Jun 21
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Baptist Catechism 88
Q. 88. Are all transgressions of the law equally heinous?
A. Some sins in themselves and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others. (Ezekiel 8:13; John 19:11; 1 John 5:16)
Scripture Reading: John 19:1–11
“Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe. They came up to him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ and struck him with their hands. Pilate went out again and said to them, ‘See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.’ So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, ‘Behold the man!’ When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, ‘Crucify him, crucify him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.’ The Jews answered him, ‘We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.’ When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, ‘Where are you from?’ But Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, ‘You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?’ Jesus answered him, ‘You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.’” (John 19:1–11, ESV)
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Please excuse any typos and misspellings within this manuscript. It has been published online for the benefit of the saints of Emmaus Reformed Baptist Church but without the benefit of proofreading.
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Have you ever heard it said that all sins are equal in God’s eyes? There is some truth to that statement if by it we mean that all sins, big or small, are in fact sins and do make us guilty before God. That is certainly true. And that fact does need to be emphasized for there are many people who think that because they have not committed a big sin — a heinous sin — then they are good with God. That is not true. Sin, we have learned, is any lack of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God (BC 17). And after considering God’s law we have all agreed that we daily violate God’s law in thought, word, or deed (BC 87). We must confess, therefore, that apart from Christ we all stand guilty before God. If that is what people mean when they say that all sins are equal in God’s eyes, then I agree with them.
But I think you would agree that that phrase can be a little misleading. It can be taken to mean that God does not distinguish between lesser and greater sins at all. That doesn’t sound right does it for a God who is perfectly just. And when we consider the civil law that God gave to Old Covenant Israel we see that the punishment fit the crime. Lesser crimes were to receive a lesser punishment, and greater crimes were to receive a stricter punishment. If we are to uphold justice in this way by distinguishing between lesser and greater evils, then it stands to reason that God, who is perfectly just, does the same.
The passage that I just read from John 19 speaks to this issue. When Jesus spoke to Pilate concerning his sin he said that the Jews who had falsely accused him, and who were turning the political screws on Pilate to persuade him to crucify Jesus, had “the greater sin”. Both Pilate and the Jews sinned against Jesus by their unjust treatment of him, but the sin of the unbelieving Jews was greater, for they were the ones driving the issue.
And so this raises another question: if a distinction is to be made between lesser and greater sins, should we expect there to be differing degrees of punishment in hell? The answer is yes, for God is just. The punishment will fit the sin. Jesus also spoke to this when he said that “it will be more bearable on that day [the day of judgment] for Sodom than for that town”, speaking of the town which rejects the testimony of his Apostles (Luke 10:12, ESV).
So, on the one hand, we must agree that all sin is sin. All lawbreakers stand before God as guilty, therefore. But not all sin is the same. Some sins are more heinous than others.
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Baptist Catechism 88
This is what our catechism teaches.
Q. 88. Are all transgressions of the law equally heinous?
A. “Some sins in themselves… are more heinous in the sight of God than others.” To give an example, the sin of murder is much worse than the sin of unholy hatred. Both are sins. Neither should be tolerated. But one is much worse than the other given the destruction that it causes.
Ezekiel 8:13 is listed as a proof text. There we read, “He said also to me, ‘You will see still greater abominations that they commit” (Ezekiel 8:13, ESV). The meaning is clear. What Ezekiel had been shown in this vision regarding the sins of the leaders of Israel was bad, but he was about to see even worse things. And again, Jesus’ words to Pilate that have already been discussed prove the point that “Some sins in themselves… are more heinous in the sight of God than others.”
Our catechism is also right to say that “some sins in themselves and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others.” I think this little phrase, by reason of several aggravations, acknowledges that other factors come into play when determining the severity of a sin. Some sins are, in and of themselves, more heinous than others. But there are other things to consider too when asking, how aggravating is this sin to God. So, for example, I will ask you, is it more aggravating to God when a four-year-old tells a lie or when a forty-year-old tells a lie? The sin is the same, right? But there is a sense in which a lying 40-year-old is worse than a lying 4-year-old. The 40-year-old should know better! And what is worse, a Christian committing adultery or a Pastor? Same sin, but the one is more aggravating than the other. Remember what James said. “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness” (James 3:1, ESV). And that passage with Jesus and Pilate is helpful again. Both Pilate and the Jews were guilty of injustice, but the sins of the Jews were greater, in part, because they should have known better (they crucified their own Messiah), and because they were the instigators. I think that is what the phrase, “by reason of several aggravations”, means. It means that other factors may contribute to make a sin more aggravating in the sight of God.
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Conclusion
So what difference does this teaching make?
One, it does help us to think and speak clearly regarding the justice of God. He does distinguish between lesser and greater sins. At the judgment the punishment will fit the sin. And we are to follow his example when executing temporal justice on earth today.
Two, this teaching should make us eager to avoid all sin, but especially to avoid heinous sin. And we do know that lesser sins do lead to greater sins. Don’t lie when you are 4 because you do not want to be lier when you are 40, which is worse. And do not lust in your heart, for we know that the sin of lust does lead to the sin of adultery. Be sober concerning the severity of all sin, and particularly heinous sin, for is so very damaging.
Three, this teaching does enable us to correctly distinguish between those who are good and those who are evil in the world. In an absolute sense, is anyone good? We say, no. There is none righteous, no not one. But in another sense, are there good people in the world? Are there good governors, good bosses, good friends, and good parents? Yes! And how can we speak in this way? By understanding that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, some, by God’s grace, are good, caring, faithful, and just, relatively speaking. Though all are sinners, God, in his common grace, does restrain evil in the world and he keeps even those who do not know Christ from committing heinous sins, thanks be to God.
Q. 88. Are all transgressions of the law equally heinous?
A. Some sins in themselves and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others. (Ezekiel 8:13; John 19:11; 1 John 5:16)
