Is it Possible to Love the Sinner and Hate His Sin?

Is it Possible to Love the Sinner and Hate His Sin?.001The answer is yes. I have heard it said that it is impossible to love and hate at the same time.1 It may be difficult to feel opposite emotions simultaneously, because we are finite in our emotional capacity. However, it is perfectly possible to intellectually affirm—and act based upon—love for an individual while simultaneously affirming hatred for his sin. Otherwise the godly prophet Amos would have been commanding something impossible when he said, “Hate evil, and love good” (Amos 5:15).

In reality, to love God and mankind is precisely to hate sin. Suppose you had a family member who was suffering from cancer (perhaps you do). Would you find it possible to love your family member and hate the cancer at the same time? To ask is to answer. Sin is a spiritual cancer that results in spiritual death (Romans 6:23), because it is opposed to God; we must hate everything that is opposed to God.

C.S. Lewis explained the situation in this way:



Thankfully, God hated sin but loved sinners enough to send His Son to die for us (John 3:16; Romans 5:8-9).

  1. E.g., Cindy Davis, “Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin,” 

  2. Christian Behaviour (New York: Macmillan, 1950), 40. 


- 2018