Not All Sin is Equal

“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point

is guilty of breaking all of it. For he who said, ‘Do not

commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ If you do not commit adultery

but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.”

-James 2:10-11

                This verse is not saying that all sins are equal. What it is saying is that if a man keeps all of the laws of God except for one, he must be judged as guilty. There is supposed to be universal obedience and any one offense is against the whole law of God. This does not mean that all sinners are of equal grade. The meaning is that he is guilty of violating God’s law and does not have the true spirit of obedience; he will be judged and penalized according to the law. He may have obeyed all of God’s other laws but that alone will not save him from judgment because he has disrespected the authority of God. He cannot use, as reasons he should not be punished, that he obeyed all other commandments. If a man lies to one person but was honest to everyone else, he cannot offset the sin by pleading that he was honest in another case. He must answer for the specific charge against him. So how do we know that this verse is not telling us that all sin is equal? The bible tells us that not all sins are equal in 1 John.

“All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.”

-1 John 5:17

                If we commit one sin, it spreads like gangrene and we fall into more temptation. 2 Timothy 2:20-21 compares a church to a house. Every one of God’s people is used for different purposes. One can perform healing and another can speak in tongues. We are constantly taking in different things through our eyes and ears. The bible does say that what comes out of our mouth is what makes us unclean, not what goes in. But what about our eyes and ears? What we take in can affect how we think. Mark 4:24 warns us to be careful about what we listen to. There are so many secular songs that put down the existence of Jesus and God and raises humans higher. What do I do when I hear this music? I turn it off. I don’t want to pollute my temple and begin to believe what is said. I want to be a vase, not a toilet. They are both made of ceramic but it’s what goes into them that makes them what they are. It’s not what we listen to or see. It’s what we let our minds dwell on and what we do to our bodies. The Lord wants us to be cleansed and sanctified and remove anything that could tear us down. Sanctified means to be separated and set aside for God’s use. Do you want to be sanctified and used for God’s glorious works or do you just want to be an average person in God’s eyes living day by day for your own pleasure?