John 7.7 observes the world can’t hate you; but it does hate Me, because I accuse it of sin and evil.
God claimed the world hated Him because He accused it of sin and evil.
The world now would have us believe God loves everyone no matter what they do and He accepts everyone no matter who they are.
This is partially true, God does love everyone and invites everyone to reconcile themselves to Him no matter who they are. While God invites us to Himself as we are, He does not allow us to stay as we are but insists we follow Him so that we may be transformed into His image becoming like Him in thought, word and deed.
How did God in Jesus accuse the world of sin and evil?
He did not do it as the Church has some history of doing which is to condemn sinful people as evil.
God in Jesus accused the world of sin and evil by attacking the religious leaders about their hypocrisy and duplicity. Jesus condemned the religious who made heaven so difficult to obtain by the sinner because of the hypocrisy the sinner saw and the condemnation the sinner incurred such that they had no desire to ever please God nor did they believe they ever could. Jesus rebuked the religious leaders for not speaking the truth about Who God really is and loving people in such a way that people would want to love God.
The world that hated Jesus was the religious world for He attacked them over their false teachings and practices that led people astray and kept people from living in right relationship with God.
The role of the Church is the work of reconciling everyone to God through living lives that reflect the image of God toward one another and then all humanity by loving one another as we love ourselves.
The Church is to go forward in loving the world and not condemning the world in order to save the world by calling everyone to follow Jesus.
“The world that hated Jesus was the religious world, for He attacked them over their false teachings and practices that led people astray and kept people from living in right relationship with God.” Thanks for the post, Mike, lots to think about in this one …