From an article at ‘You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given to you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin’” (Jn. 19:11).
James 2:10 tells us that “whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.” In other words, then we must be perfectly obedient. To fail in one point is to fail utterly and completely, for our Creator’s perfect holiness demands justice for even the slightest transgression. We need the righteousness of another to be put on our record because none of us has ever kept the standards of the Lord flawlessly. When we trust Christ alone, His record of perfection is imputed to us, and so we can enter into eternal life as those who have a record of obedience to the Father (2 Cor. 5:21). This is wholly by grace since Jesus credited our account with His obedience and we have done nothing to deserve it.
That one sin is enough to condemn us to hell, however, does not mean that all sins are evil to the same degree and that the consequences for our errors are all the same. God may condemn even the smallest sin, but the punishment of the “virtuous pagan” will be less severe in hell than the one who puts every immoral thought and desire into practice, because the scope of the former person’s sins is not as large as the latter one’s. To be sure, hell will be awful for both, but as one theologian has noted, all the sinners in hell would move heaven and earth if they could remove but one transgression from their record and have their punishment even barely alleviated.
Many portions of Scripture, including today’s passage, tell us there are degrees of sin, guilt, and punishment. The Jewish authorities who turned Jesus over to Rome were guilty of a greater evil than Pilate was because they had greater access to God’s revelation and had less reason for refusing to acknowledge Christ’s identity (John 19:1–16). Punishments under the old covenant civil law were meted out according to the circumstances of the crime (for instance, see Ex. 21:28–32). Those who are ignorant of the Master’s will receive fewer lashes in the end than those who know the Master’s will and are disobedient (Luke 12:35–48). Note, however, that even though ignorance may alleviate the consequences for sin, it cannot excuse sin entirely. Our representative, Adam chose his path — apart from the knowledge of God — and we all follow suit. Thus, we are culpable for our ignorance (Rom. 1:18–32; 5:12–21).
Coram Deo
That there are degrees of punishment in hell according to the extent of one’s sin means that there are also degrees of reward in heaven according to how we obey. Our obedience, to be sure, cannot earn eternal life, but once we are admitted into the kingdom by grace alone through faith alone, what we do in service to Christ earns for us, by His grace, rewards in heaven. Let us serve Him that our rewards might be even greater (1 Cor. 3:1–15).
Dr. R. C. Sproul in his book “The Holiness of God” explains why the concept that all sins are equal in God’s sight, is actually incorrect. He writes:
“The sins listed (in Galatians 5:19-21) may be described as gross and heinous sins. The New Testament recognizes degrees of sins. Some sins are worse than others. This important point is often overlooked by Christians. Protestants particularly struggle with the concept of gradations or degrees of sin. . . we tend to think that sin is sin and that no sin is greater than any other. We think of Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount that to lust after a woman is to be guilty of adultery. We are aware that the Bible teaches if we sin against one point of the Law, we sin against the whole Law. These two biblical teachings can easily confuse us about the degrees of sin.
When Jesus said that to lust is to violate the Law against adultery, He did not say or imply that lust is as bad as the full act of adultery. His point was that the full measure of the Law prohibited more than the actual act of adultery. The Law has a broader application.
The Pharisees thought that because they never committed the actual act of adultery, they were free of sin against the Law. They assumed that if they actually refrained from killing people, they were keeping the Law against killing. They failed to see that unjust anger and hatred were also included in the wider meaning of the Law against killing.
Jesus taught that hate is a sin against another person’s life. Hatred violates people. It is not as severe as actual murder, but is nevertheless a sin. The smallest sin involves a sin against the whole law. The Law is the standard of holiness for us. In our slightest transgression we sin against that standard; we violate the call to holiness. Again, that does not imply that every sin is as wicked as every other sin. Jesus repeatedly spoke of degrees of punishment in hell as well as those whose guilt was greater than others.
The idea of gradations of sins is important for us to keep in mind so we understand the difference between sin and gross sin. Again, all of our sins require forgiveness. All of our sins are acts of treason against God. We need a Savior for our “little” ones as well as the “major” ones. But some sins are more significant than others, and we need to identify which these are, lest we fall into the pharasaical trap of majoring in the minors.”
If someone hates someone, he has no right to then say “well I obviously hate the man, so I might as well go and kill him too.” No, a thousand times, no! To act on the evil intention of his heart would be to compound his sin many times over. Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount meant that the commandment against murder was not to be viewed as merely the abstinence of the outward action, but was intended to extend to the heart. Our Lord did not imply that hating is equal to murder, but rather that even hatred (a sin of the heart) violates God’s intention when He gave the commandment not to murder. Similarly, the same principle would hold true with adultery of the heart. It is indeed a grievous sin even as it is not the exact same thing as adultery in its outward form. There is a distinction.
All sins involve high treason against an infinitely holy God. All sins deserve God’s wrath and the punishment of hell. Yet not all sins are equal. As Dr. Sproul made clear, some sins are worse than others. What is certainly true is that we desperately need a Savior for all of the sins we commit. Thankfully, God sent His Son Jesus into the world to die an atoning death for sinners. All who put their trust in Christ as Savior and Lord are forgiven by God. He will forgive all our sins, whether they be large or small.