I recently heard it asked, “Is all sin the same? Are all sins equal before God?” My first thought was “yep, they are!” And then I thought, “no, of course not!”

This question seems especially poignant in light of the challenge that we had placed before us this Sunday; it was suggested that, in regards to the prodigal son and the “righteous” older brother from the parable in Luke 15, the older brother is far more prevalent in our church, and in church in general, than the younger brother. It was suggested that whereas it is easier to identify with the big, fat sinner who is reconciled, it is far more difficult to see ourselves in the son who is a sinner only a little bit, but who struggles to be reconciled. In light of that, I want to spend a little time thinking through whether all sins are equal before God.

On the one hand, it does seem a helpful thought to think that all sin is the same, for it points to the fact that sin categorically separates us from God. That is to say, there isn’t a level of sin which, once attained, then God determines that we are now dependent on Christ’s sacrifice for our atonement. Rather, the mere fact of sinfulness sets us in a category of sinful; a category from which we are graciously pulled into the category of “holy” through the substitution of Christ for us. As James reminds us: “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it” (2:10). 

Moreover, in considering this categorical separation, I think that it can help to prevent falling into the trap of thinking that some sins are “not too bad.” For if I think that there is a stratification of sins - some are worse than others - I can easily find myself thinking, “well, at least I don’t do that…” or “At least I’m not tempted with that…” I’m reminded of the book by the late Jerry Bridges, Respectable Sins, where he examines some of the sins that we seem to ignore, sweep under the rug, or even tolerate, and shows them for what they are - horrible and despicable sins! Reading through the table of contents is a great primer for conviction!

However, there is also the vital necessity to have a view toward how sin affects others, and what the appropriate response ought to be. And in that case, I think it is necessary to have an idea about the relative severity of sin. It seems quite clear that there are levels of severity of sin in the biblical texts: in Numbers 15, for example, it is recognized that the punishment for an unintentional sin is far less than that of a willful defiance. In Matthew 11, Jesus said that the punishment on Capernaum for seeing His miracles and still disbelieving would be greater than the punishment that was fell on Sodom, whose sins, according to Ezekiel 16:49-50, were pride, gluttony, no care for the poor, haughtiness, and a specific “abomination.” There are many other places in the Biblical texts that we see a differing response to different sins, and so, to say that all sins are the same would be to miss an important view of sin.

So to sum up, I think there are two ways to think through this question, each with a different context that is most applicable:

Sin as all the same, in as much as it categorically separates us from the holy God.

• This is most helpful in the context of personal reflection and repentance on the severity of my own sin.
• This is also helpful in the context of evangelism when presented with the objection, “but I’ve done too many bad things for God to forgive me!”

There is a difference in the severity of sin, and therefore there ought to be a difference in the response to sin

• I see this as most helpful in context of the community or church setting, when considering how sin affects others around us. There must be a differing response for a person who is gossiping about others and a person who is abusing others, as one example.

If I take these ideas and then apply them again to the parable of the prodigal son, I think that an important principle comes out. At the end of the story, we are left with the younger son reconciled to his father while we are uncertain as to the status of the older son; though the sins of the younger may have been more severe, the ultimate reconciliation of the younger son to the father made any gradations of sin irrelevant in light of the category of being in grace. And this, then, is the principle: in the consideration of my sin, I must humbly consider whether I have been reconciled to God through the work of Christ. If not, then being reconciled to God is of utmost importance.

God, grant me the grace to see myself clearly as you see me, as a wretched sinner made holy and righteous through the sacrifice of Christ.

~Josh Spare