Answer: Psalm 139: 21, 22: “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.”
The Psalmist David here manifested a heart condition that was zealous for God and filled with love for Him and His cause. All of God’s people should hate that which is evil. Of our Lord Jesus it was said, “Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows” (Hebrews 1: 9; compare Psalm 45: 7). As His disciples, we should cultivate that same love for righteousness and that same hatred for iniquity, sin, that characterized our Lord.
The poor, fallen human race were conceived in sin and shapen in iniquity (Psalm 51: 5); and by heredity “there is none righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3: 10). We must still hate the iniquity but must learn more and more to pity and feel compassion for the poor human race, even as God does (John 3: 16) (Romans 5: 6, 8). We must have “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2: 16). Like Him, while feeling compassion for mankind, we are to have no sympathy with evil.
“The sin you should hate, but the sinner, never. Not until God’s unerring judgment declares that the sin and the sinner are inseparably linked together may love let go its hold upon a brother man” (March 21 Manna Comment).
The Scriptures show that there are some who come into full sympathy with iniquity and being iniquitous themselves would properly be classed with Satan. He has shown this iniquitous spirit, not only when he deceived mankind and became the murderer of our race, but all the way to the present time. Jesus said of him, “When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8: 44).
The Bible speaks of the destruction of Satan and his unrepentant angels, who prove, like him, incorrigible (Matthew 25: 41); and the same fate will be the portion of the incorrigibly wicked of mankind (Psalm 145: 20).
Hating Satan and His Followers
Should we hate Satan? Yes, with perfect hatred, so much so that we would abhor him because he is permeated with evil principles. We would not compromise with anything that would bring us into relationship with any of his errors, sinful practices, or methods (Ephesians 5: 11). And any who under full light prove to be his followers or sympathizers deserve the same hatred.
We are to have the same kind of hatred for the wicked that God has. He is altogether righteous and cannot look approvingly upon evil (Habakkuk 1: 13). Though God’s hatred will mean the destruction in due time of Satan and all who are of his spirit, He does not take any pleasure therein (Ezekiel 18: 23, 32). We are to have the same kind of proper hatred, that, though not taking pleasure therein, would concur in the destruction of the unrepentant, incorrigible opponents of God (Isaiah 66: 24).
If we truly love God and are in full sympathy with Him and His cause, we will hate with perfect hatred those who hate Him. We will be grieved with those who rise up against Him, such as Satan, Judas Iscariot, antitypical sifting leaders (Numbers 16), “that evil servant” (Matthew 24: 45-51), and others who of their own choice and volition rise up against God and His standards of truth and righteousness. We will count God’s enemies our enemies and hate them, not with sinful or malicious hatred, but with sinless, perfect hatred. We would sin if we would not disesteem and disapprove of such characters, but we are to cherish no ill will toward them.
God’s hatred for such characters is not malicious or of ill will, but flows from His perfect sense of justice, which must disapprove of, disesteem, and be displeased with those who, once in His favor, have despised it. We should cultivate and maintain the same holy disposition.