I keep hearing from teachers and pastors statements such as:
“All sin is equal in God’s eyes”
“The Bible says all sin is equal”
Where do people get the idea that all sin is equal? Whenever I ask them why they think this their logic is as follows: All sin results in the consequence of the death penalty. Therefore all sin is equally wrong. Something is missing between the premises and the conclusion. Here’s what the Bible (NIV) says…
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.Romans 10:9
That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Nothing here indicates that all sin is equal. Just because a consequence, “death”, is the same for all sins, doesn’t mean all of those sins are equal in badness. Perhaps, “all sin is bad”, or “all sin results in death” would be a more accurate statement.
Comments 8
Time for a Bible study on this subject! I think what is meant by all sin being equal is that any sin committed results in Jesus needing to sacrifice his life on our behalf. After all, Adam and Eve just ate a piece of forbidden fruit. But look at the horrendous consequences that one “little” sin started! It would seem that Cain’s murder of Abel was a much worse sin.
However, society measures sin and some sins are worse than others. Therefore the consequences are different for different sins. The question then could be, “Are the consequences in heaven and hell greater or lesser based on our actions on earth?” I think it is easy to show from a Biblical viewpoint that we receive greater or lesser rewards and punishment based on how we live our lives. I believe this is true in both heaven and hell.
Posted 09 Oct 2006 at 1:10 pm ¶Straight from Jesus’ mouth:
“Jesus answered [Pilate], ‘You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin.’”
John 19:11
Posted 09 Oct 2006 at 4:44 pm ¶This may be a Platonic forms question.
Let’s say everything that is right is A and everything that is wrong is B. (Platonically.) Is murdering someone a far greater sin than telling a little white lie, yes, but ideally both sins are equivalent to B. Therefore both sins are equally wrong. So, abstracted as a Platonic Form, both sins are equal. Because they’re both wrong.
I would argue that you’re right as well. Because you’re arguing that something like murder and white lies are not equal. Because, realistically they aren’t. Although I couldn’t speak to how God would punish people who tell white lies, unless “…All have fallen short of the glory of God…” is any indication.
So are all sins equal in “badness?” Certainly not. But are all sins equally sin? Certainly.
But that’s just my two cents, and maybe I’ve misinterpreted your question. Also, from what I recollect, all sins are not punished equally—I mean all humans die because of sin (from a Christian perspective)—but someone who’s eternally seperated from God for genocide would receive harsher treatment than someone who had simply never had an oppurtunity to hear the Good News.
Um…I just noticed there are two ladybugs engaging in coitus on your blog. Just FYI.
Also “white-space” is removed from comments, making this comment very hard to read. Thanks a lot, Ben. But the AJAX is very nice, kudos. What are you using? Thanks!
Posted 14 Oct 2006 at 10:28 pm ¶Nevermind. The “white-space” is only removed on Preview.
Posted 14 Oct 2006 at 10:30 pm ¶Michael, Yeah, I agree with you on it, except I’m not sure if God would give a harsher or lesser punishment based on level of sin. It would make sense and I think you’re right, but I’m not sure if it’s right. As mom pointed out, this would be interesting to discuss.
I don’t think level of punishment has to be related to sin severity. If you had a child that disobeyed you, you could ground him for a week, or you could ground him for a month. But the “badness” of his sin hasn’t changed. In the same way, just because all sin results in an equal punishment, it doesn’t mean that all sin is of the same severity. Yeah, it’s bad, even a lie is a very bad sin that results in death. I like your example of murder vs. white lies, there is not even Biblical support to say they are both equal…and the verse that Gabe quoted seems to say there are different levels of sin. (also there are the seven sins the Lord hates in Proverbs 6)
I’m using Wordpress, but I think the Ajax is in the theme… I didn’t notice that about the lady bugs. I thought they were just crawling on each other. Should probably fix that.
Posted 14 Oct 2006 at 10:59 pm ¶Did you read in Numbers 15:32-36 that the Lord commanded Moses to have the congregation stone a man to death for gathering sticks on the Sabbath day?? Pretty harsh punishment for what seems to be a little sin…same consequence as adultery! I don’t know what this means, just an interesting fact from the OT for us to ponder.
Posted 27 Oct 2006 at 12:55 am ¶i don’t think all sin is equal but it is all equally washed away.
i don’t know where in the bible, im no great theologian, it says something about “no sin is to great or small for the grace of God” or something along those lines…
so no, not all sin is equal
but it size is irrelavent, it separates us from God and it can be forgiven by God through Jesus, no matter what
Posted 10 Nov 2006 at 3:24 pm ¶I think where we get that all sin is equal is actually from James 2:10. (You know, the “K” verse in the Sparks code.) ‘Whoever keeps the whole law and yet offends in one point is guilty of all.’ One sin is enough to break the entire law so no sin, in this case, is greater or lesser than any other sin. Sure, we as human think murder is a greater sin than fornication, which is a greater sin than stealing which is a greater sin than telling a little white lie. But Biblically, they all are the breaking of the law and thus our condemnation. In God’s eyes, sin is sin is sin and forgiven sin is forgotten, both big and small, because of the great price Christ paid for all of it.
Posted 23 Nov 2006 at 10:52 pm ¶Post a Comment