As Jesus stands before Pilate, He declares, “He who delivered Me over to you has the greater sin.” Pilate is guilty, yet Jesus distinguishes degrees of culpability. Pilate sins through cowardice and expedience; the Jewish leaders and Judas sin through betrayal and unbelief. They commit the greater sin because they acted against greater light.

While teaching a Wednesday night class a few months ago on Kevin DeYoung’s What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality, I made a clarifying comment about the relative weight of different sins. Leaning on the wording of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, I explained that some sins are more heinous in the sight of God than others.

It is more heinous to physically commit adultery than merely to lust. It is worse for a man to strike a woman than to strike another man, and worse still for a man to strike a young child. Worst of all would be for a father to maliciously strike his own daughter. All sins are not the same.

In relation to homosexuality, I explained that it is more grievous in the sight of God to commit homosexual sin than heterosexual sin, because these sins differ in kind. Following the class, a student thanked me for clarifying the issue. She told me that she had always been taught all sins were equal in God’s sight, but it had never made sense to her either Biblically or experientially.

That conversation got me thinking about how deeply this misconception has shaped our thinking within the church. We live in an age that seeks to flatten moral distinctions — to make all sins equal, and in doing so to make us unable to discern their relative weight. Yet the Word of God and our confessional standards affirm that some sins are indeed more grievous in the sight of God than others.

Understanding this truth is not merely a matter of theological precision, it is deeply practical. It is essential to the health of the church, and particularly the health of church leadership. If we cannot distinguish the relative weight of sins, we will have no ability to discern who can fulfill the requirements for ordination.

For example, if one man struggles to be patient with his children and another struggles to keep from physically abusing them, we must be able to say that one of these struggles is disqualifying and one is not. One man needs encouragement and growth; the other needs counseling and perhaps a restraining order. If we cannot tell the difference, we are unfit to discern who should serve as an officer in Christ’s church.

In the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, we are facing a crossroads concerning the ordination of those who experience ongoing same-sex attraction. Much of the debate is clouded by confusion over the relative weight of sin. I have heard some argue that if we disqualify those with homosexual desires, then we must also disqualify those with heterosexual desires. And if those who experience heterosexual desire are disqualified, then no one could be ordained. But this reasoning misunderstands the distinction between the heinousness of different kinds of sin.

Are all sexual sins equal in the sight of God? And if not, how should that reality inform our current debate concerning the ordination of those who continue to experience unnatural same-sex desires?

Why Has This Confusion Arisen?

The idea that “all sins are equal” most likely stems from a misapplication of two deeply Biblical truths. First, all sin separates us from God. Even the smallest transgression makes us lawbreakers (James 2:10) and therefore rightly subjects us to God’s wrath and curse (Romans 6:23). God is holy, and no sin can stand in His presence.

Second, no sinner is beyond the sovereign grace of God. The Lord graciously called the murderous Saul to Himself and forgave the “chief of sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). Whether murderer, addict, liar, homosexual, or idolater, God forgives all who come to Him. He washes us in the blood of Christ and frees us from sin’s dominion.

However, these truths do not mean that all sins are equal in kind, degree, or consequence. To say otherwise is to ignore both Scripture and our Confession of Faith.

Biblical Evidence for Degrees of Sin

Scripture repeatedly affirms that there are degrees of sin and guilt. In Ezekiel 8, the prophet is carried by the Spirit into the temple courts of Jerusalem where the Lord unveils a shocking series of visions.

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