Month: July 2012

  • Are all sins equal to God?

    You may have heard that “all sins are equal in God’s eyes,” “there’s no hierarchy of sins in the Bible,” or “Jesus didn’t hang longer on the cross for certain sins.” Are all sins equal in God’s sight?

    Well, yes and no. In one sense, all sin stems from rebellion against God by displacing Him from His rightful place in our hearts, evil proceeds from the heart, all that do unrighteously are abomination to the LORD, rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, whoever who hates his brother is a murderer, lust is adultery of the heart, covetousness is idolatry, and he who breaks one law is guilty of all.

    However, in another sense, God does not treat all sin equally; damnation and pardonability are not the only measures of sin. God says the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah is exceedingly grave, Moses calls idolatry a great sin, the sin of Eli’s sons is described as very great, and Jesus says that Judas has the greater sin than Pilate.

    In addition to different descriptions of sin, God assigns different judgments to sin (not to be confused with the natural consequences of sin, which may or may not describe sin unto death). His law is perfect, His statutes are right, and His judgments are righteous. His law does not punish theft of property with death or dismemberment; the punishment must fit the crime in order to be just. Punishments include death, injury (for inflicting the same injury), medical expenses, and restitution. If these judgments are righteous, and you accept that punishment must fit the crime in order to be righteous, it follows that differing seriousness of punishments means differing seriousness of crimes. For example, a capital crime would be more serious than a restitution crime. In this old blog entry, I argue that shedding of innocent blood and the Leviticus 18 sexual abominations are more serious capital crimes because they result in expulsion from the land.

    God’s judgments include not only the Torah, but eternal judgments. Ignorance is a mitigating factor. At the great white throne, (probably unsaved) people are judged according to their deeds. Jesus tells his disciples (11/12 saved) that he will repay every man according to his deeds and tells the churches He will give to each one according to his deeds. While you could argue that this could be based on quantity instead of quality, quantity is also irrelevant in terms of damnation and pardonability. Paul describes receiving reward and suffering loss depending on what Christians build on the foundation of Jesus Christ.

    Bruce Wilkinson’s book A Life God Rewards explains two keys that determine your eternity:

    “The first key is your belief. This key unlocks the door to eternal life and determines where you will spend eternity. The second key is your behavior. It unlocks the door to reward and determines how you will spend eternity. This second key is the focus of A Life God Rewards. Although the role of behavior (we’ll also use words like actions or works) isn’t more important to your future than belief, it has been more overlooked in recent times.”
    Works (including sins except for blasphemy against the Holy Spirit) are equally irrelevant to faith/ salvation, but works (including sins) are rewarded differently by God. It seems incongruous that He would reward/judge differently what is equal to Him.
     
     
    I hasten to add that even though sins are not all equal, this does not allow us to justify our “smaller” sins or judge those who we think have committed greater sins. Comparing ourselves with others is unwise. God is the judge. We have no right to judge another’s servant. Whoever judges his brother is not a doer of the law. Jesus was called a friend of sinners.

    Okay, so what’s the difference whether sins are equal or not?
    1. While we cannot judge others or change how we love or treat others based on such judgment, it is proper to examine and judge ourselves. Our sanctification may benefit from a fear of the LORD that stops us from acting upon sinful thoughts (e.g. “I’ve already sinned by thinking about it, so I might as well do it.”). We can take special care to avoid sins that God emphasizes, such as pride.
    2. We can concentrate on fighting particularly odious sins in society, not only for their consequences, but because of how God values them. For example, abortion and homosexuality over illegal immigration and software piracy.
    3. There are some compensating benefits of greater or much sins: he who is forgiven more, loves more (while this is specifically about quantity, there’s no reason it can’t apply to quality), spiritual poverty is more easily recognized, and grace abounds more (should we then sin so grace may abound? Never!). The more we realize the enormity of our sin, the more we marvel at His love and grace.