Imagine a city skyline, with some buildings significantly taller than others. What if instead we were viewing it from above at a significant height (say, from heaven)? From this angle, the differences in height are flattened out, and the tallest skyscraper appears no taller than a single-story office building. I've heard this illustration as an analogy for the way that we view sins compared to the way that God views sins: to us, some sins are much worse than others, but to God, all sins are equal. It's a fantastic illustration. Unfortunately it doesn't align with the Bible's teaching about sin.

In his book Knowing Sin, pastor Mark Jones asks, "Are some sins worse than others? The straightforward answer from the Bible: yes, of course." Or put another way, Scripture does not teach "that stealing a dollar from an elderly woman is just as bad as murdering her." We know this intuitively. "We do not execute a child who steals a cookie."

I believe the equal-sins view is generally used with two good intentions. The first is to take sin—even the smallest sin—seriously. The second is to avoid judging the speck in our brother's eye while missing the plank in our own. (Incidentally, notice that in Jesus' illustration here, a plank is a much worse object to have in one's eye than a speck). These are both good and holy intentions that seek to correct very real errors in the church, but we should avoid throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

To the first point, it is absolutely true that "every sin, no matter how minor, remains infinitely serious in the eyes of an infinite God and worthy of his infinite condemnation." No sin should ever be excused. The Bible teaches that the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23), and death is absolute. Paul does not teach that one sin will leave you dead while another leaves you only mostly dead. Dead is dead. However the Bible also clearly teaches that some sins are in fact worse than others. All sin leads to death, but some sins-leading-to-death are worse than other sins-leading-to-death.

To the second point, we should teach what the Bible teaches about degrees of sin, but we should also teach it in the way that the Bible teaches us to. Judgmentalism is sinful and petty. If I entered into a competition to do a standing broad jump from my backyard to the dark side of the moon, I would be a fool to argue that my 23" vertical jump got me closer than my opponent's 18" vertical jump. There is a very real difference between 18" and 23", but not when it comes to jumping to the moon. A murderer commits a worse sin than I do in envying my neighbor, but both sins leave us infinitely separated from a holy God.

Biblical Teaching

Some sins are worse than others.

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 19:11

Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.
- Matthew 12:31

You shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally, for him who is native among the people of Israel and for the stranger who sojourns among them. But the person who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native or a sojourner, reviles the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from among his people.
- Numbers 15:29–30

Some will be judged by stricter standards than others.

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

But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.
- Matthew 11:24

But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.
- Luke 12:48

But what about...

Isn't a lustful glance adultery?

But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
- Matthew 5:28

Doesn't Jesus clearly say that one who lusts is guilty of the sin of adultery and one who hates is guilty of the sin of murder? In a sense, yes. But that answers the question of the category of the sin, not the degree of the sin. Taking a candy bar from a store and emptying a bank vault are both theft, but civil laws rightly distinguish between "petty theft" and "grand theft" in dealing with those crimes. Similarly Jesus is telling us that a lustful look is not innocent—it is a form of committing the sin of adultery. Still, there is a reason that the Lord in giving the Ten Commandments said "you shall not commit adultery" rather than "you shall not lust." Both are bad. One is worse.

Isn't breaking part of the law breaking all of the law?

For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
- James 2:10

Yes, but again this is a category claim, not a degree claim. Faced with the question, "Have you broken the law?" both the stop-sign-roller and the serial rapist must answer, "Yes." But there is a significant difference in the degree to which each has broken the law. James's point in context of the passage is that one who shows favoritism or partiality is in the same category as a murderer or adulterer: law-breaker.

Aren't we all equally guilty before God?

None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one... for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
- Rom 3:10-11, 23

Similar to law-breaking, we are all sinners. We are all guilty. All sinners are equally deserving of punishment, because we have sinned against an infinite God. But that does not mean that all sins are equally heinous in the eyes of God.

What makes one sin worse than another?

1. The position of the person sinning.

Those who are in positions of authority—especially spiritual authority, such as a pastor or a father—will be judged by a stricter standard (James 3:1). Those who have more knowledge will be judged by a stricter standard (Heb 10:26-29). Mark Jones illustrates this well:

Consider two situations involving theft. First, a pastor steals money from the church offering to pay gambling debts and continue visiting a prostitute. Second, a seven year-old boy steals a few dollars from another boy at school to buy some snacks at lunch. Clearly the pastor's sin is more serious, and aggravated by differences in [age, role, target, etc].

2. The person sinned against.

Betraying an honest friend is always bad, but Judas's betrayal of the Lord Jesus himself is in a category all of its own, because of the person being sinned against. Jesus says that it would be better for Judas if he had never been born (Matt 26:24). He feels similarly about those who cause the innocent to sin (Mark 9:42).

3. The nature of the sin.

Consider the moral reasoning of Genesis 9:6. "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image." The Lord is prescribing the death penalty for anyone who commits murder. Why? Because of the nature of the sin committed—it is a destroying of one whom God made in his own image. Or consider Paul's reasoning in 1 Corinthians 6:18-20:

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Paul argues that there is a difference in the nature of sexual sins and other sins, particularly for believers, whose "body is a temple of the Holy Spirit."

A Few Cautions

God determines the degrees of sin, not us.

The daughter of an alcoholic may see alcoholism as a much more severe sin than others would. But her believing it so does not make it so, unless the Word of God says it is so. Many in the church today are guilty of condemning homosexual sin to the furthest levels of hell while excusing or even boasting about heterosexual sins like sex before marriage. Although homosexual sins are certainly abominations in the eyes of the Lord (Rom 1:26-27), it may well be that the Lord is more offended by the heterosexual sin of a believer, since this is sin committed against the temple of God (1 Cor 6:18-20) by one who has been given the truth of God concerning such sins (Heb 10:26). God determines the degrees of sin, not us.

Judgmentalism is also a sin.

The Lord abhors the sin that you abhor in others. He also abhors your pride in judging them (Prov 21:4). Guard your own heart against sin, and let the Lord address the sins of others.

Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.
- Matthew 7:1–2