Question: Dear Greg,

For most of my Christian life I have heard the statement made that "one sin is just as bad as another in God’s eyes and only we humans categorize sin". I know that in the sense that all sin separates mankind from God this is true. But I often hear this reasoning in defense of some "Christian" who has committed some grossly immoral act or is living a lifestyle that is inconsistent with being a Christian.

If one Christian commits – let’s say – the sin of omission of not witnessing enough, and another commits adultery, does God really feel the same about these two people? I know that they are both forgiven if they are saved, but doesn’t teaching that "one sin is just the same as another for Christians" really undermine the pursuit of holiness?

Thanks,

Steve

Answer: Dear Steve,

Sin is both actions – act – as well as a state or condition. We are sinners by virtue of being human, by virtue of our sinful human nature. It is the state in which we live. Paul speaks to this eloquently in Romans 7. Then, in addition to being sinners by virtue of our nature, we also commit sinful acts.

Categorizing sin is problematic, for it generally leads to judgment and self-righteousness. As humans we desperately wish to know what our standing is with God – if possible we would like a Dow-Jones-like ticker tape readout on an hourly basis, to know if we are doing enough, pleasing God, "keeping him happy" as it were.

But we can’t keep God happy. We have nothing to give him that will help him, nothing that he doesn’t already have. Nothing we can do will atone for our sin – either the state in which we find ourselves, in this flesh, this earthly tent as Paul puts it – or the sin which we commit.

John steals, Jim lies, and Sam uses profanity. Which one is a "bigger" sinner? Perhaps the question we should ask is, how is their sin dealt with? And of course we know. The blood of Christ. Infinitely precious and "expensive" – for he said, "the debt is paid" – and that debt was for John, Jim and Sam – all of the sins of all time. No breakdown is given to us about which sins cost Jesus the most pain, the most blood, etc. The Bible simply tells us that the debt is paid – something that no amount of holiness on our part could ever do.

Are we holy? Yes. In addition to being forgiven, redeemed, and justified, God sanctifies us – makes us holy. He imputes to our account the riches of his grace – not only wiping out the death note that was against us, canceling it, ("the debt is paid") – but beyond that, crediting our account with the very righteousness of our Savior, calling us "saints". Corrupted and sinful that we are, God, because of his grace - not any of our holy deeds or actions - calls us "saints".

It’s all because of him – and none of it (salvation) is because of us. Not only that, but any holiness that we produce in our lives after God has saved and rescued us is because of the new life that Christ lives in us ("that no flesh should glory in his sight.")

We do obey Christ – not in order to be saved, but because we have been saved. It’s the only way that we can obey Christ, because he lives in us, and the life that we now lead is his, not our "old man’s". We are not saved BY WORKS – but we are saved FOR WORKS.

Christians are holy – not because of their own ability to obey, not because of their dedication, deeds, creeds or merits. Christians are holy because of God – for without him there is no holiness.

In Christ,

Greg Albrecht