Are all sins the same in the eyes of God? Is lying just as bad as murder? The answer is not as simple as it may seem. In one sense our moral failings are exactly the same: Our sins regardless of severity expose our imperfection and separate us from the perfect God who created us. Even the smallest moral failing disqualifies us from the perfection of God. But God recognizes some sins are more heinous than others. There Degrees of Punishment on Earth When God gave the Law to Moses, He prescribed different levels of punishment for different kinds of sins, based on the offensive or heinous nature of the sin under consideration.
The Mosaic Law is filled with measured responses to sin. He may beat him forty times but no more, lest he beat him with many more stripes than these, and your brother be degraded in your eyes. The Mosaic Law is evidence of two important truths: First, while any sin may separate you from the perfection of God, some sins are clearly more offensive than others. Second, God prescribes different punishments for different crimes based on the severity of each crime.
Scroll to continue reading. God prescribes a variety of punishments in the next life corresponding to the crimes committed in this one : Revelation And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.
Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you, that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. And from everyone who has been given much shall much be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more. In the next life, some will be punished more than others. There are clearly degrees of punishment. Those who know more are held in a higher degree of accountability and responsibility. The more you know, the more you should know better.
Woe to you, Bethsaida. For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Nevertheless I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you.
And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You shall descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. Nevertheless I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you. But even more importantly, our level of knowledge and understanding is the basis for this punishment. They had more opportunities than nearly anyone else to comprehend and accept the truth, yet they failed to do so.
The doctrine of degrees of rewards is a motivator: how people make choices here, on earth, have long-term positive consequences for living in the new earth, beyond just getting there and avoiding hell. One is a forger, and he has a life sentence.
Part of his punishment is to do hard labor of busting up rocks for one day each month, as fits his nonviolent crime. The other prisoner, a murderer, also has a life sentence, but, as suits his crime, he must do hard labor every other day.
Both are in prison, but it is worse for the worse criminal. All evildoers will be incarcerated in hell, but it will be worse for some than others, according to their deeds.
I think they suffer because of their guilt; the guilt is what causes them pain in the presence of a righteous God. Cameron [Carlisle: Paternoster, ]. For evildoers, this means a stripping away of all the illusions about God and their sin. The truth they long suppressed will overturn them.
Their crimes will be exposed in fullness. All evildoers, the devil included, will bow to Jesus and admit that he is the Lord. Going out from the final judgment, the burden upon them is their full knowledge of guilt for all their sins.
I imagine that they will have no way to avoid this truth or to pretend that they have not actually been so wrong as to hate God and his ways as much as they have.
God has been good to me in innumerable ways, but I have repaid him with only evil! I have caused incalculable pain to all the people in my life. I am ashamed. I have only contempt for myself.
I know I will find no comfort ever. This final and everlasting self-knowledge may correspond to the differences of degrees in punishments. Some suggest that if the Lord is really loving and good, then He would not subject anyone to eternal punishment. Assumptions that the Creator loves all people equally and that nothing exceeds His love for human beings lay behind this protest. However, these definitions of love are not biblical. First, Isaiah tells us the Lord is jealous for His own glory.
His creation and salvation of His people are not primarily for our good, but for His glory —7. The Lord upholds His love when He punishes unrepentant sinners in hell because His righteous judgment, and therefore His glory, which He loves, is displayed therein.
Moreover, the Father does not love every human being in the same way. Yes, common grace is bestowed on all men indiscriminately, giving them food and other benefits Acts His saving grace is not shown to every man and woman Rom. Now, if good human judges do not let criminals get away with murder, how much more does our holy Lord demand punishment of transgressors?
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