Today many people react against legalism and discrimination by declaring that all sins are equal before God and that, therefore, there is no sin or sin; however, the Bible seems to show greater complexity in the subject.
In the following excerpt, part of the article “Homosexual practice is like any other sin,” Robert Gagnon gives 12 examples that not all sins are equal. Since this is a controversial topic, read and think before you react.
The biblical basis of the view that some sins are worse than others
However, I am still a “man of the Bible”; so let’s look at it. Evidence of the view that the Bible considers some sins to be worse than others is virtually infinite, so I will close the list when I reach a dozen examples.
(1) In the Old Testament there is clearly a classification of sins, for example, in Leviticus 20, which reorganizes Chapter 18 of sexual offences according to the seriousness of the crime/sentence, with the most serious sexual offences grouped first (20. 10- On the first level of sexual offences (apart from adultery, the worst forms of incest and bestiality) are same-sex sex. Clearly, several penalties for various sins are found in the legal material of the Old Testament.
(2) After the golden calf episode, Moses said to the Israelites, “You have committed a great sin; Now, however, I will ascend to the Lord; Perhaps I can make atonement for your sin?”(Ex 32. 30). Clearly, the episode of the golden calf was a great sin on the part of the Israelites, something confirmed by the gravity of divine judgment. There must have been many kinds of sins among the Israelites, from the moment they left Egypt. Only on specific occasions did God’s wrath ignite against the actions of the Israelites?Why, if all sins are equally abhorrent to God?
(3) Figures 15. 30 refer to crimes committed with “closed fists” (deliberately and perhaps by challenge) as if they were of a more serious nature than relatively involuntary sins (15. 22, 24, 27, 29).
(4) In Ezekiel 8, the prophet is resurrected by an angel, in the visions of God?And he took him to Jerusalem, where he sees varying degrees of idolatry developing around the Temple and the angel by declaring twice the phrase, “Will you see?even greater abominations than these?” (i. e. , detestable things to God; 8. 6,13,15; 8. 17), after a sequence of visions.
(5) Jesus mentioned: what is most important in the law?(Mt 23:23), like justice, mercy, and faithfulness? It was more important to obey these things than to shed the tithe of spices, even if such offerings should not be neglected. Such formulations imply that violations of the most important or important commandments (such as not defrauding the poor of their resources for profit) are more serious than violations of the smallest or lightest?(for example, tithing of small foods, such as spices), which Jesus said should be practiced without neglecting the most important topics. Jesus adds the following review: “Blind Guides!You kill a mosquito and swallow a camel? (23,24) What is the difference between a mosquito and a camel, if all the commandments and all violations are the same?
(6) Famous is also jesus’ identification of the two most important commandments (M. 12,28-31). He also said, “Whoever disobeys one of these commandments, however small, and thus teaches men, will be called the smallest in the kingdom of heaven?(Mt 5. 19) Again, presenting the commandments major and minor means major and minor violations.
(7) I would suggest that Jesus’ special focus on those who exploited others economically (tax collectors) and on those who sinned sexually, always in an effort to restore them to the kingdom of God as he proclaimed, was not so much a reaction to their abandonment by society as an indication of the particular gravity of these sins and the extreme spiritual danger these people faced. In this sense, we can think of the story of the sinful woman who washed Jesus’ feet with tears, dried them with her hair, kissed them with her lips and anointed them with oil (Lk 7, 36-50). Jesus explained the extraordinary act of the woman by telling a parable of two debtors: the one who forgives the creditor the most is the one who loves him the most. The obvious deduction is that the sinful woman had done something worse in God’s eyes. Although Jesus’ Pharisee host did not like the woman having contact with Jesus, he praised her actions: “His sins, which are many [or great], are forgiven him, because he loved much [or much]; but he who is little forgiven, does he love little? (7. 47). Many Christians view the idea of being forgiven for major sins as a bad thing. Jesus shot him down. Just think of how Christians who emphasize that all sins are equal could use the biblical concept that some sins are more serious than others – some of us may need more forgiveness, but I can. To say that it made us understand the Lord’s grace in a certain way. better and therefore love the Lord even more.
(8) Another obvious case of prioritizing certain offenses as worse than others is Jesus’ characterization of “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit”, “eternal sin”. Who will never be forgiven, in his context, refers to the Pharisees who attributed Jesus’ exorcisms to demonic power (Mt. 3: 28-30).
(9) According to John 19. 11, Jesus said to Pilate, “You would have no authority over me if it were not given to you from above; therefore, does anyone who has given me to you incur a greater sin?The reference is to Judas. (6. 71; 13. 2. 26-30; 18. 2-5) or the high priest Caiaphas (18. 24. 28). “Major sin” this naturally implies that Pilate’s action is a minor sin.
(10) Paul speaks of different levels of action in 1 Corinthians 3: 10-17: it is possible to build on the foundation of Christ anyway and suffer losses, while inheriting the kingdom. However, “destroying the temple of God”, the local Christian community, for whatever reason, would result in its own destruction done by God. Is this destruction opposed to being “saved”? By fire? due to minor infractions. Leading commentators on 1 Corinthians (eg, Gordon Fee [Pentecostal], Richard Hays [Methodist], David Garland [Baptist], and Joseph Fitzmyer [Catholic]) agree (1) that a distinction is made between the seriousness of the actions; and (2) that Paul refers to the individual salvation of the Christian. Thus says Gordon Fee: “That Paul should be alert to a real threat of eternal retribution also seems to be the obvious meaning of the text. ” “Anyone who is responsible for dismantling the church can expect a fair trial; it is difficult to escape the sense of eternal judgment in this case, given its proximity to vv. 13-15? (The First Letter to the Corinthians [NICNT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987], pp. 148-149). So, Garland, who says it succinctly? Dark judgment? wait for those who destroy the Corinth community 😕 Is your salvation in danger? (p. 121).
(11) If every sin is equally serious to God, why did Paul highlight the offense of the incestuous man in 1 Corinthians among all the sins of the Corinthians as a reason for the exclusion of the community?Why such an expression of shock and indignation on Paul’s part?Moreover, if there was no classification of the commandments, how could Paul have immediately ruled out a case of incest that showed consensus among two adults, was monogamous and committed?If the values of monogamy and commitment for the rest of his life were of the same weight as the requirement of a certain level of family alterity, Paul might not have made a decision on what to do. what to do. Of course, for Paulo, this was not a difficult matter to decide. I knew the prohibition of incest was more fundamental.
(12) John’s First 5. 16-17 makes the difference between sin that is not for death (through what prayer can he work and save the sinner’s life) and him?Sin of death? (mortal sin, for which prayer will have no effect).
These twelve examples (do we really need more?) They should already clarify that the claim that the Bible does not indicate anywhere that certain sins are worse in God’s eyes has no merit.
Christians are sometimes confused on the subject when they reflect on Paul’s argument on universal sin in Romans 1. 18 to 3. 20. Yes, Paul argues that all human beings, Jews and Gentiles, without distinction, are they?Under sin? And “subject to God’s judgment. ” In fact, isn’t that your position: have you all sinned and are resourceless [or lack] the glory of God?(3. 23), but also that all have replaced God’s truth?and ourselves accessible in the material structures of creation (1. 18-32) or in the direct revelation of Scripture (2. 1?3. 20). Paul argues that we cannot say that we have sinned, but we did not know that we had sinned; we had sinned and knew (somewhere deep in our souls) or at least received a lot of evidence of it. , are they all inexcusable? For not glorifying God as God (1:20-21).
What Paul is saying is that any sin can exclude someone from the kingdom of God, if that someone thinks they can obtain salvation on personal merit or that they do not need death. restorative and life-giving resurrection of Jesus. What Paul does not say is that every sin is also offensive to God in all respects. Romans 2’s argument, for example, is not that Jews sin both (quantitatively) or notoriously (qualitatively) Gentiles in general. Any Jew, including Paul, would have dismissed this conclusion immediately. Idolatry (1. 19-23) and sexual immorality/homosexuality (1. 24-27) was not as serious a problem among Jews as among the Gentiles (obviously, the “common sins” of 1. 29-31 were already more problematic). On the contrary, the argument is that although The Jews sin less and less compared to the Gentiles in general, they have even more knowledge because they have more access to the “Words of God” in the scriptures (2. 17 -24; 3. 1 , 4,9-20). So everything is level, so to speak, in terms of the need to receive God’s work of grace in Christ (3:21-31).
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Why do so many people insist on the “equal vision of sin”?What should and should not make the hierarchical view of sins?What is the biblical basis for the view that homosexual practice is a particularly serious sexual sin?See the answer to these questions, and other questions on the subject by reading the full article.