Russell's Reasoning's — West Douglas Church Of Christ

“Time to Hate”, sounds like a strange title considering our last articles were about love and showing honor. So, we take a small step backwards from verse 10 to verse 9 where we find these words in the ESV, “---abhor what is evil,” or literally would read “abhorring the evil.” The word ‘abhor’ in this text is only found one time. It is another one of those interesting compound words of the original text. It is made up of hate along with a prepositional prefix which normally denotes a separation. Combined, I believe, we get an intensified form of hate. Not just disliking something, it is much, much more than that. It would suggest that there is something so disgusting, so detestable, that we cannot imagine being anywhere near it. That something is ‘EVIL’. Evil here is an adjective. It describes both the mindset and the actions which such a mindset produces. In the days of Noah, GOD tells us that humanity had become so debased that, “-every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5 That was the extreme, of course, where evil permeated the minds of humanity unrestrained. If you add the letter ‘D’ to the front of the word ‘Evil’, you quickly realize the ultimate source of it all, The Devil. In Matthew 6:13, JESUS teaches an addition to our prayers, “and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Again, there is a definite article applied, ‘The Evil’. This seems to suggest not just general godless behavior, but its actual source, ‘The Evil’, ‘The Evil One’. How do we see sin? Do we rationalize it? Do we minimize it? Hopefully, we do not run to it and embrace it as we might a best friend. I don’t think we need to make a list of all that the Bible says falls under the category of EVIL. Nor do we need to list all the damage that comes as a result of EVIL. We should, however, see EVIL for what it is and treat it with the disgusting abhorrence it deserves. “Abhor what is evil!”

Russell Ashby