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Aphobos -> RE: Love and Hate. (5/11/2008 9:33:06 PM)
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That's a good question. The answer is found in the use of a literary device called hyperbole. In order to emphasize a point, the speaker (or writer) will exaggerate to an extreme. It's a figurative use of language, never to be taken literally. But it serves its purpose well. The hyperbole is shocking, and it grabs hold of the listener.
This is exactly what we experience in Luke 14:26. Jesus' point is that our love for him is paramount. It should be so great, in fact, that all our earthly relationships should pale in comparison -- even the familial ones (parents, siblings, children, etc.). To emphasize this in the strongest terms possible, he uses hyperbole. It exaggerates the idea of "love me more than these" into "hate these."
Again, it's figurative (non-literal). Consider Jesus' strong words in his Sermon on the Mount:
"If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell." (Matt 5:29)
The next time you're in church, look around and see how many one-eyed congregants there are. Probably not too many. Does this mean that none of them ever look lustfully at another person? I doubt it. Rather, they understand that Jesus' is speaking figuratively, using hyperbolic language to emphasize his point. Lust is a sin, and the disciple must take this sin seriously. Unlike the culture, which says "It's OK to window shop," the Christian must hold to a higher standard.
You rightfully point-out that it would be impossible to uphold the fifth commandment (honor your father and mother) if Jesus' words in Luke 14:26 are to be taken literally. But the problem is even worse than it appears. For the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself (Matt 22:39). If, as Jesus says, one must hate his own life in order to be a disciple, that would absolve him of any responsibility to love his neighbor. In fact, he is implicitly commanded to hate his neighbor. Thankfully, once the figurative use of language is recognized, the apparent contradiction dissolves.
The literal interpretation of scripture is good insofar as it takes literary and rhetorical devices into account. Any interpretation that fails to consider such things is too wooden, literalistic, and has little or no redeeming value. Christ, the prophets and the apostles spoke God's words to us verbatim. Yet they didn't invent a new way of speaking in order to do so. God used every literary device at His disposal to communicate in a way that human beings, speaking human languages, could understand. We do a great disservice to Holy Scripture when we intentionally ignore His creativity in its production.
I hope this helps to explain the meaning of passages like Luke 14:26. Let me know if you have any questions I've failed to address.
In Him,
~Aphobos
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