Contrary to what is often proclaimed about God’s love for sinners today, Scripture often states that God hates sinners:
The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity. You destroy those who speak falsehood; The Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit (Ps. 5:5-6; emphasis added).
The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, and the one who loves violence His soul hates (Ps. 11:5; emphasis added).
I have forsaken My house, I have abandoned My inheritance; I have given the beloved of My soul into the hand of her enemies. My inheritance has become to Me like a lion in the forest; she has roared against Me; therefore I have come to hate her (Jer. 12:7-8; emphasis added).
All their evil is at Gilgal; Indeed, I came to hate them there! Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of My house! I will love them no more; all their princes are rebels (Hos. 9:15).
Note that all of the above scriptures do not say that God only hates what people do—they say He hates them. This throws some lights on the common cliché that God loves the sinner but hates the sin. We cannot separate a person from what he does. What he does reveals what he is. Thus God rightly hates people who commit sin, not just the sins people commit. If God approves of people who do what He hates, He is very inconsistent with Himself. In human courts, people are put on trial for their crimes, and they receive the just recompense. We don’t hate the crime but approve of those who commit crimes.
