This word is so very plain in its simple meaning, and so universally understood, that there would have needed no observation upon it, but for an expression of our Lord’s concerning it, which appears to me, according to all the commentators I have seen or read upon it, to have been totally mistaken. The passage in which our Lord hath spoken concerning hatred is Luke. 14. 26. Where Jesus hath said, "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his ownlife also, he cannot be my disciple." The hatred of father, and mother, and the like, they say, is in contradiction to the divine command, and, therefore, they have conceived, that the expression means no more than by a comparative statement, to say, that none can be the disciple of Jesus who loves his earthly friends equal to this heavenly one. But certainly this is not our Lord’s meaning; for here is nothing said in the whole passage by way of comparison. And every one that knows the original word here made use of toexpress the verb hate, knows that Misei can mean no other than to hate. Neither is the doctrine, when duly considered, contradictory to the whole design of the gospel. All the claims of nature are, for the most part, unfavourable to the pursuits of grace. And the love of our near and dear connections in nature, every one knows that is brought acquainted with the feelings of his own heart, is but too often leading us on the confines of sin and corruption, Hence, to hate whatever opposeth the best and purest desires of the soul, is among the clearest evidences of a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the latter clause in this expression of our Lord serves to explain the whole; "yea, and his own life also." Self - loathing, and self - abhorring, mark the true believer’s character. And wherefore doth a child of God loathe his own flesh, but because that flesh is always rising up in rebellion against the Spirit. Hence, therefore, if my own body becomes a rebel, and an enemy to my own soul, so that I cannot do the things I would, certainly I hate it; and if Ihate my own flesh, from the opposition it is continually making to a life of grace, in the same sense, and upon the same account, I must, and do hate all the opposers of the divine life, be they who they may, or what they may. Nothing is to come into competition with Christ in our affection. I believe I may venture to affirm, that many of God’s dear children look forward to the humiliation of the grave with holy joy on this very account, as knowing that then, and not before, they shall drop this body of sin and death, which nowso often makes them groan. It is blessedly said of Levi, that in his zeal and love to JEHOVAH’S Holy One he said, "of his father, and his mother, I have not seen him, neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own children." (Deut. 33. 9.) I venture, therefore, upon the whole, to accept the words of the Lord Jesus in this Scripture by the Evangelist. (Luke. 14. 26.) precisely as the words themselves express this solemn truth. And since every thing in nature is hostile to a life of grace, so that my own corrupt heart is a much greater enemy to my soul’s enjoyment in Christ, than either the world, or the powers of darkness, I do hate all, and every tie of nature, yea, and my own life also, in every degree, and by every way in which they are found to oppose, or run counter, to the pursuit of the soul in her desires after the Lord Jesus Christ.
To hate is not always to be understood rigorously, but frequently signifies merely a less degree of love. “If a man have two wives, one beloved and another hated,” Deu 21:15; that is, less beloved. Our Saviour says that he who would follow him must hate father and mother; that is, he must love them less than Christ, less than his own salvation, and not prefer them to God. “Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated;” that is, have deprived of the privileges of his primogeniture, through his own profanity; and visited him with severe judgment on account of his sins.
Often denotes in Scripture only a less degree of love, Gen 29:30,31 Deu 21:15 Pro 13:24 Mal 1:2,3 Luk 14:26 1Ch 9:13 . God has a just and perfect abhorrence of sin and sinners, Psa 5:5 . But hatred in general is a malevolent passion, Gal 5:20, and no one who is not perfect in love, can hate without sin.\par
The Place Where There Is Hatred
Pro_15:17.
The Reward For Hating Knowledge
Pro_1:20-32.
The World Hating Jesus Christ
Joh_7:6-8; Joh_15:1-25.
Those That Do Not Hate Their Life In This World
Mat_10:32-37; Luk_14:25-33.
Those That Hate
Pro_26:24.
Those That Hate Israel
Deu_7:6-15; Deu_30:1-7; Eze_35:1-15.
Those That Hate Reproof
Pro_12:1; Pro_15:10.
Those That Hate The LORD
Exo_20:2-5; Deu_5:6-9; Deu_7:9-10; Deu_32:36-41; Job_8:20-22; Psa_21:7-12; Psa_83:1-17; Luk_10:1-16; Joh_15:1-25.
Those That Hate The Righteous
Psa_34:21.
Those That Hate Their Brother
1Jn_2:9-11; 1Jn_3:14-15; 1Jn_4:20.
Those That Hate Their Life In This World
Joh_12:25.
Those That Hate Wisdom
Pro_8:32-36.
What Fools Hate
Pro_1:7; Pro_1:22; Pro_13:19.
What Hatred Does
Pro_10:12.
What Is To Hate Evil
Pro_8:13.
What The LORD Hates
Deu_7:25; Deu_12:31; Deu_16:22; Deu_18:9-12; Deu_22:5; Deu_23:17-18; Deu_24:1-4; Deu_27:15; Psa_5:4-5; Psa_11:5; Pro_3:32; Pro_6:16-19; Pro_11:1; Pro_11:20; Pro_12:22; Pro_15:8-9; Pro_15:26; Pro_16:5; Pro_17:15; Pro_20:10; Pro_20:23; Isa_1:10-14; Isa_61:8; Zec_8:17; Luk_16:15; Rev_2:1-6; Rev_2:12-15.
What To Hate
Amo_5:15; Rom_12:9.
Who Hates Evil
Psa_97:10.
Who Hates The Light
Joh_3:20.
Who Hates The Upright
Pro_29:10.
Who Not To Hate
Lev_19:17.
Who The World Hates
Mat_10:16-22; Mat_24:1-9; Mar_13:1-13; Luk_21:5-17; Joh_15:1-19; Joh_17:1-14; 1Jn_3:11-13.
Why The World Hates Jesus Christ And Those That Believe In Him
Joh_7:6-7; Joh_15:1-19; Joh_17:1-16.