Are all sins equal in the sight of God?
I know that it is very common within popular evangelicalism to say that all sins are equal in the site of God. Most find this theological concept very appealing and accept it, I am afraid to say, without doing much homework. I think this tendency comes by means of two influences.
1) A reaction by Protestants against the Roman Catholic distinction between mortal sins (sins that kill justifying grace) and venial sin (sins of a lesser nature that do not kill justifying grace) and
2) a tendency within our church culture to find a way to say that we are all equally in need of God’s grace and that all sin is extremely serious in God’s eyes (which is true).
However, I don’t believe that all sin is equal in God’s sight. I also believe that telling people that it is does great damage to the character of God and the seriousness of certain sins. There are many reasons for this, but let me start with a reductio ad absurdum and them move to a biblical argument.
I often ask people who say that all sin is equal in the site of God if they live according to their theology. Think about this. If all sin is equal in the sight of God, then His consternation and anger will be equal for whatever sin we commit. Equally important is the fact that our relational disposition before Him should suffer from the conviction of the Holy Spirit for all sins equally. I know that each one of us understands what it means to have our conscious weighed down by unrepentant sin. But this weighing down normally only comes from those sins that we perceive to be more severe. However, if all sin is equal in the sight of God and one lived according to that theology, he or she should be just as troubled and just as repentant each time that they speed down the road (breaking the law is a violation of Rom. 13) as when they commit adultery, steal the last loaf of bread from a starving family, or neglect their children for the sake of work. This, of course, nobody does. We all see speeding down the road as water under the bridge of God, because our conscious bears us witness that it is not as bad as other things, even if we confess differently.
Next (and more importantly) I think that it is biblical and necessary to say that some sins are more grievous in the site of God than others. This also translates into the assumption that some people are sinners to a greater degree than others. Even though Protestants may not agree with the theology behind the Roman Catholic distinction between mortal and venial sins, there are many instances in the Scriptures where degrees of sin are distinguished.
1. Christ tells Pilate that the Jewish leaders have committed a worse sin than him, saying “he who has handed me over to you has committed the greater sin” (Jn. 19:11).
2. Certain sins in the law are distinguished in a particular context as an abomination to God, implying that others are not as severe (e.g. Lev. 18:22; Duet 7:25, 23:18, Isa. 41:24) .
3. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is set apart as a more severe sin than blasphemy of the Son (Matt. 12:31)
4. Proverbs 6:16-19 lists particular sins in such a way as to single them out because of their depraved nature, separating them from others.
5. There are degrees of punishment in Hell depending on the severity of the offense (Lk. 12:47-48).
6. Christ says of the Pharisees “You strain out a gnat while you swallow a camel” (Matt. 23:24). If all sins are equal, Christ’s rebuke does not make any sense.
7. Related to the last, Christ also talked about the “weighter things of the law” (Matt. 23:23). If all sins are equal, there is no law (or violation of that law) that is weightier than others. They are all the same weight.
So where does this folk theology come from? Well, most people would refer to Christ’s comments in the Sermon on the Mount. Most particularly, reference is made to Matt. 5:27-28 as justification for this way of thinking.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘you shall not commit adultery;” but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matt. 5:27-28 27).
Is there a difference in the eyes of God between thinking about adultery and actually doing it? Absolutely. If we say anything other than this, we do damage to God’s character and encourage the act based upon its premonition. The point Christ makes in Matt. 5:28 is not that lust and the actual act are equal, but that they both violate the same commandment, even if the degrees of this violation differ. This way, Christ was telling all people (particularly the religious establishment of the day) that thought they were safe because they had fulfilled the letter of the law that the law runs much deeper. The spirit of the law is what matters. Therefore, if you have ever lusted, you have broken the sixth commandment. If you have ever hated your brother, you have broken the fifth commandment (Matt. 5:22). But, again, the breaking of the principles of the commandment is the issue, not the degree to which it is broken. Think about this (another reductio), if you believe that adultery and lust are equal in the sight of God, then here are the results: Any man or woman can justify divorce based upon the fact that in Matt. 5:32 Christ condemns divorce except for marital infidelity. All they need to do is make the safe assumption that their spouse has lusted to some degree during their marriage. As well, if a man were to lust after a woman on the Internet, he might as well commit the actual act, since in God’s eyes he already has. As well (I am rolling), if you have ever lusted after a girl, then you should marry her since in God’s eyes you are one with her (1 Cor. 6:16).
Again, I think that this way of thinking is not only wrong biblically, but it also has repercussions that lead to a distorted worldview and a discrediting of the integrity of God.
It is true; all people are sinners. All people are sinners from birth. But not all sin is equal. I think that it is safe to say that while not all people sin to the same degree, we all share in an equally depraved nature. But for the grace of God upon us, we would all rebel as the devil.
Published by C Michael Patton on January 23rd, 2007 | Filed under Theology, Anthropology, Culture, Sunday Morning Warnings, Sin, Folk Theology, Questions and Answers
January 23rd, 2007 at 11:52 pm
This is an area of theology that I thought I had pinned down until I read this. I have struggled with this biblical concept for quite some time. I think it all came down to Jesus’ words in Matt. 5:28. But when I look at scripture collectively I see the different degrees of sin. I must acknowledge that even in the past 3 months I have shared my version of the equality of all sins with at least 3-4 non-believers. God forgive me. But I’m glad this has been brought up. This deeply affects a lot of things that I do on a daily basis. I think this needs to be a subject that is more openly discussed and reconciled.
February 5th, 2007 at 3:31 am
Sorry if this sounds picky – but is the phrase “… site of God” in the blog heading intended as a play on “… sight of God”?
February 5th, 2007 at 10:49 am
Not picky at all. Thanks for letting me know. I am not much of a speller!
September 19th, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Great topic! Now for the disclaimer . . .I’m a Catholic, so obviously my head was nodding whilst reading this post. I appreciate your boldness in stepping into this truth which some have deemed too Catholic a territory for their sensibilities.
Your post is quite provocative and I wonder, as a result of reading it, what are the demarcations you see for determining the gravity of any given sin? Are the qualifications for grievous sins purely Biblically based (btw, great Scripture citations)?
St. Paul teaches, “everything that does not come from faith is sin,” so how is your idea of disparity in sin formed? Given the universal (hopefully!) doctrine of objective evil, what is the measure within your understanding for mitigation?
In Him, JF
September 19th, 2007 at 11:03 pm
“If all sin is equal in the sight of God, then His consternation and anger will be equal for whatever sin we commit. Equally important is the fact that our relational disposition before Him should suffer from the conviction of the Holy Spirit for all sins equally.”
My brain/mind isn’t working up to speed at the moment — but I need to know the Scriptures that back up “suffer from the conviction of the Holy Spirit” — I know I have been taught this Christian construct from childhood but don’t know a verse to support it — only the words of “Amazing Grace” … “taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved.”
September 20th, 2007 at 11:06 am
SuseADoodle:
Here’s a quick answer to your question. (And also JF’s question, possibly.)
John 16:7-8
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:
A quote from Oswald Chambers: “Conviction of sin is one of the rarest things that ever strikes a man. It is the threshold of an understanding of God. Jesus Christ said that when the Holy Spirit came He would convict of sin, and when the Holy Spirit rouses the conscience and brings him into the presence of God, it is not his relationship with men that bothers him, but his relationship with God.”
September 20th, 2007 at 11:43 am
Hmmmm. . .? While I appreciate your attention to my questions posed, I do not think the good Scripture you cited nor the quotation from Chambers really answers any of them.
I wholly agree that it is the Spirit which convicts a person of his sin! This was never a question in my mind. But I don’t think this was the thrust of the original post, in any case. My own questions were logical extensions of the premise offered in the original post. If all sins are not equal in the sight of God, how does one discern the disparity?
September 20th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
JF:
I sure C. Michael Patton would answer you better.
My answer to Suse that the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin
indicates to me that He convicts us also of the “gravity of any given sin”.
September 20th, 2007 at 9:13 pm
Michael,
I agree very much with your conclusion that all sins are not equal.
However I believe that your first illustration could be explained equally by a dull conscious, as repeated sinfulness often dulls the conscious of the sinner, or ignorance of the sin which sometimes lends us to think less of certain acts than other known sins.
I think the equality of the sin depends on how it is measured, and I will offer a few different ways.
1. The staining power–No matter how big or small a sin may be it still negates perfection.
2. It’s destructive potential–God detest certain sins because they are more harmful. (he who sins sexually sins against his own body)
3. It’s physical consequences–this is obvious
4. It’s affect on others—Jesus give the Pharisees a strong woe that they make people twice as much a son of hell as they are, or his warning against hindering children.