Here is a thought... how do you separate the sin from the sinner?
Pro 23:7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:
So would we say that God loves a person's body, but hates the sinful character/nature that the person has developed. I don't think so. God looks on the spirit/heart of an individual and while we are living as a carnal fleshly beast God abhors the sinnful creatures that we are... but He also knows what He will yet bring us to be. So God sees things not only as they are, but also as they will be.
Rom 4:17 ...even God, who giveth life to the dead, and calleth the things that are not, as though they were.
Here is a section from the article 'Why Does God Love You?'
http://bible-truths.com/WhyGodLovesYou.htm ---------------------------
There is no Scripture which states that God hates everyone even though everyone sins:
"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23)
However, when sinning becomes a way of life, and the sins are of a certain magnitude and grossness, God hates the sinner as well as his sins. Here are some examples:
"And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nations which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them" (Leviticus 20:23)
"If ye will not hearken unto Me, and will not do all these commandments ...My soul shall abhor you" (Lev. 26:14 & 30)
"For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD" (Deut. 18:12
"...all that do unrighteously are an abomination unto the LORD" (Deut. 25:16)
"They provoked Him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations they provoked Him to anger...and when the LORD saw it, and He abhorred them..." (Deut. 32:16 & 19)
"The foolish shall not stand in Thy sight: You hate all workers of iniquity..." (Psalm 5:5)
"...God is angry [Heb: 'enraged, abhorrence, abominable'] with the wicked every day" (Psalm 7:11)
"For the wicked boasts of his heart's desire, and... blesses the covetous, whom the LORD abhors" (Psalm 10:3)
"The Lord tries the righteous: but the wicked and him that loves violence His soul hates" (Psalm 11:5)
"When God heard this He was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel" (Psalm 78:59)
"For the froward [adverse, disobedient] is an abomination to the LORD" (Prov. 3:32)
"These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination to Him... A false witness that speaks lies, and he that sows discord among the brethren" (Prov. 6:16 & 19)
"If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, God's curse be upon him" (I Cor. 16:22, Moffatt Translation)
"Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that friendship of the world is enmity [hatred] with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is an enemy of God" (James 4:4)
So what is there about man that God loves? He hates man's sin and He hates the man who commits the sin. And that IS the way all human beings are. So what is left for God to love?
There is one Scripture that some might think contradicts the many Scriptures above stating that God hates sinners, and that verse is found in Rom. 5:8.
"But God commends his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
Doesn't this verse prove that God does love us, even while we are continuing to sin? No, it doesn't. It may sound that way, but let's take a closer look.
CHRIST DIED FOR SINNERS AND FOR THEIR SINS
Christ died for sinners:
"God commends His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for US" (Rom. 5:
?
Christ died for our sins:
"For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for OUR SINS according to the scriptures" (I Cor. 15:3)
If Jesus "died for SINNERS," doesn't that prove that He loves sinners? No. He also "died for our SINS." If dying for sinners proves God's love for sinners, then likewise, dying for our sins would prove God's love for our sins, but God hates our sins. Most of us are familiar with this Scripture:
"But your iniquities [Heb: perversity, evil, sin] have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear" (Isaiah 59:2)
There is a solution to why Christ died for US SINNERS, and OUR SINS -- two things which God hates.
Notice carefully, that Rom. 5:8 does not say that God loves sinners, or loves us while we are yet sinners. It says that God "commends His love toward us... while yet sinners."
"Commend" means to "introduce or exhibit." Yes, God "introduces" His love toward sinners while they are yet sinners, but He does not actually love them while they are sinning. God cannot both hate sinners (which many Scriptures attest to including those quoted above), and love sinners at the same time. God's Word does not contradict. God's love for humanity before the cross resided in the fact that all will be brought to repentance due to His workmanship, and God sees things not only as they are, but as they WILL BE. It was what God saw that man would BE, in the future after repentance, that He loved.
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mercy, peace and love
Kat