are all sins really equal?

While I could be wrong and will probably be told I am as usual, I believe there are some things God hates more than others.

In Proverbs 6:16-18, God mentions things He seems to particularly hate. "These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him. A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief. A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren."

 

All sin is a transgression of God's law, and in that sense it is equal. (1John 3:4)
He that has broken one law is just as guilty as he that has broken all the law. (James 2:10)
If one were to keep the law for salvation, he would have "to continue in all things that are written in the law to do do them." (Gal.3:10) In other words one sin, in his entire life would condemn him to Hell, and even then good works could not save him.

All sin is equal in that sense.
Where it is not equal is in the consequence. The consequence of different sins vary. There is a different consequence for lying than there is for pedophilia. Yet both are a transgression of God's law. They are equal in that they break God's law. It takes only one sin to condemn a person--"small or great.' But the consequence of various sins are much different in scope.

 

1 Corinthians 6: 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?
18Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. 19Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

We read these verses a few weeks ago in our small group study. Makes me think Jon-Marc could be right.
God hates sin, period. But are there sins He hates more, for whatever purpose. And God always has a purpose to everything.

 

Are people condemned to hell becasue of a sin, or because of the sin nature? It isn't one sin that condemns, it is the nature of sin we have that condemns, our sins are only a symptom of that nature.
edited to say I do agree with the rest of what you said, and may agree here too once I see exactly what you mean.

 

DHK has got it down perfectly. Sin is SIn in God's eye's. Nothing more to ad than that.

 

DHK and Donna are both touching the key to understanding this. It is helpful to distinguish between "Sin" and "sins". "Sin" is rooted in our rebellious natures, and all "sins" are outward manifestations of that nature. In that sense, they are equally condemning and the smallest of them drives us from God's presence. But sins do have gradations of severity, both in their consequences and in their offensiveness toward God.

 

So if sin is sin is sin, is the punishment in hell the same for each sinner, why or why not?

 

are all sins really equal?

Nope... John 19:11 Jesus answered, "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."

 

Deu 25:16 For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the LORD thy God.

Just think of it everyone of us is an abomination to God. Because we have all been unrighteously sinful. All sin is unrighteous and not one of us is with out sin. All sin has the same consequince,,,,, HELL
MB

 

If some sin is more deserving than another what tempature do you think a white lie will get us. Will we burn less hot?, or will we burn less?. Since forever is forever and Hell is just plain hot what difference does it make?
MB

 

The answer that "sin is sin" just does not cut it.

Rom 6:23

For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.


We think of all sin leads to death but according to scripture:

1Jo 5:17

All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death. This woud not fit in the scripture "the wages of sin is death"!

So here we see according to scripture there is a "sin" which is not unto death.
Think about it, a sin which is not unto death, so seems it does not fall in the scripture that the wages of sin is death. Here is a sin which is not unto death.
What is it? Could it be the not visiting the sick, failure to assembly thyselves, etc. Which the advocate with God will take care of by chastisement?
Don't just look over the words "a sin which is not unto death", for it does not fit into your definition that all sin are the same in God's eyes. This happens to be God's word, there is a sin which is not unto death.

1Jo 5:16

If any man see his brother sin a sin [which is] not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.

Just something to study about brothers.

 

We don't know how the punishments there differ, but apparently there are different degrees of punishment:


From Matt. 11:
"Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

22"Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.
23"And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. 24"Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you."


(underlining added)

 

Clearly we see that all will not receive the same punishment. Therefore, we must conclude that all sins are not equally grave. As has already been stated, this is shown in 1 John 5:16-17.

 

All our righteousness is as filthy rags in front of a Holy God.

 

Sin is sin

Referring to Mark1's remark of there is not a sin unto death. I am taking my explanation of this from my commentary by J. Vernon McGee.What is a sin unto death? John was not talking of the unpardonable sin . We are talking about a sin unto physical death, not spiritual death. What is this sin? Well,, for Moses and Aaron it was one thing. They lost their tempers, and destroyed a type of the Lord Jesus. Ananias and Sapphira were living like hypocrites. So a sin unto death is no one thing specifically. But I am of the opinion that every believer is capable of commiting the sin unto death. You can go on in sin until God removes you from the scene. This does not mean that every Christian who dies has commited the sin unto death, but it is possible to do that. Absalom also commited a sin unto death. He led a rebellion against his Father, King David. Continual, consistant sin will bring spiritual death to that person who has NOT come under the lordship of Christ through repentance and faith.( Rom 6:23, Rev 20:14 ) For those who have trusted Christ Jesus for salvation, death no longer holds this dread. My opinion is that sin is sin, the only other sin is that of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. My past denomination of being Catholic thought that there were Mortal sins Very BAd) and Venial sins ( less bad ). But then again Catholics also believe in Purgatory. I think I have said enough for tonight, time for bed. LOL

 

There is also the unforgivable sin

Mk 3:29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:

However, I think we would prioritize sins all backwards if it were left to us to know or decide which is worse.

 

One must remember in discussing "a sin unto death" that in the grammatical structure of the Greek language in which the NT was originally written, there is no such thing as an indefinite article [the "a" in our English language].

As a consequence, any time the indefinite article "a" appears in our English versions, that indefinite article had to be supplied by whoever was doing the translating from the NT Greek to English.

Personally, I choose to prefer that the indefinite article be omitted in this expression, thus rendering it as follows: "...there is sin unto death."

IOW, it's my personal view that a born-again individual may persist in practicing an unrepentant and unconfessed lifestyle of sin that at some point [and here I believe that point is different in each particular situation] God simply deems it best for all concerned (especially Himself!) that He remove this person from among the ranks of the physically living.

Such an individual has not lost his spiritual salvation, but has forfeited his phyical life.

Isn't this the basic thrust of what Hebrews 10:26-31? The writer of Hebrews is not referring to those who were not his [God's]; in fact, 10:30 specifically tells us that in this passage God is talking about judging "his people"!

So, no, I don't believe there is a particular "sin unto death."

There is however, according to how I understand this aspect, a cumulative effect that if one of God's people deliberately chooses to continue on ignoring the clear warnings of God's Word when it comes to living a holy life for a born-again believer.

It is indeed, for every such child of God, "...a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God," (Hebrews 10:31!!

 

Ktn4eg, you have a good point on the indefinite article but I cannot agree with your conlcusion. Common sense tells you that God doesn't remove a person from this life on account of a reprobate lifestyle except in rare circumstances. If that were true, all the old people would be saints and we know that is not so, "for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." Matthew 5:45. Furthermore, if John were using "death" here to refer to physical death, why would he use the same word to refer to spiritual death in 1 John 3:14? I submit that he used the word the same way in both places. The only conclusion we can draw is that some sins will send us straight to Hell; others will not, although they will impede our fellowship with Christ and our witness to others in this life.