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What Jesus Hated
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HATE. A very strong word. It was a word that we were discouraged to use when I was a boy. “I hate you,” I would say through clenched teeth to my brother in a fit of anger during a trivial boyhood fight. And my mother would inevitably say, “Michael, don’t use that word. You don’t know what you’re really saying.”
And she was right. My wife and I discouraged our own children from using the word when they were little. And I find that I very seldom use the word myself, except in trite expressions like “I hate being cold,” or “I hate green peppers!” But hate is not trite. On a purely human level, hatred is destructive. It is the emotion of anger, or fear, or disgust that has settled into a destructive pattern of life. It is an attempt to reject a person completely and to rob that person of his or her very existence. That is why hatred is said to be the equivalent of murdering a person in our heart. Hatred prevents a person from loving God and from having eternal life (1 John 3:15; 4:8, 20; cf. Matt. 5:21-22). These are terribly strong words. A Time to Hate
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Notes:
1. Robert H. Mounce, The Book of Revelation, NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977), p. 90.
2. “Love, and do what thou wilt.” Augustine, Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John, VII. 8; Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, I. vii, 504.

Michael J. Wilkins
TheologianMichael J. Wilkins specializes in New Testament theology, Christology, and discipleship. Dr. Wilkins is ordained in the Evangelical Free Church of America. He earned, his M.Div. in New Testament Language and Literature from Talbot Theological Seminary, and his Ph.D. in New Testament from Fuller Theological Seminary. He is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of New Testament Language and Literature and former Dean of the Faculty at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University. Wilkins has authored several books including, Following the Master, In His Image, Discipleship in the Ancient World and Matthew’s Gospel (2nd ed.), among others. Dr. Wilkins was co-editor of Worship, Theology and Ministry in the Early Church (Festschrift for Ralph P. Martin) and Jesus Under Fire (J.P. Moreland).

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Michael J. Wilkins
TheologianMichael J. Wilkins specializes in New Testament theology, Christology, and discipleship. Dr. Wilkins is ordained in the Evangelical Free Church of America. He earned, his M.Div. in New Testament Language and Literature from Talbot Theological Seminary, and his Ph.D. in New Testament from Fuller Theological Seminary. He is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of New Testament Language and Literature and former Dean of the Faculty at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University. Wilkins has authored several books including, Following the Master, In His Image, Discipleship in the Ancient World and Matthew’s Gospel (2nd ed.), among others. Dr. Wilkins was co-editor of Worship, Theology and Ministry in the Early Church (Festschrift for Ralph P. Martin) and Jesus Under Fire (J.P. Moreland).
