Mike,
I know God hates the sin, but the sinner also?
Thanks,
P____

Hi P____,

If God hates sin, and there is no good thing in my flesh, then it must be true that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.”
Now I don’t think that you believe that there will be sinners in the kingdom of God. So where will those sinners be? They will be burned up by the fire of God’s Word and in that loss is the very seed and hope of salvation. It is sinners who “lose their life” and are thus saved.
We live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

What that means is we are all the first Adam before we become the second Adam.

1Co 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.

We are all Esau before we become Jacob.

Rom 9:13  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Rom 9:14  What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Rom 9:15  For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

The word ‘hate’ does not mean that God does not recognize and appreciate the physical work of His own hands. He certainly does, and He certainly will. Speaking of the resurrection of the dead, Job make this statement,

Job 14:15  Thou shalt call, and I will answer thee: thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands.

But as we read in Jer 18:4, the vessel that is of clay is marred, and will be made new of spirit, as 1Co 15:45, above, makes very clear.

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

So, yes, God loves us all, and He will save us all, but He is in the process of changing us from slaves to sin to slaves to righteousness. Just as sin rules over the first Adam, righteousness will rule over the second Adam. The first Adam, the slave to sin, will be destroyed by the fiery words of the Word of God. “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.” The fact that “hated” mean ‘loved less’ is made clear by these two gospel accounts.

Mat 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Here in Matthew, Christ tells us that if we love our father or mother more than Him, we are not worthy of Him. He wants us to love and honor our parents, but not “more than me.” Now let’s see how Luke relates this admonition of Christ.

Luk 14:26  If any [ man] come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

So, “while we are yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.”

Rom 5:8  But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Eph 2:1  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

Christ told the woman caught in adultery, “Go and sin no more”; meaning do not allow sin to have dominion over your life.

Rom 6:13  Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
Rom 6:14  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace

Being “alive from the dead” and having “dominion over” sin comes only through some traumatic, spiritual earthquake, that brings us to the position of despising the sins that once ruled us with a rod of iron and made us slaves to our flesh.

Rev 16:18  And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.

It is God who has made us that way for the day of evil within our lives.

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

He loves us less as sinners, but rather as the new man who is granted dominion over sin in his life.

Rom 9:13  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

I hope this helps to make it clear that we are saved by losing our old man who God loves less than the new man the second Adam.

Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike