Righteous Hate

[Asteriktos]

Ok, I see that you all discussed righteous anger a while back. Now, that brings to my mind something that one of my first Christian teachers believed: that there is such a thing as righteous hatred. For example, the Psalms are filled with words about hating this or that. The authors of the Psalms said that they hate evil (Ps. 97:10), every false way (Ps. 119:104, 128), vain thoughts (Ps. 119:113), and lying (Ps. 119:163). But there are other verses which seem to speak of hating living beings:

"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." - Ps. 139:21-22

"I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked." - Ps. 26:5

"I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the Lord." - Ps. 31:6

So what do you make of passages like this? Are they to be spiritualized, so that they are interpreted as speaking of demons, or even our "enemies" sin and the passions? Or can you literally hate people in a righteous manner?

[ytterbiumanalyst]

In each case, such people are characterised by evil actions. So these people could be those who are so engrossed in evil that they are a hindrance to others' salvation. But I think the key here is in the first passage, in which David says he is grieved: He uses the same language that is also used to describe God's reaction to our sin. So the hatred here is not a matter of petty dispute, but a grief in being able to see clearly a person destroying themself by sin, and knowing that such a person has no inclination to turn from their ways.

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