Did Jesus Really Mean We Must Hate Others?

Did Jesus really mean we must hate others in order to be His disciple? It would be incorrect to assume that’s what He meant. He simply means our love for others will seem like hatred when compared to our love for Him. It will be like a lesser love. We are not commanded to hate people, or ourselves. That would be disobedient. What Jesus is saying is that unless our love for Him supersedes all of our love for everyone else and everything, then our discipleship isn’t worthy of Him. Think about it this way, true, real, authentic love comes from God. So unless our love comes from God, it will always fail us. If our love is from God then we will have an immense love for others. So it’s really love from God, or love from self. There’s only one real love that works. This is the part of the Bible that few people like. It’s the “are you participating or are you committed to God?” Part of our faith that determines its authenticity. You either die to self daily, or you serve yourself daily. As an analogy I learned in my Sunday School class a while back goes, are you a pig or a chicken? A chicken participates on a farm for breakfast, while a pig is committed. Are you committed or are you a participant when it comes to your Christianity. Jesus makes it crystal clear here: unless you are committed to Him, and your love for Him makes your natural love for others, including yourself, seem like hatred, you are not worthy of being one of His disciples.

25 A large crowd was following Jesus. He turned around and said to them, 26 “If you want to be My disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison–your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters–yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be My disciple.27 And if you do not carry your own cross and follow Me, you cannot be My disciple.28 “But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it?29 Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you.30 They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’31 “Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10 ,000 could defeat the 20 ,000 soldiers marching against him?32 And if he can’t, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away.33 So you cannot become My disciple without giving up everything you own. Luke 14:25-33