DKB asked the following question:
Pastor Nic, I have a question....is all sin equal? Is telling a lie (in God's eyes) the same as murder? I have been reading and researching this. I know any sin keeps us from God, I fully understand this. Is it my sinful nature to want to "judge" others who sin and not my own because I want mine to be less?
You ask a packed question, DKB. I think I need to break down my answer into multiple parts.
1. Is all sin equal? (Is a lie the same as murder?)
2. I know any sin keeps us from God.
3. Is it my sinful nature to want to judge others who sin and not my own because I want mine to be less?
These I’ll take in opposite order than your asking.
3. Is it my sinful nature to want to judge others not my own because I want mine to be less?
It is always easier to see another persons sins than our own. We are conveniently blinded to our own attitudes, actions, and unrighteousness, but we see other’s sinfulness in hypercolored, LED visuals! Yes, I believe this is a part of our sinful nature. We see ourselves often times as better than we really are.
I like what the apostle Paul had to say about judging even himself in 1 Corinthians 4:3-5 “to me it is a small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself. For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord. Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.”
For the sake of comprehensiveness, I need to add also, that this doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t judge the sin of others, in particular of those in the church. 1 Corinthians 5, is about the need of the church to judge the immoral brother in their body. It concludes in verses 12 and 13, about judgment of those inside and outside the church, “For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church? But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.”
2. I know any sin keeps us from God.
Yes, any and all sin keeps us from God. In fact, it is our sin nature that causes sin and that keeps us from God. “We sin because we are sinners” (by nature), not “we are sinners because we sin.” So it is our nature, displayed in our actions, which keep us from the holiness of God in relationship, heaven, etc. With that in mind, any sin, all sin, equally makes us worthy of eternal hell, wrath, punishment. It isn’t a matter of quantity, but one of quality. Our sin is held in contrast to God’s holiness. Any speck defiles the purity of Him. That’s why the grace of God, and the atonement of Christ and the work of the Spirit are so incredible. That’s why God must be merciful for us to have salvation. Romans 9:15 “For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’” and again in Romans 9:18, “So then He has mercy on whom He desires and He hardens whom He desires.”
{But with this understood, we can move on to your primary question}
1. Is all sin equal? (Is a lie the same as murder?)
I’ll ask you to consider Jesus’s words in Matthew 11:20-24, especially verses 22 and 24. Here’s the passage.
20 Then He began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles were done, because they did not repent. 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. 23 And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. 24 Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.”
There seems to be a scale of judgment and punishment in this text, so not all sin is the same, but take note of the reason for the more/less tolerable nature of the judgment. It isn’t the type of sin committed, but the response to the degree of revelation of the gospel, or person of Jesus Christ.
Is there scaling punishment upon sinners? The answer seems to be “yes.” Is it based on the sins committed? The answer seems to be “no.”
Since you brought up “murder,” I’ll use it to illustrate another point. Remember, Jesus said in Matthew 5:21-22, in the sermon on the mount, “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘ You shall not commit murder’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court...” The action of killing someone in the act of murder was equated, by Jesus Christ, to the inward attitude/emotion of anger towards a brother.
There may be other passages, that would help us understand the issue, but these were my initial thoughts to answer your question.
Conclusion: We want to be real careful on this issue. We need to hold Christians accountable for their sin, not because we are better, but because we expect better and because we want them to hold us equally accountable. While at the same time, we allow God to be the judge of the non-believer, recognizing that “but for the grace of God” I would be as bad or probably worse than the worst unbelieving sinner out there. Thank you God for your mercy! Thank you God for your deliverance! Thank you God for the transformation you are working in me!
.......................................REVISITED.............................
I woke up this morning thinking about this question and answer.
One final verse should be considered. The context is the woman pouring perfume on the feet of Christ. While the disciples objected, Jesus explained her act of worship and devotion.
Luke 7:47
For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.”
This doesn’t clearly point to one sin being worse than another, but suggests either severity or amount.
I suspect that it is not amount in the question, but severity. If the “much” is amount, then we all would “love” equally, because our every thought, breath, action, even our righteous deeds are offensive to a holy God, apart from the forgiveness, grace and redemption found in Christ. So we all have innumerable amounts of sin(s). The distinction between one and another is the severity of sin.
So we’ve seen a passage about degrees of punishment based on the amount of revelation and we’ve seen a passage about degrees of love and forgiveness based on what seems to be the severity of sin. What we don’t see is a degree of judgement based on the severity of sin, giving a clear teaching on whether or not one sin is worse than another.
But remember chapter 5 of 1 Corinthians? Remove the immoral brother? That man was having a quasi-incestuous relationship with his father’s wife. Paul didn’t say remove the brother with pride issues. Paul didn’t say, remove the man who had a problem with lust or anger. One sin was worth removing the person from fellowship in the church, while another was a sin dealt with by the individual.
One sin was considered more severe than the other.
We need to guard ourselves, however, from being the judge and jury of another person. We judge within the church, but not outside. All sins are offenses to God. We would all be guilty of the worst sins apart from God’s grace. As we have been forgiven, so we forgive. And many other principles from the Word of God that we need to keep in mind on the issue.
Grace and Peace,
Nicholas
