Is all sin the same?

[imstillstanding]

I have heard different views on this and would like your input. On the one hand, I was told that sin is sin, God sees all sin as the same. On the other hand, I've recently heard that there are different degrees of sin. If so, how do we know what degree our particular sin at the moment is, and is extra repentance (whatever that is) needed?

 

[dysert]

I have heard different views on this and would like your input. On the one hand, I was told that sin is sin, God sees all sin as the same. On the other hand, I've recently heard that there are different degrees of sin. If so, how do we know what degree our particular sin at the moment is, and is extra repentance (whatever that is) needed?

Is all death the same? I ask because it's analogous to the question on sin. On the one hand, any sin, no matter how small, separates us from God just like death separates us from life. But on the other hand, some sins (e.g., murder, adultery, rape) not only separate us from God but also have very severe consequences. (Like a brutal, torturous death is worse than peacefully passing away in your sleep.)

The Bible teaches there are degrees of punishment. So I believe that there are degrees of sin as well. The good news is that Christ died for all sin, no matter what the degree, so when we place our trust in Him, we are guaranteed eternal life (though we aren't guaranteed to be free from the earthly consequences).

 

[St_Worm2]

Hi ISS, I too believe that, for the most part, sin is sin. However, there are sins that are referred to in different ways, for instance, "abominations" i.e. Proverbs 6:16-19, and "unpardonable" i.e. Matthew 12:31-32, come to mind.

Yours and His,
David

 

[keltoi]

The Bible teaches there are degrees of punishment. So I believe that there are degrees of sin as well. The good news is that Christ died for all sin, no matter what the degree, so when we place our trust in Him, we are guaranteed eternal life (though we aren't guaranteed to be free from the earthly consequences).

Blasphemy against the Spirit is unforgivable so Christ did not die for that sin.
Christ actually spoke about this very topic in Matthew 5, read it and see what calling someone a fool can do to your chances of eternal life.

 

[Greg J.]

For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker. (James 2:10-11, 1984 NIV)

The concept James is talking about can be applied to the idea of what it takes to fail to be saved. The smallest sin completely taints a person. Adam eating a piece of fruit was sinful enough to destroy all his descendants and all of creation.
____

The Law given by Moses is a reflection of God's nature. There are many different punishment for various sins. That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. ... (Luke 12:47-48a, 1984 NIV)

The concept that Jesus is talking about is for Judgment Day. The spiritual impact of some sins is worse than others (in this life as well as after Judgment Day).
____

... is extra repentance (whatever that is) needed?

You are right to wonder what that is. One (of many) ways to understand repentance is that it means to ask for God's forgiveness (and mean it) for something you did, and in your heart commit to not doing it again. If you aren't sure you mean it, you might need to reflect on why and pray about it. If it is something that requires you to seek the forgiveness of a person, that needs to be done (when still possible). But once you have done these things genuinely, God has forgiven you and forgotten about it. At this point, it is appropriate to fight the guilty feelings that may remain with the Truth of God's Word.

The feeling people can have, after genuinely repenting, of deserving punishment from God is not from God. God already paid for all your sins. It is probably the result of the culture you live in or grew up in, and/or the fact that earthly law may still (rightly) demand punishment even through you have repented.

 

[Bobinator]

All sin is not the same. It's like saying all bugs are insects. Of course they are. But get someone to hold a sow bug in their hand, and then get the same person to hold a huge B-52 cockroach. I guarantee you, you won't get the same reaction.

Sin is an English word that describes the distance between the bullseye and the landing of an arrow. Obviously, the bullseye in this case represents God’s perfect will. The landing of each arrow will vary.

If all sin were the same then God would not have prescribed different degrees of punishment for crimes in the Old Testament, including death for practicing witchcraft, adultery, and even cursing mother and father in Leviticus 20:9. He would also not refer to certain sins as abominations.

1John 5: [16] If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death…”

 

[Sophrosyne]

I agree with others in that the tiniest sin is enough to need Jesus go to the cross for EACH of us. As far as salvation goes it is a personal issue between us and God and that affects the afterlife. Sins however in this world do different levels of "damage" to us (personally) and others around us either directly or indirectly and this "damage" goes from minimal to the utter extremes in the repercussions. Us sinning could just slightly annoy someone who soon forgets the happenstance for the rest of their lives or it can lead someone to also sin back against us or sin against another or permanently damage them emotionally or physically or even kill people some of which may not have been saved and could end up never seeing heaven perhaps because we did something to them that didn't give them that "one more chance" to accept Jesus that maybe they needed.
There are even sins that transgress generations according to the bible up to 4 generations for the sin of one person that is carried through his/her offspring and if those next generations repeat the sin it can go on and on till the cycle is broken or can even infect another family line similarly.
If a person who sins is in a position of power it can be even more damaging effecting hundreds to even millions perhaps even a billion or more.

It is in the extreme instances that at times extreme measure are called for to eradicate those whose sins have grown to affect too many people such that we even see wars because of such great sins.

 

[Hawkiz]

I have heard different views on this and would like your input. On the one hand, I was told that sin is sin, God sees all sin as the same. On the other hand, I've recently heard that there are different degrees of sin. If so, how do we know what degree our particular sin at the moment is, and is extra repentance (whatever that is) needed?

The answer is a bit of 'both, and'. All sin harms our relationship with God. Yet not all sin carries with it the complete cutting off of us from God. 1 John 5:17 tells us this to be true: 'All unrighteousness is sin; and there is sin not into death.' (KJV). This means that, similar to the replies of others so far, there are sins that do not cause us separation from God (death), and there are sins that harm our relationship with God, but not separation of our relationship.
The Catholic Church gives these different types of sin labels: mortal sins and veinial sins. Mortal sins are those that meet some specific requirements: you must have full knowledge that you are committing a sin, it must be of a serious matter, you must then choose to commit this sin of your own free will (you can't be forced in any way by another to do so- an extreme example would be if someone held a gun to your head and forced you to choose between your life and someone else's). A veinial sin example would be telling a 'little white lie' so as to not hurt someone's feelings. It is still a sin to lie, and thus still must be confessed, but since it wouldn't be a serious matter, it wouldn't separate us from God and thus wouldn't be 'mortal' in nature.

Faith in Christ includes obedience to Him, and thus sin can be viewed as disobedience to Christ (choosing our will be done instead of His will).

Hope this helps some

Peace in Christ
Hawkiz

 

[imstillstanding]

The answer is a bit of 'both, and'. All sin harms our relationship with God. Yet not all sin carries with it the complete cutting off of us from God. 1 John 5:17 tells us this to be true: 'All unrighteousness is sin; and there is sin not into death.' (KJV). This means that, similar to the replies of others so far, there are sins that do not cause us separation from God (death), and there are sins that harm our relationship with God, but not separation of our relationship.
The Catholic Church gives these different types of sin labels: mortal sins and veinial sins. Mortal sins are those that meet some specific requirements: you must have full knowledge that you are committing a sin, it must be of a serious matter, you must then choose to commit this sin of your own free will (you can't be forced in any way by another to do so- an extreme example would be if someone held a gun to your head and forced you to choose between your life and someone else's). A veinial sin example would be telling a 'little white lie' so as to not hurt someone's feelings. It is still a sin to lie, and thus still must be confessed, but since it wouldn't be a serious matter, it wouldn't separate us from God and thus wouldn't be 'mortal' in nature.

Faith in Christ includes obedience to Him, and thus sin can be viewed as disobedience to Christ (choosing our will be done instead of His will).

Hope this helps some

Peace in Christ
Hawkiz

It does help, thank you. But what of these types of sin? Is confessing our sin and asking forgiveness for it the same for both mortal and veinial sins? Does God forgive both types of sins in the same way? I recall a Bible verse, "if we confess our sin, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9 This verse doesn't seem to discriminate between types of sin, He just forgives our sins and cleanses us from the sin.
Peace.

 

[Hawkiz]

It does help, thank you. But what of these types of sin? Is confessing our sin and asking forgiveness for it the same for both mortal and veinial sins? Does God forgive both types of sins in the same way? I recall a Bible verse, "if we confess our sin, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9 This verse doesn't seem to discriminate between types of sin, He just forgives our sins and cleanses us from the sin.
Peace.

Fantastic question! It has been my experience and the teaching of my Church that confession and repentance are all that are required: we are cleansed of our sin, regardless of what sin it may be. There may be effects of sin, or wrongs that we are asked to attempt to make right (someone earlier in the thread gave the example of feeling compelled to apologize to another), and our sins still have consequences, but Christ's death has opened the door for immediate forgiveness.

Peace in Christ!

Hawkiz

 

[Hawkiz]

It does help, thank you. But what of these types of sin? Is confessing our sin and asking forgiveness for it the same for both mortal and veinial sins? Does God forgive both types of sins in the same way? I recall a Bible verse, "if we confess our sin, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9 This verse doesn't seem to discriminate between types of sin, He just forgives our sins and cleanses us from the sin.
Peace.

I realized that I didn't do a good job of addressing your specific question above: 'Is confessing our sin and asking forgiveness for it the same for both mortal and veining sins?'

Yes. The process is the same in confessing sins to our priest. So in formal, sacramental confession, all sins are confessed and forgiven equally. For veinial sins, these often do not 'require' sacramental confession: Catholics confess them every week when we celebrate the Mass. We pray for forgiveness and admit our faults in a sort of general confession in prayer. We all together say the following: 'I confess to almighty God, and to you my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned through my own faults; in my thoughts, in my words, in what I have done and what I have failed to do. And I ask Blessed Mary ever virgin, all the angels and saints, and you my brothers and sisters to pray for me to The Lord our God.'

Specifically, a mortal sin would require sacramental confession under normal circumstances.

Hope that helps answer your question a little bit better than I did before.

Peace in Christ
Hawkiz

 

[imstillstanding]

I realized that I didn't do a good job of addressing your specific question above: 'Is confessing our sin and asking forgiveness for it the same for both mortal and veining sins?'

Yes. The process is the same in confessing sins to our priest. So in formal, sacramental confession, all sins are confessed and forgiven equally. For veinial sins, these often do not 'require' sacramental confession: Catholics confess them every week when we celebrate the Mass. We pray for forgiveness and admit our faults in a sort of general confession in prayer. We all together say the following: 'I confess to almighty God, and to you my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned through my own faults; in my thoughts, in my words, in what I have done and what I have failed to do. And I ask Blessed Mary ever virgin, all the angels and saints, and you my brothers and sisters to pray for me to The Lord our God.'

Specifically, a mortal sin would require sacramental confession under normal circumstances.

Hope that helps answer your question a little bit better than I did before.

Peace in Christ
Hawkiz

I think I understand. Both kinds of sin are forgiven. Sacramental confession is when you tell a priest your sin and veinial sins involve group general confession. I like the group prayer that is said. It's quite beautiful.
Peace.

 

[dysert]

I think I understand. Both kinds of sin are forgiven. Sacramental confession is when you tell a priest your sin and veinial sins involve group general confession. I like the group prayer that is said. It's quite beautiful.
Peace.

Wow, there's a whole lot there that I'd to "clarify", but if you understand I'll leave it at that.

 

[ViaCrucis]

I have heard different views on this and would like your input. On the one hand, I was told that sin is sin, God sees all sin as the same. On the other hand, I've recently heard that there are different degrees of sin. If so, how do we know what degree our particular sin at the moment is, and is extra repentance (whatever that is) needed?

In one sense, yes, all sin is the same; in that all sin interferes with our communion with God, and all sin if left untreated leads to our own destruction. That doesn't mean God doesn't see a difference between murder and stealing a cookie from mom's cookie jar. Clearly some sins are worse than others, if simply on their temporal effects--murder results in the end of a human life, stealing a cookie results in taking a cookie. But the underlying problem of sin remains in both, and it's that which needs to be addressed, and which is addressed in Christ's atoning work which reconciles us to God and forgives us of all our sins.

I don't think there's such a thing as "extra repentance", there's just repentance. Repentance should be a defining characteristic of our Christian life, as we drown ourselves daily in repentance, looking to the forgiveness which we have freely from God in Christ. Now, if we take repentance seriously we should also seek to address the consequences of our sin in this life--if we injure our neighbor with our words, we ought to go and apologize and make amends, if we have committed gross grievances such as murder then how much more must we seek forgiveness from our neighbor, and also to face the consequences of that through the civil justice of the courts of law. I do not gain anything from God by facing the consequences of my sin, but if I take Christ's injunction seriously to love our neighbors as ourselves, then having committed sins against our neighbors means seeking to make things right with them.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Commander]

James 5:20 states to us "Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." I am going to get salty so that you may know the error of your ways, sinners(those who commit sin) are in error(James 5:20), God does not hear sinners(John 9:31), sinners are ungodly(Jude 15), whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him(1 John 3:6), He that committeth sin is of the devil(1 John 3:8). Where do sinners go when they die? You better change the way you think, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15). Repent and believe the gospel[the good news], but this is a one time repentance for every time you repent you crucify to yourself the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame(Hebrews 6:6). The good news is that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ died once for all(Hebrews 10:10), in each and everyone's place(for their sin). He took all sin of all mankind(this includes your sin) upon his self and overcame it by defeating death. It states to us in 1 Timothy 2:3-6 that " For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; who will have all men to be saved, and come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time"(1 Timothy 2:3-6). Have you suffered in the flesh? " Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin" (1 Peter 4:1). We are to have the same mind as Christ, or think as Christ thinks. " Did you know that you were made free from sin, that you do not and can not sin? "But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life"(Romans 6:22). How are we made free from sin(study the Bible to show thyself approved-2 Timothy 2:15). It should be appalling that 1 John 3:9 is not spoken of or peached on(but the blind lead the blind and they both fall in a ditch). 1 John 3:9 -" Whosoever is born of God doth(does) not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God". Now the question is, who is born of God? Study the verse of 1 John 4:7 for the answer. Did you get that everyone that loves is born of God and knows God? So do you love someone? Does that make you born of God? Does it say that whosoever is born of God does not and can not sin-1 John 3:9? For He is "the Living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe"(1 Timothy 4:10). Have a blessed day knowing that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ saved you and every one else to!

 

[Razare]

In terms of proving our guilt before, God, yes.

For practical living and how close to God's will we fulfill in our life, no. Take inappropriate contentography vs. sleeping with other people outside marriage. In terms of sin before God, both are equal. Christ even makes them equivalent, if we lust in our heart, we've committed adultery.

But I guarantee the guy who gives a passing glance to a woman on the street, is better off than the man who physically sleeps with that woman. Both are equally guilty before God, however, that man who does the physical act ends up worse off, for both practical reasons, and then also spiritual in that they meditate on sin longer than the other guy, derailing them further from God's will.

 

[Commander]

Just what part of does not sin and can not sin do some of you not understand? The term for it is cognitive dissonance, it is where the truth of God's word and your belief clash. According to God's word, a sinners belief is in error(if you commit sin-you are in error). "And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened(brought to life) together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses"(Colossians 2:13). "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth"(2 Timothy 2:15). When you know the truth it will set you free, there is nothing there for you or anyone else to sin against, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ abolished, blotted it out and disannulled it!

 

[Teslafied]

According to the bible there are various degrees of sin, so technically some sins are indeed worse than others but all sins are forgiven except blaspheming the Holy Ghost which is to deny Him (reject Jesus Christ & Salvation) unto death.

In the bible it talks about how some sins are an abomination and some God absolutely hates.