Discussion attempt #1 - Devotion to Christ
Starting Point - Luke 14:26-27
"If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple."
Christ calls us to hate our family and our own lives and if we do not we cannot be His disciple; seems to be pretty clear here. but what about other times in the gospels when He calls us to Love our neighbors?
So, we are to hate our family but love our neighbors?
2 comments:
This passage is incredibly interesting. First of all, of the only seven times Luke uses the Greek work for hate, only this once is it used to describe something a follower of Jesus does. Every other time the word is associated with evil doers. So, it goes without question that this use of the word, “hate,” is special or unique.
Secondly, the word for "cannot" when Jesus says you cannot be his disciple without first hating your family is not normal either. Luke does not record this passage using the normal word for cannot. When we read this passage, it sounds like Jesus is saying that we cannot be his disciples until we "pass" this test, as though these are his requirements for admittance into the School of Christ. But this is not how the Greek reads.
The Greek uses the word "dynamite" for cannot. In Greek, this is usually the word used to describe someone's power. Not in the sense of a superhero, but in the sense of ones abilities. Such that I could say that "I have the power (dynamite) to read." Jesus is saying that if you do not hate your family, you do not have the power (dynamite) to follow him. It’s not a requirement to follow Jesus. Not hating your family is an obstacle to following Jesus. How can this be?
I think the most important implication of this is as follows. We are incapable of serving two masters (c.f. Luke 16:13). We can only follow one or the other. We either follow our family, or whatever other persons might fit into that group, or we follow Jesus. You do not have the power (dynamite) to go in two different directions. We have to choose which direction we will walk. Jesus wants us to walk in His direction, thereby forsaking our family.
Does this mean we hate our family? In Jesus illustration, it most certainly does. In Luke 16, when Jesus is talking about the whole serving two masters thing, the options are simple. You serve one-- loving him. You do not serve one -- hating him. Which ever side you pick to serve, you love that side and hate the other. When we willfully chose to follow Jesus, we also willfully choose not to follow our families, thus "hating" them. So, at least in that sense, we are supposed to hate our families.
1 John fills in the gaps that this leaves in your head. 1 John 4:19 sets up the principle that we can only love as a reflection of the father's love for us. To best love anyone, we must first experience the love of God and then direct that beam of light in the direction of the person we desire to love. The truth of the matter is that unless you first hate your family and follow Jesus, you cannot truly love them as the Bible so frequently commands.
ok, first question, does the uniqueness of Luke's usage of "hate" change the meaning at all? if so, why and what is it?
Secondly, by saying the you do not have the "dynamite" or "power" to do something are you not just, with different words, saying that you "cannot" do something. I know that when i do not have to power to do something, i cannot do it. both phrases are saying the same thing but with different words.
you go on to bring up Luke 16:13, we cannot serve to masters. i agreed with what you had to say there but you finished that section with, "So, at least in that sense, we are supposed to hate our families." it doesn't seem to me, by your illustration that there are multiple "senses" here, it seems like you either Love God/hate family or love family/hate God.
Very valid point with 1 John though, that is the direction i was most likely going to go with this. It is only through God that we can truly Love people the way we are to love them. If we "Love God/hate family", the fact of the matter is that if you Love God and are Imitators (Ephesians 5:1) of Him we will Love. That is who He is and who we should be.
the question i would come back to here though is, what is the definition here or "sense" of the word hate that Luke uses and what does hating your family look like?
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