. As Romans 5:8 reminds us, while we were still His enemies, God loved us. This shows that we were never beyond redemption but rather lost, blind, and in need of being found.

We are commanded to love because we cannot discern who is irredeemable and who is simply lost. It is through God’s love flowing through us that the lost can be found, their blindness healed, and their hearts turned toward Him. Our love becomes the bridge by which others may encounter His redemptive grace.

Understanding the Threat

As humans, we cannot fully grasp the depths of Satan’s influence, the horrors of Hell, or the destructive power of sin and evil. If we truly understood the magnitude of these threats, we would cling to God, terrified to ever stray from His presence. Our limited understanding makes it difficult for us to comprehend how a loving God can also hate, but His hatred is directed toward what is ultimately a deadly, cancerous threat to His creation.

Because God loves righteousness, He must hate all that opposes it. His wrath is not arbitrary but a necessary response to sin and evil—He must eliminate the threat to protect what is good, holy, and life-giving.

To ask God to love what is eternally irredeemable is like asking a good gardener to nurture a decayed branch, one that refuses to abide in its vine, while preventing him from removing it, knowing that if left unchecked, it could spread its rot and destroy the healthy branches.