Some have wrongly interpreted Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount to mean that every sin is equally evil in God's sight:
Matthew 5:21-22: You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire.
Matthew 5:27-28: 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 lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Jesus does not teach here that murder and anger are exactly equal in their severity. He does not teach that actual physical adultery and lust are exactly equal degrees of sin. What do these passages teach?
1. The outward action and the inner desire are both sinful in God's sight.
2. The outward action and the inner desire both deserve the punishment of God in hell. God will judge both our outward behavior and our inner thoughts, feelings, desires, and motives.
3. The inner desire is the beginning or seed of the outward action.
4. The inner desire (anger) is a kind of murder of the heart.
5. The inner desire (lust) is a kind of adultery of the heart.
6. All sin, both our outward behavior and our inner thoughts, feelings, desires, and motives from which our outward behavior flows, are very serious to God. Repent and turn from all sin.
7. The Pharisees were very focused on mere outward behavior while their hearts were far from God. Jesus is teaching here that God looks at the heart and judges the heart as well as the outward behavior.
James 2:10 is another verse some wrongly interpret to mean all sins are equal in God's sight:
James 2:9-11: But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. For he who said, 'Do not commit adultery,' also said, 'Do not murder.' If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
Here, James does not negate all the other Biblical teaching on degrees of sin, but, like Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, he makes the point that all sin is very serious because it is an offense against God. Every sin is utterly serious in God's sight and to break one of God's laws is to bring the whole wrath of the whole Lawgiver Who gives the whole law against you.
Commenting on James 2:10, Dan Vander Lugt writes:
What James is confronting in this verse is the self-righteous attitude that we don't depend as much on God's grace as someone who has committed more obvious and heinous kinds of sin. This kind of thinking is self-deceiving and encourages complacency. Any violation of the law is enough to keep us from being justified by the law's standards. A person who doesn't murder or commit adultery but shows partiality to the rich should not feel self-righteous. He is a lawbreaker too. The function of the law is not to justify but to bring awareness of sin (Romans 4:14-16; 5:19-21; 1 Corinthians 15:56). We should be humbled and conscience-stricken by the many sins we do commit, and not feel superior to those who sin in ways we don't. (
Does James 2:10 imply that God doesn’t consider some sins more serious than others?)
Stephen Wellum adds:
Sin before God, no matter what sin it is, leads to our status of guilty, polluted, and far from God (Eph. 2:1-3). On this point, James 2:10 can now be legitimately used: "For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it." Before God, breakage of any point of the law is to break all of it. Or, Paul can say: "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them" (Gal. 3:10; cf. Deut. 27:26). Breaking one commandment results in our condemnation before God. (
Degrees Of Sin)
Though every sin, from the least to the greatest, deserves the infinite wrath of the infinite God, the Bible also teaches there are degrees of seriousness of sin. God's Word is clear that some sins are worse than others. Actually murdering someone is worse than getting angry with them. Committing the physical act of adultery is worse than lusting for them.
Here are 20 ways God's Word teaches some sins are worse than others:
1. God makes a distinction between unintentional sins and high handed sins in the Old Testament
Numbers 15:27-31: If one person sins unintentionally, he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement before the LORD for the person who makes a mistake, when he sins unintentionally, to make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven. You shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally, for him who is native among the people of Israel and for the stranger who sojourns among them. But the person who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native or a sojourner, reviles the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of the LORD and has broken his commandment, that person shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be on him.
2. God assigned more or less severe punishments depending on the sin committed in the Old Testament
Exodus 21:15-17: Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death. Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death. Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death.
Exodus 22:1: If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.
3. God told Ezekiel that he would see greater abominable sin than he was already seeing
Ezekiel 8:6: And he said to me, "Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel are committing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see still greater abominations."
4. Jesus said people who sin with more knowledge will receive a more severe punishment than those who sin with less knowledge
Luke 12:47-48: And that servant who knew his master's will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.
5. Jesus said certain people will suffer more than others on the day of judgment
Matthew 11:23-24: And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.
Luke 10:10-14: But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.' I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.
6. Jesus said some sins are greater than others
John 19:11: Jesus answered him, "You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin."
7. There is an unpardonable sin in the Bible, showing this sin is worse than other sins
Matthew 12:31: Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.
8. There is a sin leading to death in the Bible, showing this sin is worse than other sins
1 John 5:16-17: If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life - to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.
9. There is a sin God calls unthinkable to Him
Jeremiah 7:31: And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.
10. Sexual sin is spoken of as a sin that is worse than other sins because it is a sin against your own body
1 Corinthians 6:18-20: Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
11. God says that deliberately sinning after you have the knowledge of the truth is particularly evil
Hebrews 10:26-27: For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.
12. God says that those who reject the revelation found in Christ will receive a worse punishment than those who sinned under the old covenant
Hebrews 10:28-31: Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay." And again, "The Lord will judge his people." It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
13. God lists sins that He particularly hates
Proverbs 6:16-19: There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.
14. God speaks of a sin that is so bad that it is not even tolerated among godless, pagan people
1 Corinthians 5:1: It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father's wife.
15. Turning away from God after receiving many evangelical blessings is particularly evil in God's sight
Hebrews 6:4-6: For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they then fall away, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.
16. Causing children to stumble is particularly evil in God's sight
Mark 9:42: Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.
17. You can sin in such a way that you are twice as much a son of hell when compared with others
Matthew 23:15: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
18. Paul called himself one of the greatest and worst of sinners
1 Timothy 1:15-16: Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.
19. The unbiblical notion that all sin and sinners are equally evil in God’s sight steals the joy of those who know they have been forgiven much
Luke 7:44-50: Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven - for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little." And he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, "Who is this, who even forgives sins?" And he said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."
20. This is what the historic, Reformed catechisms teach
The Westminster Shorter Catechism teaches this biblical truth in Question 83:
Q. Are all transgressions of the law equally heinous?
A. Some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others. (See also the Westminster Larger Catechism questions 150 and 151)
The Heidelberg Catechism teaches this biblical truth in Question 100:
Q. Is the blaspheming of God's Name by swearing and cursing such a grievous sin that God is angry also with those who do not prevent and forbid it as much as they can?
A. Certainly, for no sin is greater or provokes God's wrath more than the blaspheming of His Name. That is why He commanded it to be punished with death.
Only Jesus Christ, the God-Man, through His life, death, and resurrection, can save you from all of your sins! He took the wrath of God that you and I deserve for our sins on Himself, died on the cross, and rose again so that we might be saved! Repent and believe in Him today!
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16
Resources On Different Degrees Of Sin
