Jesus' command to hate your father and mother in Luke 14:26

Question

I've often heard that Luke 14:26 is meant to be interpreted as "Love me more than your family" or something along those lines (in fact, the CEV translates it as such). I'm interested in how scholars came to this interpretation. Is it just a case of "Oh, this doesn't line up with everything else Jesus said, therefore we need to reinterpret it in light of other scripture"? Alternatively, would scholars come to the same conclusion if they had only Luke 14:26 in isolation (due to either cultural or textual clues)?

Any insight into this verse would be appreciated.

Answer 1

No, I don't think we are dealing with a case of "Oh, this doesn't line up with everything else Jesus said, therefore..."

However, I will say we need the entirety of Luke 14 to make sense of this gnarly truth that Jesus is making.

To start off, don't overlook the fact that Luke 14:26 includes more than family members - it also includes ourselves -

If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

The fact that Jesus mentions "...and even his own life.." is a clue to a proper interpretation of this verse.

That said, prior to Luke 14:26, we read of a guy who says,

Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God. (Lk 14:15)

and Jesus responds to this guy with a parable that is about a man who gave a huge party and invited a bunch of people. All the people who were invited declined the invitation with excuses that had to do with earthly type of responsibilities and possessions...

• I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it
• I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them
• I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come

In response to the declined invitations, the host of the party "brought in the poor and crippled and blind and lame" and compelled anyone and everyone else.

Keep in mind that the parable was in response to "Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God."

The parable seems to make it clear that Jesus is thinking, "Although, it's true that blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God, not everyone will give up their earthly responsibilities to even come to the kingdom of God."

Jesus reiterates this parable with Luke 14:26 - where hating your family and your own life refer to giving up all of who you are to be Jesus' disciple.

There are so many other passages to back up this concept, but I do believe the parable in Luke 14:16-24 shed enough light on how to interpret Luke 14:26.

Answer 2

---- Answer just looking at Luke 14:26 ----

According to Thayler's lexicon, (as I understand (in the below scan) .. people in the culture were really much like modern Italians and Greeks, and it was common to both love and hate something at the same time, so the greek word used could be interpreted 'love less than':

Also from Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words:

(b) of a right feeling of aversion from what is evil; said of wrongdoing, Rom 7:15; iniquity, Hbr 1:9; "the garment (figurative) spotted by the flesh," Jud 1:23; "the works of the Nicolaitans," Rev 2:6 (and ver. 15, in some mss.; see the AV);

(c) of relative preference for one thing over another, by way of expressing either aversion from, or disregard for, the claims of one person or thing relatively to those of another, Mat 6:24; and Luk 16:13, as to the impossibility of serving two masters; Luk 14:26, as to the claims of parents relatively to those of Christ; Jhn 12:25, of disregard for one's life relatively to the claims of Christ; Eph 5:29, negatively, of one's flesh, i.e. of one's own, and therefore a man's wife as one with him.

--- Answer with other verses included ----

My understanding is that we should be hating everything that gets between us and being a disciple.

It all seems to be about the world hating God's salvation and God's followers hating things that get in the way of it.

Some associated verses (numbers are strongs numbers, note the same basic word for hate):

John 12:15 - He that loveth⁵³⁶⁸ his⁸⁴⁶ life⁵⁵⁹⁰ shall lose⁶²² it⁸⁴⁶; and²⁵³² he that hateth³⁴⁰⁴ his⁸⁴⁶ life⁵⁵⁹⁰ in¹⁷²² this⁵¹²⁹ world²⁸⁸⁹ shall keep⁵⁴⁴² it⁸⁴⁶ unto¹⁵¹⁹ life²²²² eternal¹⁶⁶.

Luke 19:14 - But¹¹⁶¹ his⁸⁴⁶ citizens⁴¹⁷⁷ hated³⁴⁰⁴ him⁸⁴⁶, and²⁵³² sent⁶⁴⁹ a message⁴²⁴² after³⁶⁹⁴ him⁸⁴⁶, saying³⁰⁰⁴ , We will²³⁰⁹⁰ not³⁷⁵⁶ have²³⁰⁹ this⁵¹²⁶ [man] to reign⁹³⁶ over¹⁹⁰⁹ us²²⁴⁸.

Luk 21:17 - And²⁵³² ye shall be²⁰⁷¹ hated³⁴⁰⁴ of⁵²⁵⁹ all³⁹⁵⁶ [men] for¹²²³ my³⁴⁵⁰ name's sake³⁶⁸⁶.

Jhn 15:19 - If¹⁴⁸⁷ ye were²²⁵⁸ of¹⁵³⁷ the world²⁸⁸⁹, the world²⁸⁸⁹ would³⁰² love⁵³⁶⁸ his own²³⁹⁸: but¹¹⁶¹ because³⁷⁵⁴ ye are²⁰⁷⁵ not³⁷⁵⁶ of¹⁵³⁷ the world²⁸⁸⁹, but²³⁵ I¹⁴⁷³ have chosen¹⁵⁸⁶ you⁵²⁰⁹ out of¹⁵³⁷ the world²⁸⁸⁹, therefore^51241223 the world²⁸⁸⁹ hateth³⁴⁰⁴ you⁵²⁰⁹.

Mat 6:24 - No man³⁷⁶² can¹⁴¹⁰ serve¹³⁹⁸ two¹⁴¹⁷ masters²⁹⁶²: for¹⁰⁶³ either²²²⁸ he will hate³⁴⁰⁴ the one¹⁵²⁰, and²⁵³² love²⁵ the other²⁰⁸⁷; or else²²²⁸ he will hold⁴⁷² to the one¹⁵²⁰, and²⁵³² despise²⁷⁰⁶ the other²⁰⁸⁷. Ye cannot^37561410 serve¹³⁹⁸ God²³¹⁶ and²⁵³² mammon³¹²⁶.

... but ...

We're still commanded to love the sinner, hate the sin:

Mat 5:44 - But¹¹⁶¹ I¹⁴⁷³ say³⁰⁰⁴ unto you⁵²¹³, Love²⁵ your⁵²¹⁶ enemies²¹⁹⁰, bless²¹²⁷ them that curse²⁶⁷² you⁵²⁰⁹, do⁴¹⁶⁰ good²⁵⁷³ to them that hate³⁴⁰⁴ you⁵²⁰⁹, and²⁵³² pray⁴³³⁶ for⁵²²⁸ them which³⁵⁸⁸ despitefully use¹⁹⁰⁸ you⁵²⁰⁹, and²⁵³² persecute¹³⁷⁷ you⁵²⁰⁹;

Answer 3

Using sensus plenior:

De 19:6 Lest the avenger of the blood pursue the slayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and slay him; whereas he [was] not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated him not in time past.

There is an ambiguity which permits us to say that the accident was an act of hate. Though it is not intuitive to those of us in a western culture, notice how Rashi clearly spells out that the perpetrator of the accident was a murderer, and that the blood-redeemer initially considers him an enemy. These are words associated with hate. The purpose of fleeing to the refuge city was to give the blood-redeemer time to cool off and recognize that he had not previously hated.

Verse 4: And this is the matter of the murderer who may flee there to survive: whoever smites his peer without intent, and he had not been his enemy yesterday [or] the day before;

Verse 5: And whoever comes with his peer into the woods to chop trees, and as his hand swung the axe downward to cut the wood the iron flew off the wooden handle and encounters his peer and he dies; he is to flee to one of these cities to survive.

Verse 6: Lest the blood-redeemer pursue the murderer when his heart grows heated, and he catches up with him over the length of the road and he smite him dead when he has no death sentence because he had not been his enemy yesterday [or] the day before.

--Rashi

Just as the one wielding the axe is called a murderer, which is extreme to our sensibilities, the action itself is implied to be an act of hate.

This is consistent with what we know love to be, putting the other ahead of yourself. The accident is hate because you did not consider the safety of the other before your own actions.

So 'hating' your parents is simply putting God before them. When Jesus was asked by his parents at age 12, "Why have you treated us so?" It is asking, why he has hated them. His response was that he must be about his father's business.

The following passages are difficult to understand unless hate is understood as "not considering the other first" or considering them second. Esau was the first born but Jacob received the inheritance. Esau was hated by God.

Mal 1:3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. Ro 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Similarly, Jacob loved Leah, but not as much as Rachel:

30 And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years. 31 ¶ And when the LORD saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.

Simply being second is a position of being hated.

Immediately preceding the text in question, those in the parable who did not come when invited had put the lord second:

17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. 18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. 19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. 20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.

The immediate context is the basis for the teaching that God must come first, not second. All of the people in the parable have hated the lord.