Hate is a Christian value. The Psalmist writes, ?I hate vain
thoughts: but thy law do I love? (Psalm 119:113). Also, ?do not I hate them, O
LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against
thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies? (Psalm 139:21-22).
Jesus says, ?If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and
wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he
cannot be my disciple? (Luke 14:26).
The term hate, as the Psalmist uses it, refers to finding
someone or something abhorrent. It is not the type of hatred that is fueled by
rage or that seeks to destroy.
Albert Barnes says, ?The word hate here, as applied to them,
must be understood in the sense that he disapproved of their conduct; that he
did not desire to be associated with them; that he wished to avoid their
society, and to find his friends among men of a different character.?
Matthew Henry adds, ?do not I hate those that hate thee, and
for that reason, because they hate thee I hate them because I love thee, and
hate to see such affronts and indignities put upon thy blessed name.?
As Jesus uses the term it refers to a ?loving less.? Jesus
also says, ?Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,
and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me? (Matt.
10:37).
John Gill points out that that ?these (family) are not to be
preferred to Christ, or loved more than He yea, these are to be neglected and
forsaken, and turned from with indignation and resentment, when they stand in
the way of the honor and interest of Christ, and dissuade from his service:
such who would be accounted the disciples of Christ, should be ready to part
with their dearest relations and friends, with the greatest enjoyment of life,
and with life itself, when Christ calls for it; or otherwise they are not
worthy to be called his disciples.?