Are all sins really 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 sight 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.
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- Are All Sins Really Equal in God’s Sight?
- My View of Remarriage after Divorce
- A Primer on the Christian Understanding of Capital Punishment
- Is Divorce Ever Biblical?
- Toward a Theology of Homosexuality
Parchment and Pen » Why is Hell Eternal? or “Will one white-lie send someone to Hell for all eternity?” on 25 Aug 2008 at 3:09 pm #
[...] but I don’t believe this is true. Not only do I not buy it, I think this, like the idea that all sins are equal in the site of God, is damaging to the character of God, the significance of the cross, and I believe it trivializes [...]
AndyC on 25 Aug 2008 at 3:13 pm #
All sin may not be equal, but all sin does make each and every one of us fall short of the mark of God’s perfect holiness. I can accept that just as there is a judgment of rewards there would be a judgment based on the severity of sins committed.
But I never want to get complacent with the fact that my sins, if not for His grace and mercy, are enough to doom me to just desserts of my inherently sinful nature.
Brent on 26 Aug 2008 at 2:15 am #
Great thought provoking article!
Whilst I would agree wholeheartedly that sins are not equal, having different consequences and differently offending God, what I would say is that the wages of all sin is death.
So whilst I agree that God is far less offended when I marginally break the speed limit as opposed to when I murder someone, both issues point to the sinful nature inherent in me. Unless that part of me is redeemed by Christ I stand condemned, whether I have a life only filled with small sins or a life with many serious sins.
bethyada on 26 Aug 2008 at 2:40 am #
Some of these posts are reposts are they not? This seems very familiar.
I agree and the clearest example is your first:
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).
Daniel Goepfrich on 26 Aug 2008 at 7:20 am #
I wish you had more support from NT passages outside of the law. I was taught the equality of sin from James 2:10 - if you break one commandment, you’re guilty of all of them. Therefore, not one of them is lesser than any other of them.
Here is your argument, if there is biblical support for it:
Just because all sin is equally damning for unbelievers does not make every sin equally abhorrent to God within his children.
C Michael Patton on 26 Aug 2008 at 1:50 pm #
The James passage, I believe, is not talking about the equality of sin, but that one cannot claim to be a law keeper and break any point of the law. Once one breaks the law, they have disassociated themselves from any claim to righteousness based on the Law. This is the same with Christ’s statement about “whoever looks at a woman with lust has committed adultury in their heart.” He is not saying that lust and the actual act are equal in God’s sight, but that each violate the same commandment, even if to differing degrees. Therefore, no one can claim that they have not broken the law just because they have committed a lesser violation of the law. The Law stands by its principles in spirit, not the actual letter.
Jim on 27 Aug 2008 at 6:57 am #
No matter what approach you take to James 2:10, you could still say that all sin is equal in some sense. It’s equal in the sense that every sin is a sin - it makes you a lawbreaker.
That being said, I do generally agree with your post. It does bother me particularly when Christians say that all sins are equal, and then don’t at least clarify what they mean. Do they simply mean that God can forgive all sins? Or are they saying rape is equally as bad as a child refusing to go to bed?
Perhaps it’s a dangerous thing to say, and we should just avoid it. But if you say it, at least explain what you mean.
Seth R. on 27 Aug 2008 at 12:13 pm #
I can accept the reasoning of disallowing someone into God’s presence on the basis of ANY sin - no matter how seemingly insignificant.
What I don’t get is why Christian theology only has one hell. If you believe in a just God, it doesn’t really seem fair that everyone gets dumped into one mass burning, right? So where’s the nuance there?
Maybe someone can explain this to me.
Ashley on 15 Sep 2008 at 7:20 pm #
okay first of all, what you are doing here is judging God’s punishments to say that one punishment is harsher than the other. First of all, God does not want to punish us ,but sometimes he has to. Of course, if more people are doing a sin it will be a greater punishment but the punishments are pretty equal in ratio. How can you judge punishment is that not like judging sin and didn’t God tell us not to do that. IDK it was just a thought to contribute to the conversation.