Hating Evil

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight" (Isa. 5:20,21)! “He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous; him shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him” (Prov. 24:24). “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate” (Prov. 8:13). “Ye that love the LORD, hate evil” (Psm. 97:10). God certainly was well pleased with the fact that Jesus hated evil: “But unto the Son he saith… Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows” (Heb. 1:9). There is no such thing as loving God and not hating the things that he considers to be evil, and that he himself hates. God has always commended those who genuinely hate wickedness, and in fact it is a requirement for salvation: “Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?… In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD” [Psm. 15:1,4). Jesus approved of the pastor in Ephesus hating evil: “I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars… But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate” (Rev. 2:2,6). Loving righteousness and hating wickedness is the same thing. The apostle Paul scolded the elders in Corinth for failing to hate evil: “But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat”(I Cor. 5:11). Keeping company with brethren that are holding sin, is directly contrary to the commandment of the Lord. “Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” (I Cor. 5:6). If we do not hate the evil that people are doing enough to reprove it with love and holiness, then we will become partakers of it with them: “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Eph. 5:11). And finally, Jesus made it crystal clear that if we fail to reprove the wickedness of this world by his power and holiness dwelling in us, we will not be saved in the end: “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels” (Mk. 8:38). Amen.