Luke 14:26

Luke 14:26. See on Matthew 10:37. Which was addressed to the Twelve.

Hate not. The demand is for supreme love to Christ: father, and mother, etc., are placed here as objects which may and often do interfere with this supreme love. In so far as they do this, they are to be hated, not actively and personally, but generally. The meaning will best appear, if we notice the crowning thought: yea, and his own life also. This cannot, of course, mean that a man should actively hate his life or soul, for then he must kill himself to become a Christian. All belonging solely to the sphere of the lower life, as opposed to the life of the Spirit, must be opposed in heart, i.e. , actually hated. The power to love implies the power to hate. Alford : ‘This hate is not only consistent with, but absolutely necessary to the very highest kind of love. It is that element in love which makes a man a wise and Christian friend, not for time only but for eternity.'