HATING YOUR FAMILY?

July 1, 2019

READING TIME: 1-2 MINUTES

“Dave, what did Jesus mean in Matthew 10:37 when he mentioned ‘hating your family’”?

SUMMARY: If a believer loves anyone, even a family member, more than Jesus, that person is not worthy of Jesus’s favorable recognition as His disciple.

To “hate” is used as a familiar figure of speech in the first century that meant “to love less than;” in other words, Jesus is saying that to be His disciple, one must love Him more than any other person. The condition for becoming a worthy disciple is that one must be devoted to Jesus Christ above every other human relationship, even family members.

As some respond favorably to the Gospel, it will put them at odds with even family members. Choosing to side with Jesus invites family conflict (Matt. 10:34-36).

In general, finding one’s soul in verse 37 is the same as saving one’s soul in Matthew 16:25. Unfortunately for this man, life was “found” by avoiding hardship and persecution and pursuing the opposite (security, material well-being, and personal happiness). This passage suggests the danger of the negative consequences of a believer’s uncommitted life and loving his personal life more than God’s will.

The issue then is not how to become a Christian, but how to live life as a Christian once an individual has been born again. The result of losing one’s life here by making God’s will one’s priority, a believer develops the quality of life that will be preserved into eternity. There is a correlation between the life in Christ one develops now by growth in discipleship and the degree to which he will experience eternal life in heaven. As Billy Graham once put it, everyone’s cup will be full, but they will be of different sizes.

Sources Used

Bing, Charles C. Grace, Salvation, and Discipleship: How to Understand Some Difficult Bible Passages. Grace Theology Press.

 Dillow, Joseph. Final Destiny: The Future Reign of The Servant Kings: Fourth Revised Edition. Grace Theology Press, chapter 15 and footnote 666.