All Sin is the Same and Other Myths About God's Law

Pastor Anthony King· October 31, 2021

James 2:10-13

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“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”
James 2:10

The series

A Study in James

Myth: All sin is the same in God’s eyes.

Truth: Any sin makes us judicially guilty before God, but sin has differing consequences.

Additional Truth: God does not categorize sin by mortal and venial sins.

A Wicked Heart

These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.Proverbs 6:16-19

Those Who Hurt Children

But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.Matthew 18:6

Religious Hypocrites

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.Matthew 23:14

Sexual Sin

Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.1 Corinthians 6:18

Defiling the Lord’s Supper

Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.1 Corinthians 11:27-30

Myth: God loves me just the way I am, so I don’t need to change. That’s what grace is for. (Antinomianism)

Truth: God loves us as we are, yet rejects our sinfulness and calls us to repent.

Additional Truth: You can come as you are, but you cannot stay as you are.

Myth: Keeping God’s law perfectly is the only way to earn God’s approval. If you don’t keep the rules, you forfeit God’s love. (Legalism)

Truth: We cannot earn God’s approval by our works, but live lives of obedience out of gratitude for His grace.

“The Jews tended to regard the law as a series of detached commands. To keep one of those commands was to gain credit. To break one was to incur debt. Therefore, a man could add up the ones he kept and subtract the ones he broke and, as it were, emerge with a moral credit or debit balance.”