Grades of Sin

Jesus speaks of a “greater sin” (John 19:11).

Jesus says that judgment day will be more tolerable for some of the damned than for others (Matt 11:22).

Jesus also lists different punishments for the sins of anger, calling a brother “fool,” and murder. (Matt. 5:21-22)

Jesus says that some sins deserve "less blows" than others (Luke 12:47-48).

Deuteronomy 25:2: "According to the measure of the sin shall the measure also of the stripes be."

Jesus seems committed to the intuitive view that some sins are worse than others.  

Some sins take a greater commitment of will and personality, involve more damage, and more disregard.  It is intuitive to think that murder is a worse sin than stealing a paperclip.  Jesus supports this intuitive judgment.  Sins can vary in severity according to context, intention, effect, and multitude.  This list isn’t meant to be exhaustive. There may be more ways for sinful actions to vary from one another.

Context:  A person undergoing a greater temptation can be less guilty, deserve “less blows”, due to his temptation-context than he who had little temptation and yet committed the sin anyway.

Intention:  Intention comes as a matter of degree.  Sometimes we fully intend an action, and sometimes we only weakly intend an action.  “With great foresight and in full view of the consequences, I fully intended the sin then and now” vs. “I knew it was wrong, but lapsed in my judgment and values the moment the sin occurred.”  

Effects:  Some sins have more damaging consequences than others.  Anger can be wrong, and affects our personalities.  But the sin of murder steals a life and destroys families.  Murder has worse effects than mere anger.

Aggregate:  Some actions include additional sins.  Some actions take a long time to accomplish, and as the action occurs a sin can be reduplicated many times.  This makes a reduplicated sin worse than one that is singular and short in duration.  

Despite the greater and less intensity of sins, all sins separate us from God and deserve infinite punishment. Yet Jesus spoke of some of the damned getting “less blows” from others.  Perhaps it’s helpful to think of Cantor’s insight:  There are greater and lesser infinities in mathematics, and perhaps that’s the case here too.  All sins are infinitely wrong, but some infinities are bigger than others.

From the Westminster Shorter Catechism: 

Q. 83. Are all transgressions of the law equally heinous? 

A. Some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others.