if all sin is equal, wouldnt all good works be equal?

Question

many protestants contend that all sin is equally offensive, but that would ignite the loics that all good works would be equall glorifying....

and i believe it was said "everyone will be paid according to what they have done"....and will be rewarded differently..

so, why would it make sense for there to be levels of charity and "heaven" so to speak.....but not levels or degrees of evil and sin???

sorry..that is supposed to be "logic" up there....idk what happened..

Answer 1

You have been misinformed. Those that hold to Presbyterian doctrines believe that all sin is heinous (and deserves God's wrath and curse), BUT not all sins are equally heinous.

John 19:11 (King James Version)
Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the GREATER SIN.

also see: Ezek. 8:6, 13, 15; 1 John 5:16; Ps. 78:17, 32, 56.

Answer 2

since almost all answers address the idea that not all sin is equal, i'll focus on why not all good works are equal.

if you use a little bit of reason, you have to define how you measure a "good work". is it quantified by the act itself or by the intention of the person doing the work. or a little bit of both.

for example, if a billionaire donates $100,000 to a charity, and someone who barely makes enough to make ends meet donates $25 to that same charity, who has done the greater good?

clearly the billionaires donation will accomplish more, but who actually made the greater sacrifice? it also follows that if a person's motivation to do a good work is for self-fulfilling motives, is that the same as someone who does it out of pure altruism?

for example, again a billionaire, is advised by his accountant that he can reduce his tax liability by donating to said charity. this billionaire is not a bad person and is not ebeneezer scrooge either but really is only donating it to save money. is that the same as someone who is middle class, works 40-60 hrs a week but still feels like he should give something back by volunteering in his community on weekends and get absolutely nothing in return?

i think everyone would have an opinion as to what constitutes a good work. i feel there are different levels of good work but not all good actions are equal. what is probably closer to equality is good intentions.

Answer 3

If by "equal" you mean "will separate you from God," then, yes, all sin is equal.

But the scriptures let us know that some sins received the death penalty, while others sins required certain sacrifices and perhaps even payment (in the Old Testament).

We all know by commonsense that while stealing a candy bar is wrong/sinful, it is nowhere near as wrong as killing a child. If we know this in our hearts, then we might ask why in the world we would think that...unless God causes us to be able to discern between degrees of sin.

Let me use this analogy. If you're wearing a white suit and get a spot of grease on your suit, you've messed it up (to a degree). But if you pour a can of motor oil on your suit, you have really befouled it.

Furhter, we are told that we will be rewarded according to our works. That would strongly imply that the worse one was, the worse they will be punished (even in hell, apparently).

Lastly, if you'll read in I John, we find that "there is a sin unto death." Whatever is meant here, it is implied that we should NOT pray for that sin to be remitted/forgiven, etc.

In a nutshell, there ARE degrees of evil and sin. Any degree will cause separation from God, for it breaks His law. But some are indeed more heinous than others, demanding punishment in this life and the life to come.

Answer 4

First of all, good works won't get you into heaven. There's only one way to get to heaven. You have to be saved. See Romans 10: 9-10. You have to confess Jesus as Lord and risen Savior.

Second, what that's talking about is that God knows the thoughts and intents of the heart. The religious leaders in Jesus' day loved to do good works, but their heart wasn't right before God. They did those things so that people would think highly of them. God knows why we do the things we do. And if we do them purely for His glory and not for our own, we'll be rewarded as such. If we're doing them just to be seen, we already have our reward.

And as far as sin being equal, some people would argue that it's not. But, God shows no partiality. Sin is sin to Him. There's only one sin and everything falls under that. The only sin is disobedience to God. Murder and cursing...it's disobedience to God. We set levels of sins, not God. The Apostle Paul understood that. It's why God will welcome with open arms the sinner who covets and the sinner who murders alike. If they turn from their sin and ask His forgiveness He gives it. The only sin that will keep you out of heaven is unbelief. And as far as I can tell, the only sin you won't be forgiven of on earth is adultery. I'd hate to have to be the one that stood before a pure and holy God and had to answer for that one.

Answer 5

No rational person would say that all sin is equal. Jesus wouldn't say so either. He told Pilate, "those who delivered me over to you are guilty of the greater sin". How can there be a greater sin if all sin is equal?? Also, James, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, tells us "there are sins unto death" and "there are sins not unto death". Obviously he is not speaking of murder. He simply means that there are some sins serious enough that they completely separate us from God's grace, thereby rendering us spiritually dead. God's Church has always referred to such sins as "mortal sins", which means exactly what James wrote - "deadly sins". But James specifically says that there are sins that are not mortal, which are more easily forgiven. God's Church calls such sins "venial", which means "easily forgiven".

Answer 6

I don't believe all sin is equal- it simply has the same result: separation from God. The Bible itself lays more emphasis on some sins than others; Paul, for example, emphasized sexual sin because "all other sins a man commits outside of his own body," but sexual sin is a sin against one's own body.

And clearly murder is worse than simple hatred in that one results in an actual death of a person, and the other results mostly in the personal bitterness of the hater.

I don't know about levels of hell, but the point of saying "sin is sin" is that it all estranges us from God, from the least to the greatest. It all disqualifies us from heaven on our own merits. It all requires forgiveness.

Answer 7

A good deed does not need to be measured; you just do it. If people stopped counting them and doing them to get "heaven points" life would be better. A bad deed done is one less good deed done that could've changed someones life or the world.

Answer 8

I like that. Everyone does good works according to their own abilities. It's what is in your hearth that counts.

Answer 9

You are correct all good works are the same, filthy rags, next to the completed work of our LORD and SAVIOR.

Answer 10

Sin is sin, and good works are good work.