It’s commonly said among Christians today that all sin is equal in God’s eyes. But is this actually true? According to the Bible, it’s not! Learn more in this Little Lesson with Bible teacher David Servant.
Periodically on Little Lessons, you know that we try to address questions sent to us by our viewers, and today is one of those times a viewer has written to us to ask about sexual sin. And so let me read to you his or her letter here. He said or she said, “I know you’ve already posted about sexual sin. But I wanted to know, is all sexual sin equal in God’s eyes? And I mean every sexual sin from the old Testament. Please get back to me.”
All right, well, I’m getting back to you. So I’ve talked about this on previous lessons in a broader sense, in that there’s a very common Christian cliche that I’ve been hearing for years. And that cliche is, “all sin is the same in God’s eyes.” And it’s usually said in the context of when somebody like me is condemning some sin, and then someone will say, “Well, all sin is the same in God’s eyes. So the person who hates is just as bad as the murderer, and you’re condemning the murderer, but you have some hatred” And I don’t know where they get that, because they certainly won’t find anywhere in the Bible where it would say all sin is the same in God’s eyes.
You find some things that could be misread or removed from their context. But here’s what the Bible teaches. All sin is grievous to God. Well, first of all, what is sin? Sin is disobedience to God’s revealed will, that simple. And all sin is grievous to God, but the Bible is clear that some sin is more grievous to God than other sins. For example, one of the sins that is very grievous to God, obviously, is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Now I’ve done a little lesson on that. I’m not going to go into any detail on that whatsoever, but Jesus said, “That’s a sin that won’t be forgiven in this age or in the age to come.”
Well, obviously not all sin is the same because every other sin can be forgiven. And we have examples of people being forgiven of horrendous things in the Bible, but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, it’s an unpardonable sin. And again, I’m afraid viewers are going to say, “Oh, I hope I haven’t committed that sin. I’m afraid I’ve committed that sin.” If that’s you, watch my Little Lesson on the unpardonable sin.
So anyways, my point is that all sin is grievous, but some sin is more grievous than others. Some people say, “Well, Jesus said, ‘Hatred is just like murder.'” Well, actually he didn’t say that, he didn’t actually say that. He was correcting the Pharisaic viewpoint of the day in the Sermon on the Mount, as he was correcting so many false teachings of the Pharisees in the Sermon on the Mount. And the Pharisees were real big on preaching that you shall not commit murder, but yet they had murderous hearts. And they would speak venomous words of hatred. Well, all murder starts with hatred, right? And so Jesus was just elaborating on the fact that, now the commandment that forbids murder also speaks to the subject of hatred.
I’ve said it this way at one time, I think it helps people understand it. When God said, thou shall not murder, should we then assume that it’s okay to choke somebody right to the point where they almost die? But then release our chokehold so they don’t die? And then we can say, “Well, I haven’t sinned because I didn’t actually murder you. I brought you close, but I didn’t actually murder you, so I’m guiltless.” No, you’re fooling yourself, right? And so when we think, “Well, I’m okay in God’s eyes because I’ve got hatred towards somebody. I haven’t murdered that person, but I can’t stand them, and I hate them, and I speak venomous words to them and against them, and I call them a fool.” And so, well, God says, “This is not good.”
But is he is saying that hatred is just as bad in his eyes as murder? He’s not saying that, obviously. I mean, just common sense tells you it’s much more wrong, and much more grievous, and much greater of a sin to murder someone than it is to think about murdering someone. Sure, people try to say sometimes, “Well, lust is just as bad as adultery.” That’s not what Jesus said. He didn’t say that in the Sermon on the Mount. He was just trying to show the Pharisees who were big on preaching that it’s wrong to commit adultery, yet these guys were frequently divorcing their wives to marry the women of their fantasies, and so forth. And so Jesus is pointing out the fact that you’re committing adultery when you lust. And so God has a higher standard than just don’t physically commit adultery.
God is looking for purity of heart and purity of mind. He cares about what goes on in our minds. He cares what we meditate upon. But it’s not just as bad to think about adultery as it is to commit adultery. I mean, if you’re tempted to commit adultery, you’re going to think about it. So is that as wrong being tempted to commit adultery as it is to actually commit it? No. Now, am I saying it’s okay to lust or to think about it? No, I’m not saying that, don’t you dare try to make me say what I haven’t said. Okay, so this viewer asked about is all sexual sin the same in God’s eyes? No, no. And he asked specifically about the Old Testament, because God elaborates on some pretty perverse things there.
He goes into detail as to what constitutes incest. And he of course, talks about homosexuality in the Old Testament. And he talks about fornication, and adultery, and even bestiality, that’s having sex with an animal. It’s amazing that God even has to say something like that, but I guess he felt he needed to. He needed to, because people do that sometimes. So I’m not sure I can list for you which are the most grievous sexual sins. But I’m not sure that really matters, let’s just avoid them all, right? And even to the point of purity of mind.
And again, I’ve taught a lot about biblical sexuality, so you could search for other topics in that genre, and get a little more information there, okay? But the question this viewer has asked, he hasn’t given me or she hasn’t given me enough detail, as is often the case to really be more specific than that. Had they said, “Well, is sex with a child more grievous to God than adultery?” My guess would be it is, both would be extremely grievous to God, but pedophilia is obviously up there pretty high. Okay, so that’s my best answer. And I hope I helped that viewer and any other viewers that watched.
Until next time, may the Lord bless you.
