In the last BLOG we considered out attitude toward those that hate God. In this BLOG we will look at one way to see in our own hearts and others if there is hatred for God there. When the world has brought the idea of love into the professing Church, love has to be looked at from a different way in order to see what it really is. In Paul’s letter to the Romans he shows us one way to do that. In previous BLOGS we have looked at how we can only keep the commandments of God out of love. Paul shows us another other side of the picture: “the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so” (Rom 8:7).
In this text Paul shows us that the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile toward God. He makes this statement, but he does not just leave it there. He gives the reason for this. The reason that the mind set on the flesh is hostile to God is that it does not subject itself to the law of God. In fact, not only does this mind set on the flesh not subject itself to the law of God, it is not even able to do so. The word for “able” in this verse is dunamai (dunamai) which is the Greek word for power. As easily seen it is also a word that we get the word “dynamite” from. It has the meaning of “to be able” or “to have power.” The mind set on the flesh is hostile to God and that can be seen in the refusal of people to subject themselves to the law of God. At some point the unbelieving person will not subject him or herself to the Word of God because it has no ability or power to do so.
This is a very hard teaching, but it is the Word of God. In fact, it may be that some reading this may hate what they read. If that is so, then it may be that they are having a hard time subjecting themselves to the law of God. Hatred for God, then, can be seen by the refusal of people to follow the law of God. This will not always be so obvious to outsiders, but it can be obvious to the person and at times to those around them. In line with the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 5:17-20, our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees. The Pharisees were content to set up laws around the biblical laws which gave them the appearance of keeping the law while they actually violated it. This happens today as well. The biblical law goes to the heart and not just to the external person. The Pharisees would not commit adultery as they counted it, but they were not concerned about their hearts or about unbiblical divorces. They had no power to keep the law because only those who are born of God and know God can keep the law in the heart out of true love (I John 4:7-8).
The Pharisees sure thought they loved God and others seemed to think so as well, but they did not. Since they had no power to keep the law from the heart, they simply “adjusted” the law so that they could make themselves think that they were keeping it. The same thing is happening in America and Europe as well. There are many that want to twist the Scriptures to say that homosexuality is not a sin. Some have no power or ability to flee from that sin and so they twist the Scriptures to their own destruction. Others see that divorce is a problem so they live together in fornication to try marriage out. They also twist the Scriptures to their own destruction. Others don’t like having to believe certain things that the Bible teaches about creation or social issues and so they twist the Bible in order to fit in to some degree with the intellectuals of the world.
There are also many within the professing Church that want to do away with various commands in Scripture in one way or another. We must not hide our heads in the sand and just allow things to go on in this way. The Word of God must be handled with reverence and awe. We understand that people that hate God want to do away with the words and commands of God. What we don’t understand is how people that claim to love God and to revere His Word can still work to hack and hew away at it. When the heart that is opposed to the law of God runs into something it cannot and will not obey, instead of seeking God for repentance it takes out its hermeneutic (interpretation) knife and goes to work to give itself a biblical reason to say that the commandment does not mean what it plainly says. There is a lot of hatred for God that could easily be seen in its opposition to the law of God except that it is hidden under the rubbish of a theological disguise and interpretive gymnastics. But why is it that the heart that hates God hates the law of God? It is because the law of God sets out the character of God and keeping the law from the heart is to be like God. The glory of the holiness of God shines through the Great Commands and then the Ten Commandments. The heart that hates God does not like the God that shines through the law nor does it have the power and ability to keep that law. So in its self-sufficiency it sets out to do away with the law of God. In doing that a horrible self-sufficiency and pride is seen in the heart. Twisting the law of God is nothing less than twisting the character of God and trying to make Him appear like self. Attempting to make the thrice holy God to look like fallen self is an act of hatred far more hideous than words can describe.
God Loves... Himself 
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