Will Hating Our Existing Life Really Help Us Gain Eternal Life? – John 12:25
He leads me …
Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. (John 12:25 NIV)
The word hates does not appear to make sense. If we really hate our life, does this mean that we should consider suicide? I do not think so.
This verse appears to be contrary to other verses like -
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV)
And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19 NIV)
“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (Luke 6:38 NIV)
It turns out that the problem is with the translation into English of the word hate from the original Greek.
When we read ‘Anyone who loves their life’ and ‘anyone who hates their life’, the words love and hate are meant to be opposites so that we clearly understand the intended impact of Jesus’ message.
Anyone who loves their life is to be understood as being self-indulging by living for the here and now. They are enjoying the materialistic pleasures, by pampering to their wants and desires. Even if they have heard of Jesus, He is definitely not their first love (priority) in how they live.
The person who hates their life in this world knows that how they live now is a preparation for the life to come. In order to get to Heaven they are obeying Jesus’ command to, ‘lay up treasure in heaven’ (Matt 6:20) by following and serving Him.
But hate in the New Testament does not necessarily carry the very clear meaning that we have in English, where we understand the meaning to be often associated with intense feelings of anger, contempt, and disgust. Most English dictionaries define the word hate as dislike intensely or something very similar to this.
The Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament written by Walter Bauer and edited by Frederick William Danker, is a standard lexicon for Greek New Testament studies. It says that the Greek verb for hate is miseō, and that, “depending on the context, this verb ranges in meaning from 'disfavor' to 'detest.' The English term hate meaning to dislike intensely does not do justice to the original biblical use where the meaning can be more like hold in disfavour, be disinclined to, have relatively little regard for.[1]
We also see in Websters Dictionary 1828 the following definition -
HATE
1. To dislike greatly; to have a great aversion to. It expresses less than abhor, detest, and abominate, unless pronounced with a peculiar emphasis.
2. In Scripture, it signifies to love less.[2]
We read earlier that the words love and hate are meant to be opposites so that we clearly understand that Jesus intended to make an impact with His message. The interesting thing is that they are opposites in their translation as well. Just as we have seen that the Greek word for hate has various degrees of meaning running between disfavor and detest, the English word love does the same sort of thing.
In English we might say that we would love to have a holiday in Fiji, or that we just love the clothes that someone is wearing, the Greek breaks the word down into four types –
Eros - erotic, passionate love. It is often about someone’s ‘need’ more than about the person or thing that is the focus of that love.
Philia - love of friends and equals. It is the accepting love of good friendship.
Storge - love of parents for children. Where parents love their children despite any truly awful behaviour.
Agape - love of mankind. This is the love of God for people and the love of people for God. It is the love that is given regardless of whether it is returned, or not. It is the love without any self-benefit.
In this way the English word love and the Greek word hate have various meanings, while the word love in the Greek has specific definitions and the word hate in English has a specific definition too.
And just as Jesus used strong words to make His point, we see that the same message also appears several times in the New Testament to ensure that we understand its importance. We find a similar messge repeated at least six other times in God’s Word –
· “If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give it up for me, you will save it.” (Matthew 10:39 TLB)
· For anyone who keeps his life for himself shall lose it; and anyone who loses his life for me shall find it again. (Matthew 16:25 TLB)
· If you insist on saving your life, you will lose it. Only those who throw away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live. (Mark 8:35 TLB)
· Whoever loses his life for my sake will save it, but whoever insists on keeping his life will lose it; (Luke 9:24 TLB)
· “Anyone who wants to be my follower must love me far more than he does[a] his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, or sisters—yes, more than his own life—otherwise he cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26 TLB)
· Whoever clings to his life shall lose it, and whoever loses his life shall save it. (Luke 17:33 TLB)
Charles Spurgeon made the point that whatever God has made prominent in His Word, He intended for it to be obvious in our lives.
In all these verses, Jesus is showing us what a Christian’s priorities should be. In terms of our focus. He is to be our top priority. It is easy to be caught up in our own lives - our problems, our wills, and our ways. They can be a great distraction from profitable and eternal kingdom works. We get so involved with the issues going on around us that our focus becomes more about us that it is about the Lord. John gives us the following admonition regarding this in 1 John 2:15-17 (PHILLIPS) -
Never give your hearts to this world or to any of the things in it. A man cannot love the Father and love the world at the same time. For the whole world-system, based as it is on men’s primitive desires, their greedy ambitions and the glamour of all that they think splendid, is not derived from the Father at all, but from the world itself. The world and all its passionate desires will one day disappear. But the man who is following God’s will is part of the permanent and cannot die.
As Oswald Chambers once said, “Remember Whose you are and Whom you serve.”
Dear Reader – If you have found some value in this blog, please feel free to send a copy on to your family and friends. Kind regards, John
[1] Rafael Rodriguez, If You Call Yourself a Jew: Reappraising Paul's Letter to the Romans, Cascade Books, Oregon, 2014, p177
[2] Hate, Websters Dictionary 1828 (An American Dictionary of the English Language, Noah Webster)
