Sometimes the things we believe about God can actually make Him seem quite distant. One of those is our beliefs about how God sees sin.
When we think that all sins are equal, we can actually make God seem really heartless.
Last week I posted an article that went big on how I was mourning Hugh Hefner’s legacy. There was a bit of debate on the comments here, but on Facebook there was A LOT. So many people said something to the effect of:
All sins are equal in God’s eyes, so it isn’t your place to judge.
I think it’s really important to talk about this today, but not because I want us to have perfect doctrine. This isn’t primarily a theology question to me. This seriously matters for our lives, and here’s why:
Let’s say that the absolute worst thing that you can imagine happens to you: Maybe your child is kidnapped and killed, and the perpetrator caught. What should your response be?
The first thing most of us think is that we should forgive him. We’re told to forgive, after all, and for own good we need to leave this in God’s hands.
But what if you can’t? What if you’re absolutely going crazy with grief? What then?
You desperately need God to put His arms around you. You need God to comfort you. You need God to make the crazy thoughts in your head stop and help you to find peace again. But how can you do that if you feel like God sees you and the rapist in the same way?
You see, if God views all sin the same, then God looks at you and He looks at the rapist and He sees you the same way.
That means that God cannot possibly understand what you are feeling right now. God wants you to get over the fact that your child was tortured and killed, and realize that you are no better.
But if God feels that way, then God is not there in the midst of your pain–except to say, “the only way out is to realize that you are just as bad, and you need Me just as much.”
That makes God seem like a monster. Does God honestly view a child rapist and killer in the same way that He views a regular, everyday person? Does God not see a difference? If He doesn’t, then He doesn’t understand how horrible it is to lose a child. He doesn’t understand your plight. So when you most need Him, all you feel is condemnation (because you can’t get past this and just understand that we are all sinners).
That’s why this matters. One day we’re all going to go through something bad. I pray, of course, that it’s never anything like this! But in the midst of our suffering, whatever it may be, we desperately need to know that God sees, God cares, and God understands. And if God doesn’t think there’s something extra painful about losing a child, or about betrayal by those closest to us, or about injustice, then God doesn’t understand pain. And if He doesn’t understand pain–then how can you turn to Him with yours?
If God doesn't understand pain, then how can you trust Him with yours? How we think about God matters!Click To TweetI want you to know that God understands, sees, and bleeds with you. So let’s take a look at why all sins are NOT equal and why God does indeed understand that certain sins hurt worse than others.
We are all sinful–yes. And only Jesus was sinless
A basic doctrine of Christianity is that we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). And we know that even the smallest sin means that we are no longer right with a righteous God. “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” (James 2:10).
So all of us deserve death, and all of us need Jesus as the only way to get right with God. Absolutely.
However, that does not mean that all sins are equal
Basically, people who say that God sees us all the same are combining two different things which really shouldn’t be combined.
The fact that we have all sinned means that there are two groups: Jesus, and everyone else. But just because “everyone else” is in its own group does not mean that “everyone else” is identical.
God certainly does judge some sins more harshly, and He draws a distinction between the level of different people’s sins. Tons of Scriptures say this; I’ll pull out just two.
And if anyone will not welcome you or heed your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. (Matthew 10:14-15).
Jesus is saying that if people won’t listen to his disciples when they come to tell the good news, then those people will be judged more harshly at the judgment day than those from the Old Testament destroyed cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Then there’s this one, about the kings of Israel:
In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned nine years. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, but not like the kings of Israel who preceded him. (2 Kings 17:1-2, my emphasis).
We see variations of this all throughout the talks of the kings of Israel and Judah; that some people were more evil than others.
There are more Scriptures than just these (like the countless Scriptures that refer to God’s enemies), and we can share them in the comments if people still aren’t convinced, but for the sake of brevity I’ll leave it there–all sins are not equal, and some people are more evil than others.
We are all sinful, yes. We all deserve death. But that doesn't mean God sees all sins the same.Click To TweetJesus Himself gets most upset about certain things
Jesus was sent to be flesh and blood among us, so that we could see what God is really like. And how did Jesus respond to sin? He did not get equally angry at all sins. Indeed, He got fired up more about certain sins than others.
He reserved most of his anger at the religious leaders of the day who were pretending to be holy, but who actually were sanctimonious and prideful. And why was this so bad? Jesus explains it here:
Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.” (Luke 11:46)
They made worshipping God be all about rules, and they laid such heavy burdens on people, and them condemned those people when they couldn’t meet the standards, so that they themselves could feel better than everyone else.
The end result? The people weren’t able to feel God’s blessing and love. And that’s what made Jesus angry: When the people were pushed away from God.
That’s also the same motivation that He had when He cleared the money changers’ tables in the temple courtyards. The money changers were preventing people from being able to worship God, and were also keeping foreigners away from knowing God (because they were set up in the area where foreigners were supposed to be allowed to worship).
Jesus didn’t rage at those who got drunk; He didn’t yell at those who gossiped; He didn’t get upset at lazy people. I’m not saying those things aren’t sinful. I’m just saying that He reserved His deepest anger for those who pushed people away from God.
Does God Seem Distant? Maybe the problem is that you believe things about Him that just aren't true!Click To TweetIn the Old Testament, God punishes some things more than others
In a similar way, in the Old Testament, God set up all kinds of rules for how the Israelites were to live–rules that they routinely didn’t follow. And God laid out punishments that Israel would receive if they failed to follow the law.
But God didn’t punish constantly, at each infraction. On the contrary, it was as if God had a threshold, and once that threshold was reached, then He sent the nations into exile.
And the two sins that He rages against the most? Idolatry, or turning to other gods, and injustice, or failing to plead the case of the poor and the widow and the orphan. God cares when people hurt His children.
Jesus Himself gets emotional at the things that we would get emotional at
We see Jesus get really emotional four times in Scripture: When Lazarus dies; when John the Baptist is beheaded; when He’s praying in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before He’s to be arrested, tried, and killed, and the disciples won’t pray with Him; and when He looks over Jerusalem and feels as if they are all lost and won’t hear the truth about how God loves them.
What do we learn about all of these things? Jesus is affected by death. He mourns when someone He loves dies. Jesus is affected by betrayal or loneliness; He feels badly when the disciples won’t support Him, and He hurts that Jerusalem has rejected Him. He desperately wants to feel connected to us and to love us. He cares.
The Conclusion: God cares about injustice, and He cares about His people hurting
He goes to battle for us. He notices us. He sees us.
And I just want you all to know that today. I worry about the people who were saying so loudly, “God sees all sins as equal so He sees us all the same”, because I think that that belief may sound very pious and holy when life is good, but when life gets bad, it can make God seem like a monster.
Rest assured: when God looks down at Hitler and Mao and Stalin and even Hugh Hefner, He does not see you. He sees evil, and feels the burden of evil. Evil angers Him. And while all sin separates us from God, all sin does not have equal impact. God knows that. And God cares.
If your child dies, He knows that’s an extra hard pain. If you are betrayed by your husband, He knows that hurts more than other sins. If you’re abused, He knows that this has greater impact than other things.
And that means, that when you are at the lowest point in your life, God will always be the safest place to turn to.
When you are at the lowest place in your life, God understands. And He will always be a safe place.Click To TweetWhat do you think? Do some of the things that we commonly believe actually make God seem distant? Let’s talk in the comments!
Sheila Wray Gregoire has been married for 25 years and happily married for 20! She loves traveling around North America with her hubby in their RV, giving her signature "Girl Talk" about sex and marriage. And she's written 8 books. About sex and marriage. See a theme here? Plus she knits. Even in line at the grocery store.
Sheila, I appreciate your different point of view and your willingness to share it! While I was reading this post, the thought kept coming to me that, although God might see the sin itself as equal (and I’m not pushing for that point of view but just stay with me), He judges according to the effects it has as well. Because often, when you look at sins God really despises, those are sins against our fellow men. I know all my sins affect those around me but I feel like if I have really hurt or hindered someone else by my sin, it will make it worse in God’s eyes.
I hope I’m making sense and thanks again for writing!
Yesenia
Yes, very true, Yesenia! He definitely judges and punishes sins differently, meaning that He understands that some things are worse than others. I don’t know how we could feel close to a God who didn’t feel, for instance, that killing a child or abusing a teenage girl was worse than gossip. That means that the things that hurt us most don’t really register to God. Like Dash said in the movie The Incredibles, “If everyone is special, than no one is.” In the same vein, “If every sin is the same, then no sin is really bad.” And if that’s true, then God doesn’t understand pain. And I just want people to be able to feel close to God!
Thank you. I so needed to hear this on days when the tv news is too much to bear.
The news has been just awful this week, hasn’t it?
I have often felt, throughout 25 years of a sexless marriage (< 10 times a year), that God didn't care about me and the situation because:
1) Despite how much I prayed about it, nothing changed
2) Despite anything I did, or didn't do, nothing changed
3) Despite anything counselors did, nothing changed
4) My drive and desire never went away, and most times only seemed to increase making it worse, despite trying to pray it away
So, my conclusions was:
1) God doesn't care. If He did care, he certainly ain't doing anything about it – despite me seeing Him doing tremendous things in other peoples lives, I guess mine doesn't merit any help.
2) Jesus didn't care either, and how could he? He was never sexually rejected since he was neither married nor had any romantic relationship. Sure he was rejected by men, but thats different because thats a different relationship from being married.
3) therefore, God is not a God of love, since he didn't care or love me enough to help me
4) therefore, God is a distant, uncaring God
Anyways, I know this was false thinking (free will of my spouse, and all that). But it left me in a black pit for years and years.
So I can understand why people think this.
I’m sorry for what you’ve gone through, John. So sorry.
Well, tomorrrow is our first followup meeting. Its been nearly a year, and we’ve had sex 7 times, and this is after 3 years of nothing (I gave up asking, she never asked me in 3 years if even anything was going on). So basically, we’re back to what we had before that 3 years of nothing.
so, hopefully, I’ll be able to express how I do like that our marriage has gotten better – we are communicating better, talking more, going out on date nights, praying (somewhat) together, doing a study together, etc. But nearly nothing on improving our sex life, other than what we had before: little frequency, little variety, little improvement. I’m happy with the other improvements, but we’ve made little progress in our sex life.
Quite frankly, I don’t think we ever will. She just simply doesn’t care. Not in a mean way, or a spiteful way, just … doesn’t care. Like someone doesn’t care if they watch TV or not, or have Pepsi or Coke or Water to drink. It just simply makes no difference to her.
I understand your feelings completely. I spent 28 years in a sexless marriage, and the last 6 were TOTALLY sexless. My refuser even told me that I should be happy and fulfilled in a marriage with no sex. She also told me that I was a horrible husband, all of her friends had better husbands, and she could easily find a better husband. Oh, and when she got him, she would certainly be having sex with him.
I had begged God to change me, change her, or both, for 25 years and He totally ignored me. I finally had to get out by myself. I am in the process of divorce, and I have to mourn my 28 years of my life that I lost. In the meantime, I see friends who had sex with every girl they could find, then got married to wonderful women who adore them.
It is sometimes a bit hard to take.
If God is a just God, which I believe he is, then yes, he sure will judge different sins differently, taking into account all factors. Two people can actually live in the same sin, yet the impact is completely different. Let’s say one single man and a married man with children both are alcoholics at a comparable level. The single man wastes his life and money, maybe creates sorrow for his parents and friends. The married man though carries also responsibility for his wife and children – he has power to impact their life by his poor choices creating much more pain and messing up his children’s lives. So I am sure God sees this and judges accordingly. Another example is lying. It is a completely different story if a little kid lies to his mother to try to hide that he stole some cookie then a famous religious leader lying to many people or convincing them to believe in a lie. The impact of the latter is much destructive on a much wider range then the former.
And about God understanding pain… I think what you say does make sense, but I also think we can look at it from a different angle. God himself saw his only beloved son been beaten and mistreated, betrayed, spit upon, mocked, judged unjustly and physically abused and killed through the most shameful death penalty at the time. He knows how it feels to go through the worst. He understands that pain, because he walked that path himself. The theology of the weight or seriousness of different sins might not have too much to do with it, though I can see how that line of thought can help people.
Totally agree with what you’re saying, Lydia!
I think the reason that I want people to understand that God does view some people’s sins as worse than others especially is because there are so many women on this blog who have been hurt–either abused in their past, or hurt by their husbands, or betrayed. And I just so want them to know that God sees that and He cares. That’s why it’s personal to me, I guess. I’ve spoken to women whose husbands have cheated on them telling me, “My pastor says that we all sin, and so I have to just get over this,” as if there’s an equivalence there. And I just think that God sees the severity when sins hurt other people. I still think, of course, that we need to forgive and move past it, but I don’t think that’s truly possible unless we first acknowledge the gravity of what’s been done to us. And this pull to equalize all sins makes that nigh impossible.
Yes I agree, we must allow people to express their pain and validate it. even if the offender has been forgiven that doesn’t mean that all the effects of his sin are eliminated. Sometimes restitution needs to be made, sometimes the hurt person needs more time to process what happened.
Man Sheila. This topic is big. I saw a guy once in an interview from the worst prisons in the United States. The guy said he found Jesus and that he had been saved and that his multiple killings were the same as if I stole a pen. Somehow I dont think so. Its just that simple. Personally scripture is great for backing this up but I dont need it. Its just common sense to me. Maybe because I have been through some garbage in my life and found the other side. I can tell you this. When someone impacts your life negatively and you are not in fit spirtual condition, the chances for running from God are much higher. That is what happened to me. Today my freinds son is at iminant point of death from pancreatic cancer. My gut feeling is my freind is not feeling so close to God. I had no words for him. But I got an email this morning from another freind. I dont even know her that well but I consider her my freind in Christ. There is always hope. According to the email I can share this with anyone. It is her book called God Notes. I shared it with my freind. I can share it with everyone here. It is free through October 8th. Get it here. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZZS75BL
Thank you, Phil. I think that’s scary what the murderer said–it’s like he didn’t appreciate his need for Jesus. Yes, we all guilty of breaking the whole law, but we must also come to terms with what we did before we can receive Jesus’ grace. If we don’t understand the severity of our need for Jesus, then how can we understand the immense gift He gave us? Regardless, we all can be forgiven, and God sees us all the same afterwards–He really does. But that’s not the same as saying that God sees all sins the same. And that does matter, or else God really is unknowable.
I think one of the ways that we were made in the image of God is through our emotions. We experience joy, and grief, and we can feel betrayal and jealousy (all things God experiences, too). But these things only make sense if we understand that some sins hurt other people more than others. That doesn’t mean that anyone is less in need of God–not at all. But God does not see everything the same, and our emotions, and the things that we intrinsically get angry about, are likely those that hurt God’s heart the most, too.
I think it’s interesting that this is even a debate. For most of Christian history and for most Christians today, the idea of mortal and venial sin is firmly ingrained. Have you intentionally broken friendship with God by breaking a serious one of his laws and not repented? You’ve turned away from Him, and need to come back. If it’s a more minor or inadvertent issue, work on not repeating it – but it’s not the same as mass murder if you tell a white lie.
This makes me think of a conversation I had a few weeks ago with my 8 year old son. He asked me what is the worst sin? You have to understand, we have lots of real conversations in our house. Whatever the question, I try to truly answer and to answer honestly. So I thought about it for a while and I said, that all sin, any sin comes between us and God and I’m not sure which sin is the worst but I think it all comes down to disobedience to God so my answer would be disobedience. Because it was an interesting thing to contemplate, I asked on my facebook page what other people thought. Many of them said, not accepting Jesus, many said blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, one said harming a child, and I had a few joking responses from non-christian friends. Now I thought about these, and considered the points that people were making, but decided to stick with my original answer since all of those things would be disobedient. Then on man told me in person, the biggest sin is the one that you don’t repent of. It’s the one that come’s between you and God so that’s the biggest. I have to admit. He had a point. It’s not really the same thing you are saying here, but the topics are so similar I had to share.
Good points. If I remember right, in the Old Testament, the only sin that didn’t have a corresponding sacrifice to atone for was “sin with a high hand” – deliberate rebellion, disregard, and disobedience to God. It was knowing and understanding God and His law and choosing differently. (Numbers 15:28-31) How can you be forgiven if you’re not sorry?
Now THAT’S an interesting theological question: “How can you be forgiven if you’re not sorry?” I’ve thought about that a lot…don’t have great answers.
God is sovereign – a concept we can’t wrap our finite minds around. Weighing sin doesn’t help me or change my view of God’s sovereignty. One of the things sovereignty means to me is that God does things that make no sense to me or that I can’t explain. God has felt distant at times for any number of reasons – not only because bad things happened or sin.
I don’t think the way you do in how you view of God (and that’s ok); I’ve had my share of hardship but I’ve never felt that God was a monster because of his actions. I’ve never started from a viewpoint of how bad is my sin or how bad was that sin. I don’t spend alot of time thinking about sin. I think that regardless of the sin, thank God for his sacrifice and that’s where I always start.
Thanks for making me think.
I get what you’re saying, and it makes sense, it really does. I agree, all sins are not equal, and saying that they are is very dangerous. When people say that, what they usually mean is, “well, I don’t think that sin was THAT bad, you’re making too big a deal out of nothing/being overly sensitive” basically just as a way to excuse bad behavior that they have no business excusing, and trivializing other people’s pain. “All sin is equal” becomes “You’re no better than me,” which then becomes, “I’m just as GOOD as you or anyone else!” It becomes a matter of pride for some. No one can change for the better if they don’t see anything wrong with themselves, as long as they’re proud and will not humble themselves.
However. There is danger in saying, “all sins are NOT equal” as well. It’s a true statement, but what tends to happen when people believe it is that they start trying to rank sins from least to greatest. And again, people begin to use it as an excuse for their bad behavior, and to make themselves look better than they really are. “I might be a gossip, but at least I’m not a liar.” “Sure, I tell lies now and again, but at least I’m no thief.” “Yeah, I steal things, but I never hurt anyone.” “So I lose temper sometimes and hit my kids sometimes, so what? I never killed anyone!” And so on, and so on, you get the point. No matter how bad a person they are, people always want to have someone else to look down on, and what do you think that does to others? Does that make them feel like God loves them, if they DO happen to struggle with whatever sin Christians have deemed unacceptable? Or is it more likely to drive them even further away from God, as God could never forgive what they’d done?
We have to be careful, then, whether we say “all sin is equal” or “all sin is not equal,” that we don’t fall into either trap, be it taking sin too seriously and becoming ungracious and haughty towards others, or not taking sin seriously enough and becoming morally bankrupt as a result. We got to watch ourselves, and exam our hearts and motives constantly. Whatever we do, must be done with love and humility, or else we risk the very corruption we seek to avoid in ourselves and others.
I agree, Blair. It can be a way to become prideful, which is why it is absolutely true that we are all in need of Jesus, and why none of us is righteous, not one. For me, the point wasn’t to help anyone take pride; it was just to say that God does understand that some things hurt more than others. I’m just afraid we’re making God distant. But there definitely is a danger in the other direction, too.
Exactly. Either way, if we aren’t VERY careful, we can make God seem distant, and that’s not good, not at all. As much as I disagree with the whole “all sins are equal in God’s eyes” concept, I do understand why it exists and why we need it. It can be useful, as a means to combat our natural tendency as humans to be complacent about OUR sin but hypercritical and judgmental of THEIR sin.
Thanks Sheila. I think I got you the first time. For argument sake, lets just say all sin is equal, surely, the one who sins more is worse of than the one who sins less? I mean if there is a guy who murdered once and the many Jews who lost their lives under Hilter, surely it can’t be the same. I understood that you were referring to legacy. HH used his life to influence others to sin. That was going beyond himself and that is a big deal. Similarly, when we look at people who influence others with their faith once in ten years and Billy Graham who took most of his life to share his faith, there is a difference. In that regard I would agree sin is not equal and even eternal blessing is not equal (though I might not be able to prove it down here).
Cherish, you’re right about there being degrees of reward in Heaven. Our egalitarian American outlook doesn’t like that. We imagine Heaven as a place where everyone is absolutely equal, meaning everyone is the same. The unity of the redeemed doesn’t mean uniformity. I suspect it’s the same for those eternally lost.
There definitely are Scriptures to say that rewards aren’t equal, either! Definitely.
Thank you. I believe this, just didnt know how to express or explain it. I love your blog and all the ideas you share. Keep up the great work!
Good post Sheila. One thing that may help is to keep in mind that we all have a sin nature. Too often we think we are sinners because we sin. The truth is that we sin because we are sinners. Our problem before God is not what we do but what we are. C. S. Lewis pointed out that at the Fall, a species God never created sinned itself into existence.
In that sense, it’s equal before God. All are fallen and in desperate need of a Savior. But the actions themselves, the “sins” are not equal because of the depth of the rebellion or the width of the ramifications.
I was sexually abused as a boy, and it sent me down a wrong path that almost destroyed me and damaged my marriage. All past now, but I often really wondered where God was in all this. I finally understood the depth of His love and was finally able to forgive and let God heal my heart.
Blair is right about saying that we can use either position to excuse ourselves or condemn others. Isn’t that the power of the sin nature? We would all do well to read Romans 7 to understand he struggle with sin, and how the victory can be won.
Nothing to add, Bob. That was beautiful!
Great points, Sheila! It always felt to me like these are two separate issues we get intertwined:
1. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), and “there is no one righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10). So comparing ourselves to GOD, the ultimate standard, we can all say, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst” (1 Timothy 1:15). And that’s where most of us need to think about ourselves in relationship to God and salvation — it’s why we desperately need a savior in Jesus Christ. BUT…
2. “You reward everyone according to what they have done” (Psalm 62:12), and “Each person was judged according to what they had done.” (Revelation 20:13). What we do—the level and amount of sin and damage—matters. Our sins are wiped away by Christ’s sacrifice if we accept it, so that our slates can be clean before God. But for sinners who never repent, it appears they’ll be judged by what they actually did. That’s justice.
For instance, I have to believe that people who prey on children, who sexually molest and murder them, will meet their Maker, tremble in fear, and find out that “He repays everyone for what they have done; he brings on them what their conduct deserves” (Job 34:11).
EXACTLY! Exactly.
I remember reading about a woman convicted of murder who received the death penalty. In prison, she accepted the grace of God and was saved by the blood of Jesus. But when asked if she would appeal the death sentence, she said that she was willingly going to pay the price exacted by the law, accepting the gravity of her sin. How great a mercy she found for eternal salvation, but she understood the nature of her sin.
Too often we seek cheap grace. Jesus bore the penalty for all my sins on the cross. I have been forgiven, but some sins exact a greater cost by their nature. If I lie to my wife about why I was late from work because I just lost track of time, that’s one thing. If I lie about being late because I am having an affair, the lie is still a sin, but the affair is far greater. Both can be forgiven, but the wound from the affair goes far deeper, and it may not be healed this side of heaven.
Yes, I think that’s it exactly! And I really respect that woman, too.
Well said J!
One thing I think we’re missing here is that the sins/wrong things we do, are a result of the brokenness we are born with. We are born with sin. Therefore we committ ‘sins’. Every wrong thing- sin- that we do is a result of our sin nature. So, we are all equal in that we all, whether we want one or not, have a sin nature. In our born state, we are all sinners, and deserve to be judged for that. But the things we do, ‘sins’ are different and not equal – some murder, some lie, some are angry and sin, some are jealous and on and on. Where we are equal, is in the reason why we sin- because we each and everyone have a sin nature that brings us to committ sin.
Yes, very well put!
This is a perfect example of bad theology resulting in bad thoughts and actions. By ignoring the fallen state of all humans and focusing on sinful actions, we start comparing and contrasting, usually to justify ourselves. How many Christians have to at some extent bought into the Idea that all people are basically good? Lost people can do lovely things, but they are still in desperate need of a savior.
No, all sins are not equal. But I need to examine myself before I condemn another. That doesn’t mean I don’t recognize the depravity of certain sins. But I need to look in the mirror, too. I know the depths to which I can sink, and have sunk in my past. But I also know the amazing grace of Jesus and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in my life. I can look at some of these people who do such horrible things and truly say that there but for the grace of God go I.
I’m reading your blog for the first time and loving it! First I’m really impressed by the community you’ve created and how thoughtfully engaged the comments are. Second, this article is excellent. I had not heard this side of the argument before and you have articulated it very well. I have gone over the passeages you pointed to without making that connection.
Hi Lily! Thank you so much. I’m glad it made you think, and welcome to the blog!
I’ve been mulling over this article since it was posted, and I’m still struggling with the theology here. I think it’s really important to remember that, for believers, there are no levels of sin. At the time of our salvation, we are justified. Not only are our sins forgiven, but Christ’s righteousness is credited to us. From the point of repentance onward, our sins are no longer on our account from God’s perspective. He looks at us and sees Christ’s righteousness in us – a holy God cannot look upon sin with acceptance. If we say that Christians are able to commit some sins that are considered to be worse than others, we are saying that Jesus’ sacrifice wasn’t sufficient to cover all sin. Yes, some sins absolutely have longer lasting effects and significant impact on more people than do others, but from God’s perspective we are completely forgiven when we repent. He doesn’t hold it over our heads; it is completely stricken from our records. It is human nature to want to compare our sins to those of other people, but in doing so it is easy to forget that we are all so incredibly far from God’s standard of holiness. I would like to be able to justify that my “minor” sins are not nearly as bad as a Christian brother or sister’s “major” sin, but from God’s perspective they are all completely forgiven upon repentance and He sees Christ’s righteousness in us both. That doesn’t make God distant, or uncaring, or incapable of understanding. Jesus took all our sin upon him on the cross so that our relationship with God could be restored – there is nothing more personal and loving than that!!
Well, I’ll tell you what. If someone purposely kills my child? I’m gonna be Judge, Jury & Executioner & take that person out & then take myself out.
Hi- thank you so much for this! My soon to be ex-husband cheated on me and I’ve tried everything to work things out, but he wasnt totally committed anymore. Anyway, we’ve been seperated just about 4 years and still his rejection was deeply rooted in me. I think I always went straight to ‘forgivness’ coz Jesus loves him too and I’m not perfect either…
So lately I realised that deep in my heart I couldn’t totally believe that God is good-even though I’ve experienced this so many times; and because I couldn’t believe it I condemnd myself for it.
I was at a gathering of my church when all this came up and Jesus showed me (through a sozo)that I felt that way coz my ex-husband rejected me. And Jesus told me that it wasn’t ok what he did to me. I cried it all out and probably for the first time allowed myself to accuse him, to aknowledge that what he did was truly not ok. After that I could forgive him. It is so freeing to know the truth that yes, Jesus also died on the cross for his sins, but to know that God is crying and hurting with me and that he doesnt look at all sins the same way.
Now I know in my heart that God is good, that He loves me! Thank you Jesus!
That’s beautiful, Daniela, and that’s EXACTLY what I wanted to get across in this! I love this sentence especially: “And Jesus told me that it wasn’t ok what he did to me.” Yes! A thousand times yes!