Does God Love the Devil?
Does God love the devil?
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Wow this is a pretty interesting question! I think what we have to look at first is look at God’s character, look at love and hate, and also look at who the devil is and what he has done.
First, God is Holy and God is perfect. In fact the Bible says that God is love in 1 John 4:8
But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
and again in John 4:16,
We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.
So God is love, and the Bible says that those that don’t love don’t know God. However, It doesn’t say that we must love everything.
I think what this question is really asking is “Does God hate the devil?” and “Is Hate a sin?” and “Does that make God a sinner if he hates the devil?”
Lets deal with hate first. There are things mentioned in the Bible that God hates. Malachi 2:16 says,
"For I hate divorce!" says the LORD, the God of Israel. "To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty," says the LORD of Heaven's Armies. "So guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife."
Since God is Holy, he cannot sin. Therefore, Hate is not necessarily a sin. Certain types of Hate are a sin and certain types are not. In fact, the Bible says in Amos 5:15
Hate evil and love what is good; turn your courts into true halls of justice. Perhaps even yet the LORD God of Heaven’s Armies will have mercy on the remnant of his people.
Here God is commanding us to hate evil. I think what we must look at then is what is evil? Throughout the Bible evil is referring to actions not people. Jeremiah 26:3 says,
Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from their evil ways. Then I will relent and not inflict on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done.
3 John 1:11 says,
Dear friend, don’t let this bad example influence you. Follow only what is good. Remember that those who do good prove that they are God’s children, and those who do evil prove that they do not know God.
Again in 1 John 3:12 the Bible says
Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.
All of these verses are referring to evil as the actions people do but not the people themselves. The Bible is not saying to hate sinners but to hate sin. Now, the devil or Satin is not a human being. He is an angel, but he is still one of God’s creations. I don’t think God hates the devil but the Bible does say that God hates sin. Just because God doesn’t hate the devil doesn’t mean that he is not just to give the punishment of sin. In fact, Hell was designed for the Devil as punishment for his sin and rebellion and was not intended for humans as seen in Matthew 25:4,
Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, 'Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons.
So lets summarize.
Hate is not a sin as long as we are hating sin and evil deeds and not sinners and people.
God does not hate the devil but hates the devil’s actions of sin and rebellion.
