“HATE the SIN, but LOVE the SINNER”. This is what Spiritual Mentors tell us to understand what Jesus meant when He said: “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance”. (Lk. 5:32).
Reflecting on the said statement, I realized that there must be a difference between the sin and the sinner. Indeed, the difference lies in their sources or authors. The author of sin is man himself. Matthew 5: 19, reads: “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders”. The author of the sinner, however, is God Himself. Genesis 1:27 reads: “God created man in His own image…”.
Sin comes from man when he abuses the gift of freedom by doing something which is not directed towards what is good for himself or for others. It is something, therefore, that is not in accordance with the Will of God. Hence, it is considered evil and in one way or another it must be overcome.
The sinner is a human being who has been created by God Himself. Being a creation of God, he must be respected and loved. Despite all his weaknesses and sinfulness, he remains a creature of God. Since he belongs to God, it is only God who has the right to dispose of him.
It is only God Who can truly judge him and reward or condemn him accordingly. Jesus said: “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then recompense every man according to his deeds”. (Matt. 16:27)
When sin, therefore, is committed, it is the evil or what is wrong that has to be corrected or condemned. But the sinner is someone whose existence is still maintained by the creative power of God and who has the potential of recognizing his mistake to the extent of doing what needs to be done to correct the wrong and become attuned to the Will of God.
This is the phenomenon of what is called “conversion” which has actually brought about the great changes in the lives of thousands of people whom we today venerate as “Saints”. Among the most prominent of them is Saint Paul. He was a persecutor of the Christians. But when through some mysterious event He experienced the reality of Christ, he became the great Apostle to the gentiles. Another great example is Saint Augustine of Hippo. He was actually wallowing in the sins of the flesh, when mysteriously he heard a voice: “take and read”. He read a certain passage in the Bible which started his conversion. From a sinner he made a turn about in his life. He became a priest, a bishop and eventually a Saint.
Sin is the work of man and has to be overcome with something good. We certainly have to do everything we can to correct the wrong. However, the sinner is a human being – the work of God, created in His image and likeness. He is someone in whom we can see the Face of God, so to speak. Hence, he deserves our loving concern, regardless of his sinfulness, for he actually is the object of God’s redeeming grace – the reason for Christ’s coming to this world, so that “whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life”. (John 3:16). With this faith we cannot but give due respect to him and let God do with him as He pleases.
By: Salvador B. Cagurangan
Aug. 23, 2009
