Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin

The maxim, “Love the sinner and hate the sin,” is often portrayed as a rhetorical refuge for those who really hate the sinner as well as the sin, and is therefore rejected by many liberal Christians. But the maxim is a conjunction of two clear Divine commands in Scripture. “Love the sinner” is entailed by the more general Divine command to love all men (S. John xv:12). Likewise, the command to hate sin follows from the more general Divine command to hate evil (Ps. xcvi:10). The conjuncts in turn entail the conjunction. Thus, every Christian is obliged to accept the maxim.