Luke 14:26
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
"Hate" does not command literal hatred or enmity toward family and friends, but a lesser, subordinate love in which love for them continues under God's will rather than as a blind love that forgets God. No one can be Christ's disciple without putting loyalty to Him above father, mother, wife, children, brethren, sisters, home, and even his own life, being willing when loyalty requires it to forsake all and sacrifice life itself. No earthly tie of spouse, parent, child, relative, or friend may serve as an excuse for disobeying God, for Christ's words have higher authority than any father's or mother's. Discipleship is an enduring union with Christ by living faith in which He is chosen as first and last and best in everything, requiring whole consecration above kindred, friends, former habits, and every earthly affection, with detachment from pride, selfishness, and sin and attachment to Him in utter dependence. When ties lead a person to disregard truth to keep the favor of relatives, he loves them more than Jesus and cannot be His disciple, and in the time of need Christ will bid him lean upon those he preferred above Him.
Words and Setting
Luke 14:26 belongs to the call to the gospel supper, where the invitation to a feast provided at infinite cost still stands open to all to come and decide fully for the Lord and keep all His commandments. Coming to that feast requires a break like crucifixion from former ties and life, and the excuses urged for not coming reveal unwillingness to make that break. The one who accepts has lived in harmony and confederacy with the ways, customs, pleasures, pride, ambition, disobedience and unrighteousness of the world, united with those who enjoy and sustain one another in them, but accepting the invitation changes the current of thought and aims of life so that the world is crucified to the believer and the believer to the world. The claim is individual and cannot be submerged in husband, wife or relatives, because each soul belongs to Jesus by creation and redemption as His bought property. A husband's refusal of light gives his wife no reason to refuse to walk in the light and lift the cross, nor does a wife's hindrance excuse her husband, and no earthly marriage can excuse separation from Christ who has married the church to Himself as His bride. To turn away from the wooing of the Holy Spirit to please husband, relatives or children brings spiritual loss and eternal consequences, so wife or husband must if need be forsake the other to practice religious principles and manifest loyalty in the last message of mercy.
Hate in the verse does not command literal hatred or enmity toward relatives and friends, which would conflict with honoring parents and loving others as oneself. It means a lesser, subordinate love in which supreme love is given to God above father, mother, wife, children, brethren, sisters and one's own life, while friends and dear relatives are loved secondarily and inferior to love for God. That love for wife and children is not to diminish, but is to be placed under God's will rather than exercised as blind and selfish love that forgets God, and those who love God supremely may love their families deeply while family members support and share in His service. Children must still honor and obey parents wherever they can do so conscientiously. When ties of relationship lead to preferring their favor by disregarding truth, that is loving them more than Jesus.
Hate means hating and despising every action, every principle of disobedience, every violation of God's holy law, and every influence of word or action opposed to the laws of the kingdom of righteousness, whether found in father, mother, brother, sister, or in one's own mind and heart. Everything savoring of excuse for disobedience to God's requirements is to be turned from with decision so as not to be drawn away from entire, willing, glad obedience. Everything leading to seeking personal advantage is to be repudiated and hated as a temptation of Satan.
The words of Christ have higher authority than a father's or mother's, and God is the first duty even when relatives or rulers oppose His commands. No earthly relationship of spouse, parent, child, relative or friend may serve as an excuse for disobeying God, and all are morally accountable to Him rather than living to please themselves. Yielding loyalty to God for family's sake is refusing God's claim, and following the disobedient example of relatives insults the Spirit of God. A spouse's or parent's refusal to accept the truth gives no excuse to another for refusing heart-service and obedience, and the opposition or example of friends cannot excuse failure to keep the Sabbath and God's commandments. It is a plain, close condition of salvation, not to be passed by unheeded or turned from as a hard saying, because all His requirements are reasonable and just and can be obeyed.
Supreme Loyalty Required
No one can be Christ's disciple without putting loyalty to Him above father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, home, land, and even his own life, and that loyalty cannot be made conditional. When loyalty requires it he must be willing to forsake all for Christ and even to sacrifice life itself, surrendering self-directed plans and possessions. To refuse that sacrifice or to refuse to take up the cross is to refuse to be His disciple, for if obedience to God's Word is refused for the sake of earthly ties or interests the cross has not been taken up.
Coming to Christ changes the current of thought and the aims of life like a crucifixion, breaking former harmony and confederacy with the ways, customs, pleasures, pride, ambition, and unrighteousness of the world. The believer has lived united with those who enjoy its pleasures and seek what gratifies pride and ambition, excusing life in sin and sustaining and strengthening one another in unrighteousness, but accepting the invitation crucifies the world to the believer and the believer to the world so that former ties and life no longer hold him from Christ. Discipleship therefore requires hearing and obeying Christ's voice above all others and whole consecration to God above kindred, friends, former habits and associations, and every social claim and earthly affection. Those who follow Him stand ready to serve wherever His Spirit or providence shows they can serve best, arousing and consecrating themselves unreservedly, catching the spirit of the great Master Worker and learning how to minister to sin-sick souls, and giving unceasing, self-sacrificing effort to carry the light of present truth to those in darkness. When kindred, friends, habits, associations, and other influences are stronger, He can give only little instruction and little knowledge of His purposes and can use the person only little, though He would do much more for servants wholly consecrated to Him.
Being a disciple is entering an enduring union with Christ by living faith in which He is chosen as first and last and best in everything, in utter dependence that is hard for a proud being to enter and that costs something because He first chose us at infinite price for redemption. It requires a settled choice to endure for His sake and stay close to Him without faltering or turning back to the world, remaining on the side of truth and righteousness when opposition, scorn, or difficulty comes. This demands feeling need of His atoning blood, a change of heart, and submission of the human will to the will of God, with struggle against outward and inward obstacles, in a painful work of detachment from pride, selfishness, vanity, worldliness, and sin in all its forms together with attachment to Christ. Trying to attach to Christ without detaching from cherished idols makes the Christian life deplorably hard, fickle, and variable, while every other union apart from Christ must perish, and those who give up when tested have not counted the cost or been converted.
The claim is individual and cannot be submerged in husband, wife, or relatives, because each soul belongs to Jesus by creation and redemption as His bought property and must answer His gospel invitation to the feast provided at infinite cost. A husband's or wife's or parent's refusal of light and hindrance gives the other no reason or excuse to refuse to walk in the light and lift the cross, and no family tie should keep anyone from giving God the heart-service that belongs to Him. To turn away from the wooing of the Holy Spirit to please husband, relatives, or children brings spiritual loss and eternal consequences, and it is not safe to neglect the invitation. No earthly marriage can excuse separation from Christ who has married the church to Himself as His bride, so wife or husband must if need be forsake the other to practice religious principles and manifest loyalty to God in the last message of mercy. Integrity and connection with God as the source of light and power must be preserved even at great personal cost, for losing wife or children is better than losing that connection, and an unholy marriage He cannot bless or sanctify can ruin souls. Those who love God supremely may still love their families deeply while placing them under God's will, and family members can then support and share in His service.
Natural inclination never leads a person to forsake all, because the heart is naturally inclined to the wrong and gratifies self, so inclination cannot safely direct action and cannot be trusted. Only a heart subdued by grace and subject to the will of God will make every opposing inclination give way before the Saviour's claims and do what God approves irrespective of inclination, following Him who left His majesty, splendor, glory, and titles to come to earth to die as man's sacrifice. The verse therefore forbids using the opposition or example of friends as an excuse for not keeping the Sabbath, and requires keeping God's commandments even when others ridicule, giving up earthly advantages and facing contempt and bodily harm for Christ. It is a plain, close condition of salvation, not to be passed by unheeded or turned from as a hard saying, because all His requirements are reasonable and just and can be obeyed. Refusing such trials shows a love and loyalty that cannot mature into faith working by love and purifying the soul.
When ties of relationship lead to preferring their favor by disregarding truth, that is loving them more than Jesus, and the person is not worthy of Him and cannot be His disciple. In the fearful time of needing an arm stronger than any human arm of father, brother, or husband to protect and shield, Christ will bid such ones lean upon those they preferred and loved above Him and would not forsake for Him, telling them to let those deliver and save them. He will point to the proof of His love in leaving the glory of His Father and all majesty and splendor to come into a world cursed with sin and pollution, becoming poor that they through His poverty might be made rich, bearing insult and mockery and dying a shameful death on the cross to save them from hopeless misery and death. That love did not excite their love enough to obey Him and prefer His favor above the favor of earthly friends who gave only feeble proofs of love, so He will reject them with I know you not, depart from me. Those who receive salvation must instead center all faith and hope and all in Christ as substitute and surety.