I've written about loving the sinner and hating the sin. What follows is a very brief exploration of what it means to love the sinner and yet hate the sin.

Sinners are still God's created children, even if they've rejected their heavenly Father. Our Father loves all His children and desires that they all choose to return to His family (2 Peter 3:9). We must not stand in their way or in the way of the Lord's redemptive process (Leviticus 19:14, Matthew 18:7). When the Lord forgives [those who truly repent], God the Judge has forgotten our sins so that through the substitutionary atonement of His Son, we may be reconciled to Him (Romans 5:6-11). Other than blasphemy of the Holy Spirit (Mark 3:29), all sins are forgivable. This means the Lord offers many opportunities for us to be redeemed. Likewise, we must not interfere with this promise of the Lord. We must allow others their chances to be redeemed. We cannot know just when they may choose to submit their will to the Lord's and join Him (and us) in New Jerusalem. Keeping our door open to future witnessing, hearing confession and repentance, and prayerfully guiding the penitent to God's salvation is a sacred duty. Such is the nature of loving the sinner.

God forgives those who repent, and we are called to forgive, too (Matthew 18:21-22), but this does not mean we don't still suffer consequences of sin. From an eternal perspective, the Lord may remember the sin no more (Psalm 103:12), but our sins are not forgotten in the here and now, even if forgiven. When reading God's Law, it's plain to see that He set out consequences for our sins (e.g., Deuteronomy 28:2, Deut. 28:15, Romans 6:23). Such consequences may happen regardless of whether or not we repent of the sins warranting the consequences. For example, when King David was adulterous with Bathsheba and had Uriah killed (2 Samuel 11), David repented and was forgiven (2 Samuel 12:13) but he still suffered the consequence of his sin (2 Samuel 12:14). David was forgiven and his spirit was made right with the Lord (love the sinner), but he was still punished for the sin (hate the sin). In this way, punishment for sins is a righteous act of hatred for sin.

We can hate sins by punishing them and yet simultaneously love sinners by offering them a chance to repent, be forgiven, and find salvation in the Lord.