Posted on 09/06/2014 10:54:08 AM PDT by HarleyD
Doing pro-life work is often met with resistance, sometimes from where we least expect it. Whether we make the Biblical case for public pro-life action or for a boycott of companies that support Planned Parenthood, Christians have responded that there are too many societal sins to justify a focus on fighting abortion. And when we point out the urgency of God’s command to do all we can to save “those that are ready to be slain,” others defend their inaction by saying something along these lines: “Remember, all sins are equal!”
It is not my intention to vilify those people. Some have asked genuine questions about prioritizing pro-life work, and perhaps for others, the intent behind proclaiming all sins as equal is to assure fellow sinners that God is willing to forgive, regardless of the heinousness of sin. But for many, “all sins are equal” has become an all too familiar mantra, unfortunately used to excuse unbiblical behaviour.
It is because of such claims that we examine our own position. Is it fair to reject the call to save pre-born children from death because there are other, just as pressing evils to fight? To find the answer, our Reformed heritage suggests none else but the Scriptures as our starting point. What does the Word of God say? Are all sins really equal?
First of all, it is true that every sin deserves God’s wrath, both in this life and in the one to come, as we can find in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death.” The Bible is clear that our Creator’s perfect holiness demands justice for even the slightest transgression. “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). This means we need the righteousness of another, of the Mediator, to escape God’s wrath and be counted righteous in the sight of the Lord.
But since one sin is enough to condemn us to hell, does that mean that all sins are evil to the same degree and that the consequences are all the same? And does that mean we have an obligation to fight every sin equally? The Bible shows the contrary.
The first piece of relevant evidence is a series of events in which God brings judgment on groups of people in Old Testament times. Consider the Flood (Genesis 6–9), the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18-19), the Exodus (Exodus 7-12), the Assyrian captivity (2 Kings 17), and the Babylonian exile (2 Kings 24-25). God bore with sin, oppression, and rebellion only to a point, until the measure was full. When the line was crossed, whether in degree or frequency, God treated the people, previously blessed with His grace, in a vastly different way. If all sins were equal, why the distinction?
Furthermore, when individuals sinned there were different sacrifices prescribed for each situation and different punishments required for certain sins. For example, a thief paid restitution but those who committed adultery or premeditated murder were put to death (Exodus 22, Leviticus 1-6, 16-17, 20). Thus, God provided a system of jurisprudence that reflected His will in taking all sin seriously but also showed that some were worse than others.
There is at least one more telling example in the Old Testament: Numbers 15. The chapter describes two different kinds of sin: the unwitting or accidental sin, which has an offering prescribed for it (vs. 22-29) and the defiant, premeditated, or haughty sin, which cannot be forgiven and therefore has no prescribed sacrifice. This sin is persistent and goes beyond the breaking of a specific commandment to the point of a deliberate rejection of Word of the Lord (vs. 30, 31). Evidently, in the Law of Moses, not all sin is the same.
What about the New Testament? We see the same trend under the new dispensation, which becomes especially clear in the words of the Saviour Himself. For instance, in Luke 12, the Lord Jesus explains that those who know the revealed will of God but do not act accordingly “shall be beaten with many stripes” and that “it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for [Capernaum]” (Matthew 11:23, 24) because of its unbelief and refusal to repent. He also said to Pilate, “He that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin” (John 19:11). Hence, there are degrees of punishment, which implies degrees of guiltiness, which means that some sins are more blameworthy than others.
In summary, all sins are equal in that they all deserve God's wrath, no matter how trivial they seem. No sins are small when committed against a great and generous God but beyond this, the gravity of each transgression depends on varying factors, as observed in both the Old and New Testament. It makes a difference whether those committing the sin know better, are in the public eye or objects of public trust, and whether one commits or omits deliberately (1 Kings 11:9-10, 2 Samuel 12:7-10, Romans 2:17-23, Romans 1:32, Matthew 18:15-17). The severity of sin is further determined by the persons offended or harmed, in particular the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but also any fellow Christians or those who ought to be aided or protected by virtue of their vulnerability (Hebrews 10:28-29, Matthew 18:6, Proverbs 24:11-12). A consideration of these and many more texts shows that the Bible’s answer to our question is very clear. In the words of The Shorter Westminster Catechism, “Some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others.”
To deny these distinctions trivializes sin and may even serve as an excuse for one’s own behaviour. When the clear teaching of Scripture is rejected in favour of feel-good theology, the playing field is dangerously leveled. Murdering a child can then be belittled as no more sinful than stealing a cookie and as a result, lack of action in response to either of these wrongs hardly makes a difference. After all, all sins are equal, right?
Wrong. Not only do the Scriptures tell us that some sins are worse than others, it also tells us in no uncertain terms that God hates a certain practice: child sacrifice, also known as abortion (Leviticus 18, 20, Jeremiah 19). Considering the factors that aggravate sin, this means that the procedure that intentionally destroys the crown jewel of creation—a small child knitted in the mother’s womb, is the greatest evil of our time. As John Calvin said, “If it seems more horrible to kill a man in his own house than in a field, it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy a fetus in the womb before it has come to light.”
But before you point fingers at those who perform or undergo abortions, listen to the words of the Lord in Proverbs 24:11-12. “If thou forebear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? Doth he not know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?”
The implication? Once again considering the factors that aggravate sin, this means that failing to do anything about abortion is perhaps worse yet, especially when we know better and ought to be the salt and light of this world, but omit to save those who are being slaughtered. It also means that if innocent human beings are in danger, we are to come to their rescue in every possible way. That’s why, when it comes to abortion, we are confident that it should be a matter of priority, and that the Christian church bears the greatest burden of responsibility in fighting this evil.
As Martin Luther once wrote, “If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that point which the world and the devil are that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proven, and to be steady on all the battle fronts besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.”
As long as the blood of precious pre-born children is being shed in our own backyard, this is the evil we must face with the greatest urgency. Why? Because not all sins are equal.
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The Virtue-Driven Life
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The Anatomy of Envy
Well yes.
At least I would believe that is how God would look at it. Nothing in the Word indicates your chances of salvation are graded on which sins you partake in, or how often, etc. We as human beings may look at then differently but in the end it does not matter how we look at them but only how God looks at them.
If rending unborn babies limb-from-limb because they're inconvenient is not wrong, then nothing is wrong.
Well said.
But each of us is called to tackle different problems. Some are working in Prison Fellowship programs; some are working in Hands of Hope clinics; others are working in Gospel Rescue Missions, etc.
'Nuff said.
As bad as it was to incarcerate American citizens simply becuase of their race during WW 2, it would be an egregious error to say that it was morally the same as the Holocaust. No not all sins are equal, not even close.
Based on scripture, It seems that any sin will keep us from entering God’s kingdom, but there are different degrees of punishment in the other place.
Well, true. Both were reliant on race/culture/faith. As for the holocaust, I have NEVER gotten an answer as to whether Judaism is a faith and/or a culture. Doesn't really matter, I suppose.
One incarcerated; one tortured and killed. They would seem to me to be MILES apart.
In the eyes of God, they are the same, because the difference between the person who is willing to steal a paper clip and the person who is willing to steal a person's life is courage: a coward will only steal a little thing.
The question that most people are concerned with is not whether all sins are equal, but whether the societal effects of all sins are equal, and the answer is that the effects are evidently not equal. The law reflects this, because its punishments are not equal. God's grace, however, is greater than our sin--any sin--but His redemption is necessary for our sin, regardless of the effect of the sin upon (transitory, bound to eventually perish) society.
The answer is yes. Or, to be more specific, Jewish life is a culture, while the Tanakh is an expression of the relationship between The Almighty and His people. In the world's eyes, they are conflated: anti-Semites hate both Jews and their culture, supporters of the Jewish people love both Jews and their culture.
No, all sin is not equal. So sayeth the Apostle John.
1 John 5:16-17 NIV
If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.
Exo 1:17 But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.
Exo 1:18 So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, "Why have you done this, and let the male children live?"
Exo 1:19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them."
Exo 1:20 So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong.
“Furthermore, when individuals sinned there were different sacrifices prescribed for each situation and different punishments required for certain sins. For example, a thief paid restitution but those who committed adultery or premeditated murder were put to death (Exodus 22, Leviticus 1-6, 16-17, 20). Thus, God provided a system of jurisprudence that reflected His will in taking all sin seriously but also showed that some were worse than others.”
No. A thief can provide restitution and make the victim whole again. Those who committed adultery or premeditated murder can not make the victim whole. We are under Grace in NT times, not law. We all DESERVE death for our sins.
While it is true that it takes more courage to rob a bank than to steal a paper clip there are other sins involved in the bank robbery. The person who steals a paper clip sees it as no big deal, nobody will miss it, it won’t cause any harm. The armed bank robber callously terrifies people possibly making them think they are going to die in the next moment. Some people are even emotionally scarred for life. The bank robber then is commiting the sin of selfish lack of compassion. The same would hold true of someone who cons another out of their life savings. Not only are they harming that person but all of their loved ones too.
Yes, big crime takes courage, it also takes cruelty.
That all sins are the same is only true insofar as they make you a law breaker in need of salvation which even the smallest sinner needs as much as the more prolifogate sinner.
Thus not all only are all sins the same in the sense of making you a culpable sinner, but all sinners are the same insofar as they are both sinners, who are helpless to earn salvation or escape eternal damnation. and thus must rest upon the risen Lord Jessus to save by His sinless shed blood, thanks be to God.
However, that there are differences in sins as regards the degree of evil, and of sinners, is very Biblical. This can be seen in the degrees of penalty, so that the punishment for a thief is not the same as for an idolator, adulterer or murderer.
Abraham lying about Sarah being his sister (she was his half sister) versus wife, to save his skin, is not the same as Herod's slaughter of the the innocents, or the sin of Sodom, "because their sin is very grievous." (Gn. 18:20) .
And likewise there are worse sinners than others, based upon not only what manner of sin they engage in, but how this relates to the degree of light and ability given. Thus it is written that Manasseh king of Judah did wickedly above all that the Amorites did, (2 Kings 21:11) while it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for cities that saw such great grace as the Lord and His apostles manifested. (Mark 6:11)
And likewise 'Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation." (Matthew 23:14)
And thus professed believers are overall held as the most accountable, and are thus given stern warnings against impenitent willful sin and drawing back in unbelief. (Gal. 5:1-4; Heb. 3:9,12; 10:25-39)
And thus the lost will be "judged every man according to their works," (Revelation 20:13) in determining their sentence, while believers will rewarded or suffer loss of rewards based upon their labor in building the church. (1Cor. 3:8ff)
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