d. GRIEVOUS AND LESS GRIEVOUS SINS

As to their degree, Scripture itself distinguishes between grievous and less grievous sins. On the one hand, Scripture teaches that every sin, being , or rebellion against God, merits damnation. Gal. 3:10: “Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them.” On the other hand, Scripture clearly distinguishes degrees in sinning. Christ says of the Jews (John 19:11) that, compared with Pilate, they were committing “the greater sin.” Children who have not reached the anni discretionis (the years of discretion) are less guilty than mature men. Deut. 1:39: “Your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither” (Canaan). Scripture teaches that sinning against better knowledge of the will of God is more grievous than sinning in ignorance. Luke 12:47-48: “That servant which knew his lord’s will and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required; and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.” Accordingly Scripture also teaches degrees in the eternal punishment of sin (see the locus of “Eternal Damnation,” in Vol. III).

The most grievous of all sins is despising the Gospel of grace, of the sola. gratia. In the Gospel of the sola gratia God reveals His innermost heart, His true will toward all mankind. He sent “not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17). It spells enmity against the Gospel if, like the Pharisee, we set ourselves above other men and lay claim to a greater righteousness or a lesser guilt before God. This claim is a complete rejection of the gracious will, which knows only the sola gratia, and was the national sin of carnal Israel. Therefore Paul calls himself, after his eyes have been opened, “the chief of sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15), and the Reformer of the Church warns all that bear the glorious name of Christians, including himself, against harboring any such thoughts: “In that Christ says, ‘The first shall be last,’ He strips you of all presumption and forbids you to exalt yourself above the whore, even if you were like Abraham, David, Peter, or Paul. And when He says, ‘The last shall be the first,’ He asks you never to despair and forbids you to place yourself beneath any saint, even if you were Pilate, Herod, Sodom, and Gomorrah” (St. L. XI:515).55

When we divide sins into peccata cordis, oris, operis (thoughts, words, deeds), we classify them, as a rule, according to the degree. But that is not always the case. A secretly harbored implacability may be a more grievous sin than a word or deed prompted by a sudden burst of passion.