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Jesus Never Said That Ep6 of 10: Hate the Sin, Love the Sinner · HAVE FAITH LET IT BEGIN®

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You may have heard it in church, and you've seen it online. Maybe even said it yourself.
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It sounds biblical, but is it? Welcome to Jesus Never Said That,
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a special series from Have Faith, Let It Begin.
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I'm Angel Santana, and together, we're going to go beyond the cliches,
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the quotes, and assumptions to discover what God's Word actually says.
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So grab your Bible and bring your questions, because Have Faith,
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Let It Begin starts right now.
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Welcome to Half-Faith Let It Begin. This is Ariel Santana.
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Can you believe I'm seven years old already? I'm old enough now to introduce my dad.
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Ladies and gentlemen, your host, my dad, Angel Santana.
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Two thousand came and a spark was lit. A testimony raw, it wouldn't quit.
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His mother's voice, a guiding thread.
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Welcome back, everybody. And today's saying may be one of the most recognizable
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phrases in modern Christianity.
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Hate the sin. Love the sinner.
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You probably heard it. Maybe you said it. And at first glance,
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it sounds pretty reasonable.
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Sin matters. People matter.
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So hate the sin. Love the person.
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There's one problem. Hate the sin, love the sinner is not a Bible verse.
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Jesus never said those words. Now, that doesn't automatically mean every idea
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behind the phrase is wrong.
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Scripture obviously teaches that sin is serious, and Scripture absolutely teaches us to love people.
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But today, I want to ask you a deeper question. Is this phrase actually helping
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us love people the way Jesus taught us to love them.
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Because sometimes a sentence can sound biblical and still shape our attitude
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in a way Jesus never intended. So here's the heart check.
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Let's start with ourselves. Think about the last time somebody else or somebody
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else's behavior really bothered you.
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Maybe you thought they shouldn't be doing that.
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They should know better. That's wrong. Now here's the uncomfortable question.
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How quickly do I notice somebody else's sin compared to my own?
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Because it's incredibly easy to become an expert on everybody else's shortcomings?
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We can identify their pride, their anger, their choices, their behavior, their mistakes.
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Meanwhile, God may be trying to deal with something in us.
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So today's heart check is simple. Am I more concerned with correcting other
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people or allowing Jesus to transform me?
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Ouch. But we need to ask it. Where did the phrase come from?
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The exact phrase, hate the sin, love the sinner, does not appear in Scripture.
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Similar ideas have appeared throughout history, including writing associated
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with Augustine and later Mahantama Gandhi.
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But here's what matters for our conversation.
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Jesus didn't give us this slogan. So, rather than building our theology around
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a catchy phrase, let's ask the question.
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What did Jesus actually teach?
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Jesus and the log in our own eye. Matthew 7, verses 3 through 5.
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Give us one of these, excuse me, give us one of Jesus' most memorable pictures.
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Jesus asks, why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and
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pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
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Think about that image. Somebody has a speck and I'm watching around with two
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by four sticking out of my face, trying to perform eye surgery on them.
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Jesus isn't saying sin doesn't matter. He's confronting hypocrisy.
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Before I become confused with fixing somebody else's, Jesus tells me, look at yourself.
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That's humility. And humility should change the way Christians approach every
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conversation about sin. So what about the truth?
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Now, somebody might be thinking, Angel, are you saying Christians should never
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call anything wrong? No, that's not what I said.
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That is not what I'm saying. Jesus spoke truth, and the apostles spoke truth.
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Scripture gives moral instruction, and grace doesn't mean pretending that everything is right.
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But the biblical truth is never permission to stop loving people.
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I mean, Ephesians 4, verse 15 talks about speaking the truth in love.
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Notice something. Truth and love aren't enemies.
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We don't have to choose, I'm going to tell you the truth, or I'm going to love the person.
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You know, for us, the answer should be both.
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But if my truth becomes an excuse to humiliate somebody, Something has gone wrong.
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And if my version of love means I no longer care about truth,
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something has gone wrong right there too.
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Jesus gives us something better than either extreme. Grace and truth.
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Look how Jesus treated people. Let's dive into that. Think about the people Jesus encountered.
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Tax collectors. People with damaged reputations. People rejected by religious society.
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People caught in sin.
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People everybody else had already labeled.
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Jesus didn't avoid them. He ate with them. He talked with them.
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Touched people others wouldn't touch. Listened to people others ignored.
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And because of that, religious leaders criticized him.
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Matthew 9 tells us that they asked his disciples, Why does your teacher eat
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with tax collectors and sinners? And Jesus heard them.
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And he responded, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
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Then he says, For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
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Jesus didn't approve of everything people did, but he also didn't require people
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to become perfect before he came near them. That's grace.
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Let's talk about that woman caught in adultery. John 8 gives us another powerful picture.
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A woman is brought before Jesus after being caught in adultery.
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The religious leaders are ready to condemn her, and Jesus says,
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let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.
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And one by one, they dropped their rock and their stone. They left.
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Then Jesus asked the woman, has no one condemned you? He said, no one, sir.
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And Jesus responds, then neither do I condemn you. Now go and leave your life of sin.
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Sin no more. Look at what happens.
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Grace and truth.
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Jesus doesn't say, your choices don't matter.
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But he also doesn't destroy her and protects her dignity.
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He refuses,
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to participate in the public condemnation.
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And then he calls her towards something better.
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That's very different from standing at the distance and announcing,
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I hate your sin, but I love you.
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Jesus actually loved her. See, there's problems with labels.
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It's something I struggle with. There's just a problem with it.
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Here's something else we should pretty much talk about.
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When we use the phrase, love the sinner, we've already labeled the other person, the sinner.
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But here's the problem. Who else is a sinner? Me. And probably you.
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Romans 3, 23 says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
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So may, instead of dividing the world into Christians over here and sinners
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over there, we remember we're all people who need grace.
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The ground at the foot of the cross is level. Nobody arrives there because they've earned their spot.
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Here's my personal reflection. This episode makes me think about the way people
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experience Christianity through us.
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Because somebody may have never opened a Bible before they encounter you.
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Somebody may never walk into a congregation before they have conversation with you.
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And wherever or whether we like it or not, people sometimes form an impression
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of Jesus based on the way Christians treat them.
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That makes me stop and think.
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When somebody encounters me, do they feel judged before they even have heard me?
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Do they feel like I'm looking for what's wrong with them? Or do they experience
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someone who genuinely cares about them?
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I don't want somebody to walk away from me. I don't know about you.
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And I don't want them walking away from me thinking, Angel made sure that I
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knew everything he thought was wrong with me.
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I'd rather they walk away thinking, He treated me like I mattered.
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Because you do matter.
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See, love isn't agreement. Let's clear up something important.
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Loving someone doesn't mean agreeing with everything we do.
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We already understand this in our closest relationships.
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You can love your child and disagree with the decision. You can love your spouse
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and have a serious conversation.
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You can love your friend and tell them you're concerned.
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Love is not agreement.
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But a disagreement isn't permission to stop loving.
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Jesus gives us the standard in John 13, verse 34. As I have loved you,
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so must love one another.
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So you must love one another. That's the measuring stick.
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Not love them as long as they agree with you. Not love them once they change.
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As I have loved you.
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That's a much bigger standard.
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So, how do we live this out? So, what do we do instead of simply repeating?
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Hate the sins and love the sinner. First, let's start with humility.
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Remember your own need for grace.
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And second, the person before the issue, see the person before the issue. They're not debatant.
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They're not a debate. They're not a political talking point.
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They're not a project. or a person created in the image of God.
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Third, listen before you speak. Ooh.
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That's doozy. Sometimes we're preparing our responses while somebody else is
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still telling their story. Listen.
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And fourth, speak truth with love. If a difficult conversation needs to happen,
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let your words come from genuine concern, not sobriety.
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And finally,
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Leave the room. Leave room for God. You are not the Holy Spirit, and neither am I.
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We can love. We can pray. We can share truth.
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But God is the only one. God is the one who transforms our hearts.
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Here's your faith challenge this week. Think about someone you disagree with.
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Maybe deeply and instead of thinking about what you want to correct ask yourself
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how can I show this person love,
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and the love of Christ maybe you listen maybe you call them maybe you sit down
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for coffee maybe you apologize for the way you have spoken to them.
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Maybe you simply treat them with dignity and here's the hard part Don't make
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your kindness conditional on them changing.
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Love them because Jesus told us to love. And let God handle the rest. Amen.
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Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for loving us when we didn't have everything
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figured out. Thank you for your grace, your patience, and your truth.
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Forgive us for the times we've been quicker to identify.
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Somebody else's sin or maybe our own.
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Forgive us when we use truth without love. And forgive us when we've confused
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love without avoiding the truth altogether.
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Teach us the way of Jesus and help us see people the way you see them.
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Give us humility. Give us compassion. Give us wisdom.
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And when difficulty or when a difficult conversation happens,
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let our words be filled with grace.
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Remove pride from our hearts. Remind us that every one of us stands in need.
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Every one of us stands in need of your mercy.
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Help us love people not as projects to fix, but as people you created and deeply love.
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And let the way we live point people toward Jesus.
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Amen. So, did Jesus say, hate the sin, love the sinner? Nope.
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Those words aren't a Bible verse, but scripture does call us to do something
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far more demanding. Love people.
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Speak truth with humility. Examine yourself. Extend grace and follow Jesus Christ.
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Maybe we don't need another slogan.
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Maybe we need to get better at actually doing what Jesus said.
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As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
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This has been an episode of Jesus Never Said That. This is number six,
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a special series from Have Faith, Let It Begin. And remember, it sounds good.
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It might even sound Christian, but is it actually in the Bible?
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Don't let a slogan do the work Scripture has meant to do.
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Open your Bible, read the contact, ask questions, and above all,
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when people encounter us, let's make sure they encounter the truth,
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the love, humility, and grace of Jesus.
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On the next episode of Have Faith, Let It Begin, we're tackling another saying
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you probably have heard in your entire life.
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Cleanliness is next to goodness.
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Well, godness, I think they say it. Yeah, I'll have to look that one up.
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Sounds biblical, doesn't it?
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Maybe your mother said it. Maybe your grandmother said it. Maybe somebody said
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it while you were trying to tell you to clean your room.
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But where exactly is that verse from? Well, it's not there.
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So how did cleanliness become connected with Godness?
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Hmm. That's going to be an important conversation. Jesus actually had some pretty
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strong things to say about people who looked clean on the outside while something
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very different was happening on the inside.
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That, episode seven, on this series of Jesus never said that.
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I'm getting a little tired. I'm not gonna lie. It's late.
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So, closing, may God be with you. And have faith.
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Let it begin. Have faith.
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Let it begin.