By TC Lo (盧天賜)
我最近常聽到一句說得振振有詞的話，「你們要愛罪人，恨罪惡」，因為「上帝是愛罪人，恨罪惡」的。這種說法符合聖經真理嗎？
人是感情的個體，所以人有「愛」與「恨」的心靈表達。但人的「愛 (philia; storge)」 總是多多少少有些私心的和帶著不純潔的成份；人的「恨(hate) 」也總是懷有惡意的。所以我們常用這句話「你們要愛罪人，恨罪惡」去鼓勵，提醒，或督促別人和自己、要用基督的愛(agape)去愛「罪人」，但不可要認同他們的「罪」、以免自己也因著體貼肉體而做出不討上帝喜悅的罪行。所以「你們要愛罪人，恨罪惡」是一個很好的座右銘。
然而，人們以為這句話是出於聖經，所以他們再加上另一句短語：「因為 “上帝是愛罪人，恨罪惡” 的」。在此，我們就不能不問：上帝真的是不恨惡罪人嗎？
首先，我們要知道，上帝的愛 (agape; hesed) 是無私的、是犧牲的。上帝的恨 (hate) 是公義的, 聖潔的，是不壞惡意的、祂的意念總是平安的意念。所以只有上帝是可以恨人的，而人是不可以恨人的。
在聖經中，我們屢次看到上帝將他的憤怒 或 震怒 (wrath) 像烈火搬傾倒在罪人身上，他恨人的嚴重性在聖經的語言中表達無遺。上帝愛那些被赦免的人，但恨那些不願悔改的罪人。所以我們不可能說「上帝愛罪人。」
當我們說「愛罪人，恨罪惡」時，我們似乎把「人」和「罪」作了一個清晰的「二分法」。其實人與罪是不能分割的。「罪」在「罪人」一詞中是個形容詞。所以「罪人」就是指一個有位格的人。當耶穌譴責一個「罪人」的時候，他是針對「那個人」並不是單單針對他所犯的「抽象性的罪」。責備一個抽象的觀念是毫無意思的。可見「愛罪人，恨罪惡」這句短語是一半的真理；一半的真理其實就不是真理。
Does the saying “You shall love the sinners and hate their sins” conform with the teaching of the Bible?
I often hear a plausible saying as, “You must love a sinner but hate his sin, because God loves the sinners and hates their sin”. Does this statement conform to the truth of the Scripture?
Humans are emotional beings, so we have the passionate expressions such as “love” and “hate”. But people’s love (philia; storge) is more or less selfish and impure; people’s “hatred” is always malicious. Therefore, when we use the phrase “You must love sinners and hate sin,” we may use it to encourage, remind, or urge others to love “sinners” with Christ’s love (agape; hesed), but at the same time, we must not agree with their sins, lest we may also commit sins that displease our God by being carnally minded. In this sense, “Love the sinner and hate the sin” is a good motto.
However, people thought this phrase was a biblical concept, so they qualify their expression by adding, “because God loves the sinners and hates their sins,” so we must do likewise. Here, we must then ask: Does God really NOT hate sinners?
First of all, we need to know that God’s love is not the same as ours. His love (agape; hesed) is selfless and sacrificial. God’s “hatred” is also different from ours. God’s “hatred” is just, holy, and not evil or malicious. His thoughts are always thoughts of peace. So only God can hate men, but men cannot hate men.
In the Bible we repeatedly see God pouring out His wrath like fire upon sinners, and the severity of His hatred is expressed in various ways and metaphors in the language of the Bible. God loves the forgiven but hates the unrepentant. So we cannot say, “God loves sinners.” In fact, God hates sinners because He is just and holy. Does God’s hatred have an element of love? If God’s intent is to use His wrath to lead people to repentance, the answer is YES. But for those who consistently not repent, judgment will surely come and they are the object of God’s hatred.
When we say “love the sinner and hate the sin”, we seem to imply a distinct dichotomy between “sinner” and “sin” as if they are rather unrelated entities. In fact, person and sin are inseparable. “Sin” is an adjective in the word “sinner”. So “sinner” refers to a person not a concept. When Jesus condemned a “sinner,” he was referring to “that person” and not just an “abstract concept of sin” that this person had committed. There is no point in blaming an abstract idea. It can be seen that the phrase “love the sinner and hate the sin” is half-truth; half-truth is not a truth at all.
