plz help me answer this question.
Answers
The final saying we are looking at today is “Love the sinner. Hate the sin.”
The phrase is not in the Bible, though. It is thought to have originated with St. Augustineseveral hundred years after Jesus. In one of his letters he called for early Christians to have a “love for mankind and a hatred of sins.” Over the ages, this saying has appeared in various forms, but they all mean basically the same thing. If we know of someone who is sinning, we should continue to love them as a sinner, but hate and condemn the sinful actions they do. And this does sound true, right?
Never stop loving someone no matter what horrible things they’ve done. But here’s the catch. Rarely, are we ever able to contain our hatred only to the sin. Ghandi once spoke about this saying: “Hate the sin and not the sinner is a precept which, though easy enough to understand, is rarely practiced, and that is why the poison of hatred spreads in the world.”
Love the sinner. Hate the sin. If we practice this, we end up focusing much more on sin and the label of sinner, much more than we focus on love. Jesus never said love the sinner. Jesus said love your neighbor. Jesus knew that if he commanded people to love the sinner, they would begin looking people more as sinners than neighbor.
Think about it. If I said to you right now, I want you to love everyone sitting here in the congregation today, especially those who have been recently diagnosed with a highly contagious form of smallpox. Are you going to focus on loving your neighbor, or on who looks a little under the weather today.
This is a good time to read our second scripture this morning. Because it addresses this very topic.
It is our job to love. Not to judge. It is our job to love. When we label someone as sinner, we stop seeing the person and we start seeing the sin. Our job is not to convict but to love.
The truth in “Love the sinner, hate the sin” stops with the first word: Love.
Let me ask you this. Where have you most often heard the phrase Love the Sinner, hate the sin, used? I have most often heard it used in terms of homosexuality. For those Christians, who believe that Bible says that homosexuality is sinful, this verse has been used to explain how someone can condemn a large part of someone’s identity while still claiming to love that person. Ask someone who is gay, ask someone who is transgender, ask them if they feel loved by people who say love the sinner, hate the sin.
When we use this saying we are first and foremost defining that person as a sinner, rather than as someone we love. Furthermore, as you heard Kelsey read from Matthew, we should not be judging other people, we have enough sin in our own lives that makes us liable to judgement. The only person we should label as sinner is ourselves. Love the sinner, hate the sin should be rewritten and we should instead be saying, I love you, even despite the fact that I am a sinner.
We reject the idea that every verse of Scripture should be read, out of context, as the literal words of God. Instead we recognize that the biblical authors were people, influenced by God but not merely stenographers. Like all of us they were shaped by, and responded to, the historical circumstances in which they lived. And thus we believe that, when they are rightly interpreted, God speaks through the words of Scripture in order to teach, guide, shape, and encourage us.
Finally, we reject the notion that God calls upon Christians to “love the sinner, hate the sin.” When we choose to focus on the sins of others and speak of hating their sin, we violate the words and spirit of Jesus. Paul calls us to hate our sins, and Jesus calls us to love our neighbors, all of whom are sinners. When we demonstrate love and not judgment, we draw people to Christ rather than repel them from him.
I think it will help you.