The Arrogance of the Sin Hierarchy

 The Arrogance of the Sin Hierarchy 

 

In my Christian journey I have seen, and been guilty at times, of putting people’s sins in to a hierarchy.  In this hierarchy we classify sins from minor to major based upon our judgements of what is minor or major.  From this we place value upon people, their lives, and testimonies 

If God doesn’t use a hierarchy, why do we?

 

Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—

 

We tend to forget that the sin that Adam committed was disobedience in eating fruit from a tree God said not to.  It wasn’t murder, sexual, addiction related, lying, cheating, blasphemy.  He ate some fruit, that’s it. From that one act sin and death and all its offspring of sickness, illness, poverty, and every evil vile thing.  

Jesus’s death, burial and resurrection was to pay the price for the root of sin and hence all sin.  If there had been no other sin committed by humanity but this one sin by Adam the sacrifice of Jesus would have still been required.  My sin, your sin no other person’s sin required anymore nor any less the suffering, blood, death and resurrection of Jesus.  

For many years I miss understood Luke 7:47 “Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.’”  I used to think this verse meant that those who sinned more or worse sins then someone who hadn’t sinned as much would love Jesus more.  That is not what the verse says though.  It says those “whom little is forgiven” “the same loves little” it doesn’t say “whom has sin little” “the same loves little”.  Remember the context of from which this verse comes from. Jesus was at a pharisees house.  This pharisee thought he was better than the woman who came and anointed Jesus’s feet and so Jesus askes him a question about debtors who both have their debts forgiven.  One debtor owed 10 times as much as the other.  Jesus asks who would love more of the two debtors.  The pharisee answers the one who owed more.  Jesus said that he answered correctly.  Now this would seem to contradict what I have previously said but Jesus’s point was to deal with the pharisee’s prideful attitude because he judged himself better than the woman and yet he had not showed the basic hospitality, respect and love for Jesus that the “sinner” woman had. She knew that she needed forgiveness, while the pharisee had let his own self-righteous attitude blind him to his need for the very same forgiveness. 

None of us are better or worse than anyone else.  All of our sin put Jesus on the cross.  Therefore, everyone’s salvation testimony is important and powerful BECAUSE it is NOT the multitude, or severity of our sin that is important.  NO!  What is IMPORTANT is the power of JESUS sacrifice that PAID FOR ALL OUR SINS and freed us from death.  

Simply put what He did matters more than what we did. We all should love much because we all have been forgiven much. Your sin, my sin, their sin was all leading all of us to the same hell. Don’t let self-righteousness rob you of loving much, to be able to love much means you were loved much.

 

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.