Love the Sinner.

John 13:34, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”

St Augustine first said it, then Gandhi repeated it in 1929, but many have heard the saying, “love the sinner, hate the sin.” I personally am on a quest to have a different attitude in my heart. Perhaps that attitude is “love the sinner.” Period, end of story. Or perhaps the attitude is “love the sinner, but have no part in the sin” just as Christ prayed on our behalf in John 17:15, “I do not ask You take them out of the world (away from sinners and sin), but that you keep them from the evil one.”

These days the homosexual agenda is working globally to promote homosexual marriage and a de facto condoning of what the Bible describes as a mortal sin.  And yet if we follow St Augustine, and Gandhi’s teachings of loving the sinner, yet hating the sin, do we love at all in our judgments of their lifestyle? After all, did Christ in his love of the adulterer following in, or include condemnation of her sin as part of his example of love. (John 8:11) To the contrary Jesus dined with the sinner, and only condemned those who in their religious attitudes ignored their own hidden sins to condemn the visible sins of others. (Matt 9:10)

So can we love the sinner as Christ has loved us? Or to we pretend to love, so that we can justify our condemnation rushing to the hate of the sin. Or is Pope Francis showing Christ’ love when he said, “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?” Who are any of us to judge. My salvation does not depend on anyone other than myself and my relationship to Christ. My reward in heaven is not dependent upon my condemning sin and promoting doctrines of men, but rather on being reflection of Christ out of our relationship and loving one another AS HE LOVED ME.

Paul did write in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, “… Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God… such were some of you…” This is not a message or a crusade for Christianity to march against sin; this is a message of “such were some of you…” It is a message of individual responsibility. Love the sinner, because we are the sinner than Christ has loved.

And in loving others as Christ has loved us, then others encounter this love and they too begin to pursue Him, which in and of itself leads away from the sin.

Perhaps the video below is a little more of what being a disciple of Christ should look like.