What Makes One Sin Greater than Another? Part 2

 

Big Idea: Clarifying degrees of sin and where sin rules are in the Bible.

Question asked recently by a friend: What makes one sin greater than another? In the Bible, there are so many things that are considered sins, even wearing fabric that isn’t natural is blasphemous! So where are the rules of sin laid out?

“Ask Anything About the Bible” is our newest blog series

Speaking plainly about the question

All sin reflects a violation against God’s purity.

Some sins are more serious because they are more damaging to our inner being. The seriousness also ticks up with sins seriously damaging to others.

In our justice system we have tiers of crimes. Causing accidental death is treated very differently than a pre-meditated violent murder.

The second is more damaging to the inner soul, leading one to dwell more on evil, in increasing intensity. It is also more damaging to another person and those around them.

Intentionality and continual contemplation, whether against God or in the human experience, is the difference in degrees of sin.

 

An example

Consider the difference between these two stories. The 1st grader who was told not to eat cookies before dinner, but did and disobeyed his mom.

Man of us remember the news story in August of 2023 of a 1st grader who, angry with his teacher, made a plan to go into the top drawer of his mother's dresser, take her gun to school and shoot his first grade teacher.

One was a careless incident of disobedience. The other was planned with malicious intent.

Where are sin rules found in the Bible?

The Old Testament books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy talk a lot about rules/laws and sins. They also talk a lot about how to be forgiven for sin.

As noted in last week's blog, the Ten Commandments is the ultimate standard and guide for rules regarding God and our fellow man.  But there were over 600 other rules/laws given.

The other rules/laws were for different reasons. 

• Some were for health purposes, especially important for them as nomads in the desert with no hospitals.
•  Some were to prevent problems with their fellow travelers, and take care of the most needy. 
• Some rules were about attitudes toward God, about guarding the value of life, and to keep marriage pure.

Some rules, related to murder and other crimes had stronger punishments.

That was the Old Testament. It was to establish a way to live with God and live with others. And there is no denying sin needed to be addressed. 

Other societies dealt with violations similarly. Other kings and emperors of the ancient near east expected a life for a life, blood for a violation; blood sacrifice for indiscretion against him and his people.

Groups that followed pagan gods used sacrifices of food and blood to appease the gods or for forgiveness.  The problem was, they never were sure what the gods wanted and it seemed never enough. 

For the Hebrews, God made the rules and the way for forgiveness very plain. It had a lot to do with blood sacrifice, though there were other kinds of sacrifices and offerings. The blood of an animal was considered a covering over sins. Death for what deserves death. (Leviticus 17:11 NLT, Hebrews 9:22 NLT)

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By the way, all the verses in my articles are Bible references. If you hover over the references with your mouse you should be able to see the verse hover in the article even if it is not written.  

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What about the New Testament?

By New Testament times some Israelites, most notably the Pharisees, were very vigilant sticklers about the rules and laws of the Old Testament.

Jesus acted in ways that seemed to the Pharisees like he didn’t care about those laws. He healed on the Sabbath, which Jewish laws would consider work, for example.

But He explained He did not come to do away with the laws, but to fulfill them. (Matthew 5:17 NLT).

Jesus talked about sin being more than what we do, it starts with what we think and dwell on in our heart. (Mark 7:15 NLT)

He also plainly stated that He came to serve others and give His life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20: 28 NLT, Mark 10:45 NLT).

To give one’s life implies death. To ransom implies a rescue.

His death on the cross was the sacrifice in place once and for all.  (See below Hebrews 10:10 NLT) His resurrection from death as God was the final victory over sin and death. (I Corinthians 15:56-57)

Romans and Hebrews

Two New Testament books that talk a lot about sin are the Epistles to the Romans and to the Hebrews. There are so many clear verses of God’s solution to sin, it is hard to narrow down examples!

No one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.  Romans 3:20 NLT 

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.  Romans 3:23-24 NLT

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 NLT

I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. Romans 7:19-20 NLT 

So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit. Romans 8:1-4  NLT

Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.  Hebrews 9:13-14 NLT

For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time. But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. By that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.  Hebrews 10:10, 13a-14 

In last week’s blog I mentioned that our sin is like a toxin in our body, and we need a toxic cleanse from God. This is it. The pure unselfish blood sacrifice of Jesus who represented God Himself, given freely for the benefit for us of being cleansed from our sin once and for all.

This is His gift to us. The rescue, saved as it were, from our sinful separation from Him and inner darkness. We just need to accept the gift.

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. Ephesians 2:8-9 NLT

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1. Can you think of an example from your own life with two different levels of wrong? Perhaps something your mother dealt with or at work or in your own family now?

2. Does this help you understand better the idea of Jesus dying on the cross? This is a lot to take in and sometimes takes a while to process. You can also ask God to give you understanding.  Also please feel free to write to me with questions or thoughts dianewido@scripturespy.com.