10 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.” (John 19:10-11 ESV)
There exists an error and a myth which has gone abroad in Christianity these latter days which says that all sin is the same, that to tell a white lie is as bad as murdering your friend, that stealing a piece of gum from your friend is as bad as committing adultery with his wife. To assert that such sins equal each other in severity before God and man perverts God’s Law and God’s Word. I believe most people use the following quote from the Book of James to reach their ill-found conclusion:
8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. (James 2:8-11)
James does not make the point here that all transgressions of the Law carry the same weight of evil. He makes the argument that no one will be justified by the Law because no one can keep it perfectly. Who, for example, can always relate to people impartially? Who will not always favor his wife or his child over another (or the unlovable neighbor to the detriment of his wife and his child just to “prove” he acts impartially)? We cannot discern perfectly, so we cannot act perfectly toward others even if we want to. Therefore, says James,
12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. (James 2:12-13)
When we believe in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins we come out from under the judgment of the Law and out from under the duty to perfectly obey it in order to please God. God imputes Jesus’ righteousness to us and then considers us “the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ.” We do not then become free to sin and free to allow our carnal flesh to rule over us. Instead, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we learn to put to death the misdeeds of our bodies. We begin to walk the “narrow way” which Jesus prescribed for us, but we do not depend upon our ability to perfectly walk that way in order to be pleasing to God. We learn to be led of the Spirit instead of by the flesh. And we learn that God gave us his written word in order to instruct our minds, to renew our minds, so that we can exercise our wills in order to not walk according to the flesh. We learn to walk by the truth revealed by God instead of by the lies espoused by men. As Jesus also said to Pilate just before he ordered His crucifixion,
37 Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king.For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:37)
In his first epistle John makes it very clear that degrees of sin exist. He says,
16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God[a]will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death. (1 John 5:16-17)
Peter also teaches that differences in the severity of the consequences of sin exist. In fact he distinctly teaches that men would be better off with respect to judgment before God if they had never believed in Jesus Christ than to believe in him and then turn away from his standards of righteousness. (By the way, understanding this teaching totally refutes mainline Christianity’s teaching about eternal torment in hell for non-believers) Peter says,
17 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. 18 For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves[g] of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. 20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.” (2 Peter 2:17-22)
What, then, is this “greater sin” of which Jesus speaks to Pilate? Who delivered Jesus to Pilate for the destruction of his flesh? The Pharisees. What was their sin and why was it greater than Pilate’s sin of actually ordering the crucifixion of Jesus? They had committed the unforgivable sin. In judging Jesus as they did they called him who was incarnate good “evil.” And, of course, by doing so, they also called evil “good,” for they considered the evil act of murdering Jesus to be good. Jesus considers this sin greater than Pilate’s sin because the Pharisees’ sin cannot be forgiven. Jesus warned them about this earlier. He said,
22 Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. 23 And all the people were amazed, and said,“Can this be the Son of David?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” 25 Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. 26 And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul,by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 Or how can someone enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. 30 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 31 Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. (Matthew 12:22-32)
The Jews judged the Spirit working through Jesus when they condemned him to death. They found the Holy Spirit’s work through Jesus to be evil, something to be condemned. By condemning Jesus, who was filled with the Holy Spirit, to death they committed the unforgivable sin and could not be forgiven either in their age, the age of Law, nor in the two thousand year age which came after, the age of grace. Today’s Christians which fall away from God’s truth and his standard of righteousness will suffer the very same judgment, for they too call evil “good” and good “evil.” These Christians condone every sort of sin, even allowing practicing fornicators, adulterers, homosexuals, pornographers, and abortion advocates to preach from their pulpits. For them, as Peter said, it would have been better had they not believed in Jesus at all. And there is another class of Christians who had better beware, a class that appears to live a righteous life, but who will not forgive their brother from their hearts. Jesus said, “If you will not forgive your brother, neither will God forgive you.” See Matthew 6:14-15 and 18:15-35.
Therefore let us examine ourselves. Let us be careful that we do not commit the sin unto death, that we do not call evil “good” and good “evil,” and that we indeed forgive our brothers from the depths of our hearts, for there does in fact exist a “greater sin.”
