Speaker 1: Are all sins equal? Are there degrees of sin? This
Speaker 1: is a great question. You know. There's a text in
Speaker 1: the New Testament, in Saint James's Epistle that confuses many
Speaker 1: people on this subject. Let me read it to you.
Speaker 1: It's from Chapter two, verse ten. Whoever keeps the whole
Speaker 1: law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become
Speaker 1: guilty of all. What does this text mean? And does
Speaker 1: this mean that if you do a single sin that
Speaker 1: you're guilty of everything. Well, the question can be answered
Speaker 1: this way, Yes and no, Yes and no. From one perspective,
Speaker 1: One single sin, one single violation of the law makes
Speaker 1: you a transgressor of the law. It makes you a sinner. So,
Speaker 1: in the sense of our all sins equal if the
Speaker 1: reference is equal with regards to what If the reference
Speaker 1: is equal in regards of making a person a sinner,
Speaker 1: making a person subject to death, making a person in
Speaker 1: a condition in which he or she needs to be saved,
Speaker 1: the answer is absolutely yes, all sins are equal. Whether
Speaker 1: you commit one hundred sins a year or ten million
Speaker 1: sins a year like me, we are absolutely equal with
Speaker 1: regards to being in the grip of death and being
Speaker 1: liable to terrible judgment for our sins. As Saint Paul says,
Speaker 1: the wages of sin is death. He didn't say the
Speaker 1: wages of many, many sins is death. He said the
Speaker 1: wages of sin sin itself. And unfortunately, for us, we
Speaker 1: who do many sins, all of us, a single sin
Speaker 1: makes us manifests the fact that we are sinners. We
Speaker 1: are sinners, and death is our future unless we have
Speaker 1: one above death, the conqueror of death, who is able
Speaker 1: to deliver us. This text that James is referring to,
Speaker 1: that he's mentioning and referring to, comes from Deuteronomy. In fact,
Speaker 1: at the end of Deuteronomy. Remember that Deuteronomy the fifth
Speaker 1: book of Moses, the God' Seer, the holy prophet in
Speaker 1: God's her Moses, he is preparing the people to enter
Speaker 1: into the promised Land. They've completed their wilderness wanderings. They're
Speaker 1: getting ready now to go into the promised land. And
Speaker 1: he has them right the law in great detail. And
Speaker 1: then he has the people standing between the mountains with
Speaker 1: the blessings and the curses on both sides. And then
Speaker 1: he reads the law, blessing those who will keep the
Speaker 1: word of God and cursing, having the people participate in
Speaker 1: this blessing and cursing covenant renewal to promise themselves that
Speaker 1: they'll be faithful to God. Since you show your faithfulness
Speaker 1: by obedience, love is shown by keeping the words of
Speaker 1: God and cursing those who violate God's laws. And in fact,
Speaker 1: in that text, in Deuteronomy twenty seven, verse twenty six,
Speaker 1: you find these words curse. It is the man that
Speaker 1: does not confirm all of the law by doing it.
Speaker 1: This is what James is referring to in chapter two.
Speaker 1: Saint Paul also refers to this text in his Epistle
Speaker 1: to the Galatians, and he uses it in Galatians three ten.
Speaker 1: For as many as are of the works of the
Speaker 1: Law are under a curse, for it is written cursed
Speaker 1: as everyone who does not abide by all things written
Speaker 1: in the Book of the Law to perform them. Saint
Speaker 1: Paul is making the point that there is no standing
Speaker 1: before God. We do not have our standing. We're not
Speaker 1: accepted into God's family, we're not justified, we're not put
Speaker 1: in a right relationship with God by our own deeds.
Speaker 1: Self righteousness has no place in the Christian life. Works
Speaker 1: righteousness has no place in the Christian life. In fact,
Speaker 1: if we start thinking that our relationship with God is
Speaker 1: built upon us being pretty good people, we are manifesting
Speaker 1: that we have a very, very fake and unstable relationship
Speaker 1: with God. That kind of language, well, I'm a pretty
Speaker 1: good person. Oh, May God help us to banish that
Speaker 1: language from our vocabulary. May we never speak such words
Speaker 1: of madness as oh, I'm a pretty good person. Really, really,
Speaker 1: there's one who was good, He who is in heaven,
Speaker 1: and he makes people good by his grace for sure,
Speaker 1: and holy and beautiful and loving. But we dear ones,
Speaker 1: we live by the mercy of God. So the answer
Speaker 1: to the question all sins equal? Are there degrees of sin? First,
Speaker 1: the answer I think is yes, all sins are equal
Speaker 1: in the sense of all sins make us transgressors of
Speaker 1: the law, in great need of the mercy of God,
Speaker 1: liable to death, and in need of a savior. But
Speaker 1: having said that with a different reference, this time comparing
Speaker 1: sin with sin, the answer is absolutely not. All sins
Speaker 1: are not equal, and there certainly is great difference between
Speaker 1: this kind of sin and that kind of sin, or
Speaker 1: even the manifestation of the same sin. Remember that it's
Speaker 1: one thing to let a sin start in your mind,
Speaker 1: and this is where sin starts. An evil thought appears,
Speaker 1: and instead of rejecting it because we're awake noetically and
Speaker 1: we're watching and we're trying to live for God moment
Speaker 1: by moment. Instead, sin begins by us coupling. We allow
Speaker 1: ourselves to contemplate and start thinking about a particular sin. Hopefully,
Speaker 1: with the help of God, we recognize that that sin
Speaker 1: is taking place, and we can repent right then and
Speaker 1: cast that thought out and replace it by a thought
Speaker 1: of beauty, of truth, and of goodness. If we don't,
Speaker 1: then that thought will grow and it will begin to
Speaker 1: manifests itself in action. And there are types of actions. So,
Speaker 1: for instance, let's take the sin of anger. Anger will
Speaker 1: begin with a thought, usually of a fence. That person
Speaker 1: has mistreated me, that person has not responded properly to
Speaker 1: something that I did for them or to them, and
Speaker 1: we begin to nurse a grievance in our minds. Maybe
Speaker 1: we've been treated terribly unjustly, and we allow ourselves instead
Speaker 1: of embracing every trouble by faith and trusting that the
Speaker 1: contradictions that come into our life day by day are
Speaker 1: from Christ, so that we can grow in love and
Speaker 1: bear a little tiny croft that he's giving us so
Speaker 1: that we can have some imitation of his own life. Instead,
Speaker 1: we we think we should be treated perfectly by other people,
Speaker 1: and we get upset. If that grows, it can spread
Speaker 1: from the mind to the mouth, and that anger can
Speaker 1: be expressed and grumbling. That angle can be expressed in
Speaker 1: slander or gossip, or even maybe saying terrible words to
Speaker 1: the person who offended us. That is much worse. That
Speaker 1: is the sinful seed coming to evil fruit. And if
Speaker 1: we don't cut it off there, if we allow it
Speaker 1: to grow and fester and we meditate upon it day,
Speaker 1: day after day, it can take more tangible expression. It
Speaker 1: can go from words to deeds, and we can push
Speaker 1: someone if we're very angry, or perhaps God forbids, strike them,
Speaker 1: or maybe pick up something and throw it at somebody.
Speaker 1: This is a much more grievous expression of anger. Anger
Speaker 1: would start it in the mind, progress to the mouth,
Speaker 1: and now is being expressed by the fists. And then
Speaker 1: God forbid, if we don't stop, then, if we allow
Speaker 1: the passion of anger to this nasty drug to make
Speaker 1: us intoxicated by the passion, as though we are on
Speaker 1: some sort of terrible drug trip, which is exactly what
Speaker 1: happens when we give into anger. We can kill someone.
Speaker 1: We can kill someone. That murder compared to that initial thought,
Speaker 1: very different, very much more grievous, as we've allowed the
Speaker 1: sin to mature and deepen, so its culpability has increased
Speaker 1: and it has become a much more grievous sin. And
Speaker 1: that can be That paradigm can be applied to any
Speaker 1: temptation that we face into, any sin that we give into.
Speaker 1: That's just reality. Just think, if you are a husband,
Speaker 1: would you rather have a wife who has a temptation
Speaker 1: to let's say greed or acquisitiveness. Let's say that she
Speaker 1: has a thought of going shopping, and you don't have
Speaker 1: any money for her to go shopping because you have
Speaker 1: a growing family and you have to pay the bills.
Speaker 1: Would you'd rather have your wife have a thought, a
Speaker 1: greedy thought about going to Macy's or to actually go
Speaker 1: to Macy's and to spend your entire house payment on
Speaker 1: dresses and shoes and purses. Which would you rather have?
Speaker 1: Or let's flip it, if you're a wife, would you
Speaker 1: rather have your husband have a lustful thought about another woman,
Speaker 1: or commit adultery with the woman in his workplace, which
Speaker 1: is more grievous. Obviously, we know tangibly on the ground
Speaker 1: that not all sins are equal, and that there are
Speaker 1: certainly degrees of sin. There are multiple factors that play
Speaker 1: into the degree of sin. In fact, so many factors
Speaker 1: that no one can measure a sin except God and
Speaker 1: those who must measure these sins, those that God has
Speaker 1: appointed to be the shepherd of our shepherds of our souls,
Speaker 1: spiritual fathers, father confessors, those whom God has given to
Speaker 1: us to care for our souls. They have to measure
Speaker 1: these types of things because, just like in the realm
Speaker 1: of physical medicine, there are degrees of disease and sickness,
Speaker 1: and measuring the degree is key for a sol We
Speaker 1: have a common mortality. Yes, we all have diseases, but
Speaker 1: some have cancer, and some have stage one cancer or
Speaker 1: stage two cancer, or stage three cancer or stage four cancer.
Speaker 1: And the treatment follows the diagnosis of the degree of
Speaker 1: the disease. And that's exactly the case in spiritual life.
Speaker 1: Doctors of the soul, spiritual fathers and fathers, confessors study
Speaker 1: and they want to know all sorts of things. They
Speaker 1: need to know how sins work and how they grow
Speaker 1: and what affects them. This is why confession is such
Speaker 1: a serious business and why it's so important. Some of
Speaker 1: those factors that contribute to the measure and the degree
Speaker 1: of a sin are besides the degree of expression that
Speaker 1: I already mentioned, thought words, actions are intentions, hidden intentions,
Speaker 1: secret thoughts, the general strength or weakness of a person
Speaker 1: in their spiritual life, the level of knowledge or of
Speaker 1: ignorance that the person has. Right for a person who
Speaker 1: is illumined, a person who has had a long life
Speaker 1: of growing in the knowledge of God, to commit a sin,
Speaker 1: it's not the same as for a young person or
Speaker 1: a new person, a new convert, to commit that sin.
Speaker 1: Just think of the Holy Prophet Moses again. Think of
Speaker 1: Moses at the end of his life, just after he
Speaker 1: was penning the Book of Deuteronomy and describing these commandments
Speaker 1: that we've been discussing, he was forbidden to enter into
Speaker 1: the Promised Land. Why all, because when the people were
Speaker 1: protesting against him and attacking his character and being disobedient
Speaker 1: for the what one millionth time, And though he had
Speaker 1: endured them patiently for all of those years, for forty years,
Speaker 1: and the Lord told him speak to the rock and
Speaker 1: I'll cause water to come out. And Moses, in his anger,
Speaker 1: hit the rock instead of speaking to the rock. He
Speaker 1: was forbidden from entering the Promised Land. Can you imagine
Speaker 1: to us, one tiny, little sin, one little careless disobeyed
Speaker 1: excluded the Holy profit in God's hero Mosis from the
Speaker 1: Promised Land. Why because he was a man who lived
Speaker 1: with God. He had been given such a high level
Speaker 1: of life, and he had acquired such a high level
Speaker 1: of life that the standard for him for him to
Speaker 1: commit one small act of disobedience is not the same
Speaker 1: as for those who are at the bottom of the hill,
Speaker 1: for instance, to commit a sin. So the level of
Speaker 1: knowledge and ignorance, the amount of spiritual experience that a
Speaker 1: person has had, contributes to the degree of seriousness of
Speaker 1: a sin, whether they have committed that sin previously or not.
Speaker 1: To have committed a sin that you've never committed before
Speaker 1: and then have done penance and found God's mercy and
Speaker 1: healing through that, and then to do it again, Oh,
Speaker 1: that's high handed from God's perspective. Right to repeat something
Speaker 1: that you have already experienced, You've already tasted the dregs,
Speaker 1: so to speak, and have been healed by the mercy
Speaker 1: of God, and then to do it again. This is
Speaker 1: a far more grievous situation, a far more serious sin.
Speaker 1: Second falls are worse than first. Thirds are worse than sin.
Speaker 1: Seconds failure to amend, the degree of the sinner's sensitivity
Speaker 1: to pain, the presence or absence of comforting realities that
Speaker 1: could counteract temptation, a person's age, family condition, et cetera.
Speaker 1: All of these are factors that contribute, from God's perspective
Speaker 1: into the degree of seriousness of a sin, and just
Speaker 1: how terrible a certain sin is. What should we can
Speaker 1: conclude for this? Well, conclude this live by the mercy
Speaker 1: of God, you know, Saint James says, after he makes
Speaker 1: it clear that those who want to live by the
Speaker 1: commandments of God have to hold to them all. He says,
Speaker 1: but mercy triumphs over judgment. He's trying to teach us,
Speaker 1: He's trying to treat us that in all of our dealings,
Speaker 1: let us always stay in the proper position as those
Speaker 1: who have received the grace of God, those who have
Speaker 1: who cherish God's mercy in our life, shown in the
Speaker 1: Salvation that has been graciously worked and given to us
Speaker 1: by our Lord Jesus Christ, God's only Son, and let
Speaker 1: us offer that same mercy that has been given to
Speaker 1: us despite our disobedience. Let us offer that same mercy
Speaker 1: and let that be the norm for all of our
Speaker 1: relations with everyone, especially those who have offended us. Let
Speaker 1: us be generous and share the same mercy that God
Speaker 1: has given to us to everyone else. This is how
Speaker 1: we can conquer self righteousness and works righteousness, and in
Speaker 1: fact live in the joy of the Kingdom of God,
Speaker 1: which is a kingdom of mercy. Thanks for tuning in,
Speaker 1: dear ones. May God's strengthen you in your quest for
Speaker 1: the Kingdom of God. Hey everyone, I hope you've downloaded
Speaker 1: the Patristic Nectar app on your phone. It is a
Speaker 1: treasure trove of soul nourishing content, and I hope you'll
Speaker 1: consider becoming a regular donor to Patristic Nectar today.