Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirs up strifes: but love covers all sins.
‘Hatred stirs up strifes.’ Hatred seeks an occasion to provoke enmity and delights in brawls, but love is conciliatory and removes all occasions for trouble.
Three examples of stirring up strife: are Ishmael (Gen. 21:9-14); Esau (Gen. 27:41-42); and the Jews (Acts 13:50; 14:2-4; 17:5-13).
‘Love covers all sins.’ Love here refers to forgiveness – to forgive someone’s sin is part of love just as God’s love includes forgiveness of sin – it never states that love allows or approves sin. Without repentance – a real change of mind and attitude toward sin and its cause, not merely the consequences of it (Matt. 3:8, 11; 9:13; Luke 24:47) no one can receive forgiveness. Forgiveness and restoration to grace show that seeking God, repentance, praying, confession of sin, and meeting other conditions are required of men who backslide. All scriptures require reinstatement with God when sin is committed (Ps. 51:1-19; Isa. 1:16-20; 55:7; 59:1-2; Matt. 3:2; 4:17; Luke 13:3, 5; 24:47; Acts 2:38-39; 3:19; 26:18; Rom. 2:4-7; 3:24-31; 6:1-23; 8:1-13; 1Cor. 1:18-24; 9:27; 1Jn. 1:7-9; 3:5-10; Rev. 2:5; etc.). The term “blot out” means to erase, as a debt from a book. Confession is always a condition of forgiveness (Luke 13:3, 5; Rom. 10:9-10; 1Jn. 1:9).
Four examples of love covering sins: Joseph (Gen. 40:15; 45:5-8); David (2Sam. 1:1-27); Jesus Christ (Luke 23:34; John 20-21); and Paul (Phm. 1:9-21).
Living the Word 