When seeking an answer to what the opposite of love is, the most likely natural response is, hate. However, hate is a symptom, and at the root of hate is selfishness. Hate requires a catalyst; that catalyst is selfishness, which is the crux of all evil. Thus, the opposite of love is selfishness.

Love and hate are not necessarily exclusive to each other. God is love; yet, God also hates. God hates because he loves. Love demands hatred for evil. King Solomon wrote, “These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaks lies, and he that sows discord among brethren. Proverbs 6:16-19

Those who love God hate evil (Psalm 97:10). Godly hatred only exists because of evil. There was no hatred before sin. Lucifer hated God first, and his hatred of God derived from his selfishness, which conceived lusts, which brought forth envy, which came out of pride.

In chapter 14 of the Book of Isaiah, Lucifer, being lifted up with pride, speaks in his heart:

“I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.”

The very first word of each sentence, Lucifer, begins with the self-centered word “I.”

Spreading accusations among the other angels, Lucifer attempted to undermine God by accusing him of being selfish and hoarding power. Preaching a message that demanded equality, he sowed discord in heaven and gathered the disaffected angels into his rebellion. Herein is where the war between good and evil began and continues to this day.

Lucifer preached Marxism before Karl Marx. Thus, Marxism might more properly be called Luciferism after the original author. The message then was the same communistic message of class warfare that is still popular: a call to rebel against inequality. Lucifer sought to destroy hierarchy and the patriarch of God in heaven. Then and there, Lucifer earned the name Satan (Adversary) and became the inaugural “social justice warrior.”

Thus, heaven had become polluted by evil. But God is holy; evil cannot abide in his presence. For this reason, Satan was cast out of heaven and set apart in a place prepared for him and his angels, a “holding place,” until the Great Day of Judgment.

God could have justly destroyed Lucifer and his followers utterly and eternally at that moment rather than appointing a future day of judgment, but he chose not to.

Why?

The Lord is a God of judicial process. Once sin was conceived, it was determined that, of necessity, there must be a process before judgment and destruction to fulfill all righteousness.

God allows the tares to grow with the wheat until maturity to make manifest both good and evil in their fullness until the appointed time—the great day of judgment, wherein all things in heaven, earth, and under the earth will be judged. At that point, evil is forever eradicated. He has told us this beforehand in his word, so we are without excuse.

In the beginning, God said, “Let there be light,” and God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness. When God created, he looked upon the things he had created and saw that they were good. However, in the case of light, God only saw the light as good and separated the light from the darkness. Satan and those with him in darkness were exposed by that light; they were indicted, arrested, and cast out. They are now being held in “chains of darkness” awaiting trial.

To the contrary, God is now waiting for the precious fruit of the earth to come to its fullness. Long suffering and not willing that any should perish, he is holding back judgment for the sake of salvation until the appointed time of recompense. At that time, the perfect love and the perfect hatred of God will be placed on eternal display.

Selfishness is the opposite of love. Selfishness dwells in our flesh. This is the reason Christ came in the flesh—that he might crucify selfishness on the cross.

Christ is the only selfless one who sought not his own nor did his own will, but did only the will of his Father. So then, the opposite of selfishness is Christ, and the opposite of Christ is Satan. Therein lie the choices that ultimately everyone must choose between.