The Seriousness of Every Sin⤒🔗

In posing this question, we enter dangerous territory. For “sin” is not a concept on which human beings want to dwell. The question is very typical human one. But when we speak of “sin,” we must address God’s judgment on what human beings do and neglect to do. And then we discover that God’s Word makes very pointed and radical pronouncements about sin.

“[A]ll have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). “There is no one righteous, not even one” (Rom 3:10). And Ephesians 2:1 tells us: “you were dead in your transgressions and sins.” James too denies all hope to whoever seeks to escape the deadly seriousness of sin by saying: “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it” (Jas 2:10). Jesus says: “not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law” (Matt 5:18). And Paul writes: “For the wages of sin” - no matter the sin - “is death” (Rom 6:23).

All of that suffices to make clear that the question we asked does not allow us to think that things will not be so bad when it comes to sin as we might have supposed. The church of the Reformation confesses with great seriousness that God “is terribly angry with our original sin as well as with our actual sins” and that “he will punish them by a just judgment both now and eternally” (Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 10). Things are bad when it comes to sin...

Does that answer the question fully? Can we not say anything else about the question. “Is every sin equally serious?” Sin is disobedience. Sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4). Sin is a refusal to obey God, who is our Creator and who, in his perfect love, commands us: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matt 22:37). This means that when even a little bit of that “all” is missing, we break God’s command. There is no give and take, no compromise with the norms of the love of God, the Holy One. When God says: “love ... with all our heart,” we may not change that to “love as much as we can,” or something like it. Every sin goes to the root, to the essence of the relationship between God and human beings, created by him, no matter how small we may think the sin is!

When we realize that every sin at bottom is sin against God, we will understand that also the smallest beginning of sin already makes us as guilty as the worst transgression. The Lord Jesus made that clear in the Sermon on the Mount when he said that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment, for anger is just as serious as murder (Matt 5:21. 22). And he made the same point when he said that when you look lustfully at a woman, you have in effect already committed adultery with her in your heart (Matt 5:28).

In fact, doesn’t the Torah already contain a statement that finds and locates sin in the heart: “Do not hate your brother in your heart” (Lev 19:17)?

Mortal Sins?←⤒🔗

Roman Catholic theology drew a distinction early on between venial sins and mortal sins.

Mortal sins are those that cause a person to lose the grace God has bestowed and that are worthy of severe punishment by God. People who commit such sins must diligently do penance and seek atonement.

Venial sins, or forgivable sins, are less severe and one can more easily gloss over them. They do deserve punishment, but only temporal punishment. Venial sins do not cause a breach in the relationship with God, which is what happens with mortal sins.

During the Great Reformation, the Reformers always strongly rejected this distinction. Calvin regarded the Scripture passage, “the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23) as conclusive (see, e.g., The Institutes of the Christian Religion II, viii, 58, 59), for that text does not draw a distinction! Besides, to call some sins forgivable, while treating others as unforgivable or more difficult to forgive, robs the forgiveness of sins of its essence.

Forgiveness does not happen because there are sins for which it is readily available! Forgiveness happens only and exclusively through God’s mercy. And for that the forgiveness of sins through the immensely radical means of atonement of the death of God’s Son on the cross was necessary. He who was crucified is also the basis of the atonement for what we think of as “minor” sins.

But there are Differences: the Old Testament←⤒🔗

We should note that the Bible does draw distinctions about sin. It even speaks about a gradation of sin, although we must point out immediately that this does not amount to a relativization of sin.

The Old Testament already draws a distinction between intentional and unintentional sins. This is discussed in particular in Numbers 35 in the context of the law of murder. If the death was unintentional or accidental, the person who caused the death was legitimately entitled to flee to one of the cities of refuge to escape the avenger.

But nowhere does the Old Testament suggest that unintentional sins aren’t really sins. They are! And so Leviticus 4 and 5 discuss unintentional and unwitting sins that have to be confessed as sins and for which the offender must bring a sacrifice in expiation (cf. also Num 15:22-29). In contrast, a person who intentionally or with premeditation disobeys God’s commands is subject to severe punishment.

If this distinction seems to conflict with what we posited earlier, namely, that all sins are serious enough to cause a radical breach with God, we must remember that in the Torah these matters applied especially to the administration of civil justice in Israel. The entire civil law had a religious character. In that society it was understood that a transgression of the civil law was also a sin against the Lord. But at the same time the civil law had to apply a standard in accordance with which punishment was imposed.

And for that purpose the rule of thumb given for this standard of punishment was “eye for eye, tooth for tooth” (Exod 21:24; Lev 24:20; Deut 19:21; cf. Matt 5:38). The point of this rule was not to give free rein to human vengeance, which is often suggested when this rule is referred to, but to impose the standard of retribution that is administered in the punishment.

The New Testament←⤒🔗

Civil regulation does not play the same role in the New Testament. But it does draw a distinction between intentional and unintentional, at least in the sense that the knowledge of a person who sins is considered relevant. Thus, ignorance is taken into account!

The apostle Paul calls himself the worst of sinners, because he persecuted the church of God (1 Tim. 1:15; 1 Cor 15:9; Gal 1:13; Phil 3:6). But he says to Timothy, “I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief” (1 Tim 1:13). He does not mention this as an excuse, for he continues immediately: “The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 1:14). His salvation was not because his sin wasn’t so bad, but because God was so merciful.

On the other hand, the New Testament speaks with great seriousness about sin that is carried out purposefully, so that the sin acquires the character of an intentional sin. It sometimes calls the persons who commit such sins enemies of God. That happens in Hebrews 10, where the author writes in vv. 26-27: “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, ²⁷ but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.”

That passage does not speak of a specific sin that would supposedly be unforgiveable, but about a purposeful choice to sin in such a way that the sinner’s attitude involves a rejection of Christ, the forgiveness of sins, and the cross (Heb 10:2). Thus the passage is not about a falling into sin, such as David did, although that was very serious. Nor is it about a denial of the Lord Jesus as Peter did. There was still an element of ignorance on Peter’s part and the absence of an intentional rejection of Christ. For throughout he continued to love his Master!

But in another place it does speak of a denial that closes the door between God and us: “If we disown him, he will also disown us” (2 Tim 2:12). Evidently, this speaks about a denial on the part of a human being that has a permanent characteristic, a denial that is intentional. That must be distinguished from what Paul says in the immediately following text: “if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself” (2 Tim 2:13).

Perseverance in Sin←⤒🔗

When a person sins intentionally, which makes the sin that much worse, the intention is often also couple with perseverance, by which persons hold fast to sin and that causes a much more emphatic breach with God.

All sins can be forgiven. God extends his grace to prostitutes and tax collectors, to murderers (think also of the robber on the cross!), and even to those who are guilty of blasphemy (see Matt 12:31: “every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men...”).

And yet the Bible often contains such serious warnings against sin. In 1 Corinthians 5 Paul warns the church not to associate with sexually immoral persons. He is not speaking of sexually immoral people, people who are greedy, swindlers, or idolaters in general. For as he says in a down-to-earth way, “In that case you would have to leave this world” (1 Cor 5:10). Rather, he is speaking of those who are sexually immoral or greedy, idolaters, slanderers, drunkards, or swindlers in the church! You may not even share a meal with them! The seriousness of their sin is not the specific sin itself and also not that they have fallen into sin, but that they, although they are Christians, bear the sign of Christ on their foreheads, and have confessed his name, continue in and persevere in sin.

We come across lists of sins in various places and it is said of those who commit them that they will not inherit the kingdom of God. The lists include: the sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexual offenders, thieves, those who are greedy, drunkards, slanderers, and swindlers (1 Cor 6:10; Eph 5:5; Rev 21:8; 22:15). In each instance it concerns those who continue in sin intentionally. But the kingdom is opened to those who were washed, sanctified of sin, and justified, and who therefore did not continue in sin (1 Cor 6:11).

Slavery←⤒🔗

We should not focus our attention on the question how great or small a sin is. Every sin can become great. Every sin can take over our life and dominate it if we do not listen to and no longer want to listen to the Lord and his Word. A lie intended to achieve a good purpose can lead to our heart becoming completely deceitful. If we are not being sanctified, a frugal nature can cause us to become enslaved to Mammon and subject to that idol (cf. Col 3:5). Of itself a sin is neither small nor great. We need forgiveness for every sin through the blood of Christ.

But what is determinative is who rules our life. Behind every sin stands the deceiver, the murderer from the beginning. He wants to enslave us in sin. Only through the blood of the Lord Jesus are we freed from the power of sin (cf. John 8:34-36). But the sin must be acknowledged and confessed. And then we must acknowledge that the Son of God has jurisdiction over all of our life. For then sin can no longer have the decisive say over our identity. Then we will acknowledge that we guilty of breaking all of God’s commands. But then we will also not be known as liar, idolater, and sexually immoral.

That is the key to all distinctions and qualifications in sins, namely the relationship a person has toward God and toward Christ. The crucial difference between being condemned and being saved does not depend on how much or how little you sin, but in whether you know Christ. That defines how a believer differs from an unbeliever (Eph 4:20).

The Sin Against the Holy Spirit←⤒🔗

That brings us to the one sin we must still discuss; the one of which the Bible says that you cannot be forgiven for it. It is the sin that is often referred to as the sin against the Holy Spirit.

In Matthew 12 we read that Jesus healed a demon-possessed man and that the Pharisees then said of Jesus: “It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons” (Matt 12:24). Jesus then addresses them sharply. He makes clear what this is all about, namely, his recognition or his rejection. If the Pharisees were right, then Satan’s kingdom cannot stand. But if Jesus drives out demons by the Spirit of God, “then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Matt 12:28). And it is in that context that Jesus says that anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven (Matt 12:31-32).

The point here is not simply the sin of unbelief, but of continuing and hardening oneself in unbelief. It is about a definitive way in which a person opposes the essence of grace and deliverance. It is a denial that the Spirit of God dwells in Christ Jesus. Thus it is also a denial that his work is God’s work of grace. That this sin is called the sin against the Holy Spirit is understandable when we remember how the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus at his baptism in the Jordan as a seal of divine authority. The Holy Spirit is Jesus’ Messianic authority. That is also why all four gospels mention it (Matt 3:16-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22; John 1:32-34).

The sin against the Holy Spirit is not just a sin against one of the commandments. It is a sin against the gospel! And it is committed in a very conscious way. It is not done in ignorance. Rather it is done knowing what the gospel is and consciously and intentionally rejecting it. It is a willful act of placing God in the place of Satan and Satan in the place of God. Whether this means that the Pharisees in Matthew 12 committed this sin, or that Jesus merely (?) warned them against it, is a question that has been much debated, but we don’t need to examine it here.

The seriousness of the warning remains in any event and it is echoed, for example, in Hebrews 6, which says: “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, to be brought again to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace” (Heb 6:4-6). This passage reminds us of the same sin (and cf. also Heb10:27-29; 12:15-17; 2 Pet 2:20-21; and 1 John 5:16). It means that a person abandons God and his Saviour and then there is no way back. That is always at the end of the road. It is where a person lands at the end of a process of resistance and hardening. That is why we had to speak of this sin after we first understood the seriousness of intentionally and persistently sinning against God. Then the person reaches the point of no return and does not want to return either. That is the essence of this sin.

The severe judgment on this sin parallels what lives in the heart of the sinner. The history of Pharaoh at the time of the exodus confirms it. That he hardened his heart against the Lord (Exod 7:13, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:34) becomes a judgment of God, so that the Lord hardens his heart (Ex 9:12; 10:20, 27). At a certain point, God takes the fact that a person no longer wants to follow the Lord so seriously that the no longer wanting to follow him becomes an inability to follow him and then the person is no longer allowed to do so.

We may not at all think that a harsh judgment by God over a sin such as this means that God’s grace is deficient. For it is not the case that once a certain measure of sin has been reached that then God’s grace is inadequate. We have seen that the opposite is true.

Therefore, and especially after having discussed such an appalling thing as blaspheming the Holy Spirit, we may quote the following passage from Micah, which is a very short paean on grace:

Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.