Luke 14:26

[fishing]

What does this verse mean? Strikes me as a bit odd.

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.

It seems at odds with a lot of other stuff in the NT, like for example, 1 John 4:20

If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

 

[Purge187]

Those verses are a summation of the two most important Commandents--loving God above all else, and loving your neighbor as well.

Jesus didn't mean to literally hate your family and neighbors; that itself would be a sin.

 

[fishing]

So how do we decide what He literally meant and what He didn't?

There's no hint that He is speaking in parable there. If “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" MUST be taken literally, then what is to stop us from taking Luke 14:26 literally?

 

[Purge187]

We know He's speaking in (perhaps partial) parable, because He also said that hating your neighbor is akin to murdering them.

Again, He's telling his followers to love Him above all else.

 

[fishing]

But in the parable of the Sheep and Goats, he essentially says that people are saved by good works; everyone who is kind to her neighbour gets salvation, not necessarily those who proclaim a faith in Christ. So that is at tension with John 14:6. Would that mean that perhaps John 14:6 is not meant to be taken at face value in order to be in harmony with the parable of the Sheep and Goats? or does that mean that the parable of the Sheep and Goats is not meant to be taken at face value in order to be in harmony with John 14:6?

And before you say, "well one is a parable and one is literal," we should keep in mind that when Jesus says He is the way, the truth and the life, He is using metaphor to express His message. He is personifying abstract concepts. Similarly in the parables of the Sheep and Goats, abstract concepts of salvation and works are expressed by way of comparison to animals.

So neither passages can be approached entirely literally; both meanings emerge as a result of convention.

 

[football5680]

They are not literal things we must do, they are conveying a message. The context and the message that is trying to get across is the important part. If they were literal commands they would contradict but they are not meant to be taken literally.

The first verse is saying that you must love God above everything, including your family. When they asked Jesus what the most important commandments was he said it was to do this.

The second verse basically comes back to the second greatest commandment Jesus stated. You must love your neighbor. If you hate somebody then you are disobeying Jesus.

 

[St_Worm2]

Hi Fishing, you've certainly been given some excellent answers here .. One additional help in understanding Luke 14:26 can be found in St. Matthew's Gospel which reads:

"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me" Matthew 10:37
​

It may also be helpful to understand that "μισέω" (hate) when used as a Semitic expression means to "love less" or to "turn away from" or to "detach oneself from" (Jacob I loved, Esau I hated Romans 9:13; Jacob went in to Rachel and he loved Rachel more than Leah ...... Now the Lord saw that Leah was "שָׂנֵא" unloved ... lit. "hated" ... Genesis 29:30-31).

I've gotta go. I'll have to discuss your questions about exegesis at a later time.

Yours and His,
David