Could you show scripture to support this?
Thanks.
The reason I ask this is because I then have to wonder - if God hates sinners then why try to save them?
Sure!
Leviticus 20:23
And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them.
Psalm 5:5-6
The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;
you hate all evildoers.
You destroy those who speak lies;
the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
Psalm 11:5
The LORD tests the righteous,
but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
Proverbs 6:16-19
There are six things that the LORD hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that make haste to run to evil,
a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers.
Hosea 9:15
Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal;
there I began to hate them.
Because of the wickedness of their deeds
I will drive them out of my house.
I will love them no more;
all their princes are rebels.
I think that's enough to support the point.
That said, I would never say, as a simple, isolated, unequivocal statement that "God hates sinners." It's much more complicated than that. As you can see, the strongest of the statements come from Psalms and Proverbs and the last, from Hosea, are all in poetic verse. I think that most of these statements are actually hyperbolic, meant to communicate a point about the seriousness of sin and rebellion against the Lord. Like when Jesus says that whoever would follow him must hate is mother, father, spouse, children, etc. No one actually believes that Jesus is telling us to hate our closest family members, but that he's saying that as close as these people are to you, you should be that close again to me.
It's hyperbole, essentially exaggeration to make a point, commonly used as a teaching device in the ancient near east.
I think there are some ways in which God hates unrepentant sinners, but not in the way you might hate the school yard bully when you were young. Any "hate" he may have for such people is clearly tempered by his love for them. There are just as many verses that speak unhesitatingly about God's love sinners as there are that speak about his hate of sinners.
Like I said before, there are many aspects of the feelings of God toward the lost that seem to us to be in tension with each other.
