Proverbs 6:16

How bad is sin? God hates it with extreme disgust and intense aversion! Sin is an abomination to the LORD. What men call faults, errors, or mistakes – God calls sin. He despises and abhors sin – He loathes it. With today’s degraded concept of God’s holiness, most never hear or learn the full extent of God’s great hatred and loathing of sin. With a degraded concept of God’s character, foolish men imagine that God is like them.

Jehovah’s infinite hatred of sin is one of His most glorifying attributes – it separates Him from the pagan deities men have imagined. Holiness – the absolute freedom from sin, and the absolute and violent loathing of sin – is what makes God beautiful (Ps 29:2; 96:9). The more pure the character, the more glorious the Being. There is none holy as the Lord (I Sam 2:2). Even the heavens are not clean in His sight (Job 15:14-16). Worship Him!

Solomon here introduced seven sins God hates. The blessed LORD hates all sin equally, with an infinite hatred and loathing, but Solomon sought to warn his son about several sins that destroy wisdom and leave man exposed before his holy Creator. The seven sins are pride, lying, murder, evil thoughts, mischief, a false witness, and sowing discord.

The fear of the LORD, which is the foundation of wisdom and understanding (Pr 1:7; 9:10), includes a God-like hatred for sin. Solomon wrote later in Proverbs, “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate” (Pr 8:13). David wrote, “Ye that love the LORD, hate evil” (Ps 97:10).

In an effeminate and compromising society, it is impossible to get a proper view of sin. Criminals are pardoned; sin is glamorized by the entertainment industry and justified by the educational system; all levels of authority allow sin to go unchecked or punish it leniently and slowly – so leniently and slowly it is no deterrent at all (Eccl 8:11).

How bad is sin? God condemned Satan to an eternal hell of torture for pride (Matt 25:41; 1 Tim 3:6). God condemned mankind to spiritual depravity, a slow death during life with illness and pain, and an eternal hell for Adam eating the fruit from a forbidden tree (Gen 2:16-17; 3:1-7; Rom 5:12-14). And He drowned the entire world in a flood of water, without regard to age or sex, for their sin and wickedness (Gen 7:21-23).

How bad is sin? God annihilated seven nations of Canaan for abominable atrocities like adultery and sodomy, two sins glamorized in America (Lev 18:1-30; Acts 13:19). A man was stoned to death for picking up sticks on the Sabbath (Num 15:32-36). And God killed a man and his wife in church for misrepresenting their giving (Acts 5:1-11).

How bad is sin? God required capital punishment for disrespectful children (Pr 30:17; Deut 27:16). He required the death penalty for adultery (Lev 20:10), and He measures even the desire for another woman as adultery (Matt 5:28). He considers unjust anger and cruel words as implicit murder (Matt 5:21-26). He counts the violation of one precept as guilt for His entire law, for even one transgression is of infinite evil (Jas 2:10-11).

How bad is sin? In order for God to accept any man in His presence, He had to send His only begotten Son to be tortured to death in a substitutionary payment for sin. In the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth, you may see God’s hatred for sin, for He forsook His beloved Son, when the sins of the elect were laid to His charge (Matt 27:46). God is able and willing to love His elect, only because He views them in Christ Jesus (Eph 1:3-6).

Sometimes God lets men get away with sin for a while to deceive them, but He warns about His judgment and wrath for their presumption (Ps 50:21-22). The Jews thought they were rid of Jesus of Nazareth, but He brought the Roman armies just 40 years later to kill over one million in the city of Jerusalem alone and level their city to the ground.

One of the greatest character traits of the Lord Jesus Christ was His love of righteousness and hatred of sin (Ps 45:7; Heb 1:8-9). For this glorious attribute, the blessed God honored Him far above all other men. From His example, we can see that nobility of spirit and approval before God is in direct proportion to love of virtue and hatred of sin.

Reader, if your knowledge of God is from a sweet Sunday School teacher, you probably think God hates the sin, but loves the sinner. Guess again! David wrote, “For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing: the LORD will abhor the bloody and deceitful man” (Ps 5:4-6).

David wrote again, “The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men. The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup. For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright” (Ps 11:4-7). Why are these verses ignored? Why are they not printed with smiley faces?

What should you do? Reorder your value system. Hate Hollywood and the NEA. Teach your children to abhor sin and evil. Teach them to love righteousness and holiness. Exalt good men and women; despise bad men and women. Punish sin severely; reward virtue generously. Love the whole Bible, not just pet verses. Choose to be like David, and hate all evil influences in your holy desire to walk perfectly before your God (Ps 101:2-8).