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“If anyone… does not hate his own father and mother”

Luke 14:26
IdiomSettledJesus
If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. (Luke 14:26 BSB)
* A Semitic idiom of comparison, 'love less,' not literal hatred (compare Matthew 10:37).

What it sounds like today

A command to despise your family, flatly contradicting everything else Jesus taught.

The cultural key

Semitic idiom used 'love' and 'hate' for choosing and subordinating, not emotion. Genesis 29 says Leah was 'hated' in the same breath as saying Jacob 'loved Rachel more than Leah'; 'Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated' (Malachi 1:2–3) means chosen and not chosen. Matthew's parallel translates the idiom for Greek ears: 'whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me' (Matthew 10:37). In a kinship culture where family was identity, economy, and security in one, even the correctly-translated demand was seismic.

Recovered meaning

Not contempt for family but ranking: every other loyalty, including your own life, takes second place or the discipleship is not real. The idiom softens the mistranslation and leaves the demand at full strength.

Parallels: Matthew 10:37; Genesis 29:30–31; Malachi 1:2–3
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