Walking With Christ

Luke 14:26 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.(ESV)

I’ve heard this verse used as an example of Jesus contradicting Himself in the bible. This is just another example of people not reading the bible carefully and trying to make it say what they want it to say rather than trying to understand the meaning behind what they read.

Matthew 10:37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.(ESV)

The same statement written in Matthew changes the perspective entirely. Love and hate do not coexist. It’s not possible to both love and hate the same person. You might love them and not like things about them or things they do, but you still love them. Not all love is the same, either. It’s entirely possible to love both parents, but one is typically a favorite. The words in Luke were not a literal call to hate anyone. It was a comparative analysis of two loves. Jesus was saying in Luke that if you love Jesus correctly then any other love you might have could be seen as hateful by comparison.

1 John 4:20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.(ESV)