Are All Sins The Same?

Searching around the internet many articles can be found on sin with its different contexts and interpretations. But what is sin, are all sins the same and…

Could sin make Jesus not love us anymore?

This Is what I will be addressing in an objective (bird’s eye perspective), biblical manner. I will try to keep away any subjectivity and instead focus on what the Bible directly says.

The first three points will be easier to translate into “undebatable” theory :

• What is sin?
• Are all sins equal?
• What sin does God hate the most?

Whereas the last one…

• Does God forgive all sins?

Oscillates between facts (examples in the Bible) and personal opinion/experience. But, I wouldn’t wish to step in the middle of you and Jesus’s meeting per se, so I will do my best to keep my distance!

With this in mind, let’s begin.

First…

What Is Sin?

“And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as Christ is pure. Everyone who practices sin practices lawlessness as well. Indeed, sin is lawlessness. But you know that Christ appeared to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin.…”

John 3:4

Put simply – sin is the breaking of the law of God. That is…going against his set nature and what he intended, that which goes against his character too. Think of it as a child mislearning from their parents.

What kind of law does the Bible talk about?

“Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”

Romans 13:10

I’d say that’s a good summary of the Ten Commandments as well.

Many more quotes in the Bible exist that do a marvelous job of explaining sin, law…etc and for a subject that at first could sound grim or obscure, a lot of them are actually quite hopeful. 

In Romans 7:7 (written by Paul the apostle), an interesting sincere confession from the author is shared with us. It gives us insight into the understanding…. or misunderstanding of sin at that time.

“What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”

Not stealing, might seem obvious to us now, but was it back then?

Either way, it serves as a nice little easter egg that reveals the mind and heart of someone who lived at that time and what the law meant to said someone.

Are All Sins Equal?

There is one sin that befell the rest and served as a trigger for the others to appear. Right at the beginning of The Bible, in a garden called Eden, the first sin is shown.

“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” 

And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.” 

Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.”

“Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Genesis 3:12–13 and 3:1–7

Genesis suggests that the first one to have ever known sin was the serpent, also known as Lucifer/Satan. 

Isaiah confirms his.

“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: 

‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ 

Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit.”

Isaiah 14:12-15

What Sin Does God Hate The Most?

Pride and doubt, or a lack of faith, are the first sins shown in the Bible, and the ones God happens to hate the most according to this and such passages.

“The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate.”

Proverbs 8:13

Good may not always triumph over evil but evil will always destroy itself as Psalm 34: 21 suggests.

“Evil will eventually destroy itself”

Thank God Jesus saved us!

In the end, if Adam and Eve had been asked by God “Do you trust me?”, they probably would have sheepishly answered “No”. 

They doubted His love for them and that He was good. Or maybe having someone they loved was not good enough for them. They wanted something “more”. 

I guess there is loving someone more than anything or loving something more than someone.

I would like to remind the reader that this is not meant to inspire blame or shame on anyone (not even the characters in the scriptures) but to summarize what the Bible says about this topic.

Now, onto the last dreaded chapter of this article.

Does God Forgive All Sins?

For this last part, I will implement the art of show and not tell because the loving compassion and closeness displayed in many chapters of the Bible by Jesus himself, certainly outshine all and any tragic scene in it. 

So I will let those speak for themselves. Some of these you might have heard of while others are quite underrated in my opinion.

Jesus healing his adversary

“And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And He touched the man’s ear and healed him.“

Luke 22:51

God weeping when His loved ones turned away from Him

“O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people!”

Jeremiah 8:18–9:3

(By the way, this is my favorite book of the O.T in the Bible)

Jesus lamenting not being able to protect Jerusalem

“How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing.” 

 Matthew 23:37-39

Despite Israel forsake Him, He never gave up on them

“The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness. I will build you up again and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel. Again you will take up your tambourines and go out to dance with the joyful.“

Jeremiah 31:3-4

Jesus weeping when someone dear to Him dies (Lazarus)

“Jesus wept.

Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”

John 11:35

Jeremiah all alone being troubled and God personally taking care of him 

“The LORD replied, “I will take care of you, Jeremiah.”

Jeremiah 15:11

Jesus forgiving those that crucified and betrayed Him

“Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Luke 23:24

He never stopped loving Israel, His loved one, no matter what they’ve done

“The Lord said to me, “Go. Show your love to your wife again. She is loved by another man. And she has committed adultery. But I want you to love her just as I love the people of Israel. They turn to other gods. And they love to offer raisin cakes to Baal and eat them. In spite of that, I love my people.”

Hosea 3:1

And the last but not least of many….

The Prodigal son

“So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.”

Luke 15:20

I wouldn’t wish to speak for God so instead, with this, I would like to encourage the reader to go to Him directly with any cause of concern in the hopes that you can trust Him with this.

They say communication is key for any relationship. Whether this applies or not, with hope in my eyes, I pray and long so that we can boldly approach Him – unafraid – just like children did so many eons ago.

“Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Matthew 19:14