Everybody sins. We all make mistakes. You don’t have to teach a toddler to say “no” or to disobey their parents. You don’t have to teach a child to cheat on their tests or be mean to their friends. We have an innate desire to sin, and that innate desire never goes away. Throughout our entire lives, we are tempted and lured by sins. And it is only by God’s grace that we are able to resist these temptations.
But we will never be able to fully escape sin while we are living on this earth. So, as a way to justify our sins or assuage our guilt, we often rank our sins. Sins like murder, rape, and abuse are big, terrible sins that surely deserve to be punished. But sins like gossip, envy, or pride are just “small” sins that can just be swept under the rug. They’re seemingly not that big of a deal, and they’re not really hurting anyone. Therefore, many people, including many who claim to be Christians, believe that these little sins don’t deserve punishment.
In their 2020 State of Theology survey, Ligonier Ministries found that sixty-six percent of American adults disagree with the statement, “Even the smallest sin deserves eternal damnation.”[1] But is this belief – the belief that small sins shouldn’t send someone to hell – backed up by Scripture? Do small sins deserve to be punished?
To answer these questions, we must first think about who we are ultimately sinning against. Whose laws are we breaking? When we sin, we sin against God because it is His laws that we break. After Nathan confronted him about his adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah, David repented, saying that his sins were against God. He said-
“Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be justified in Your words and blameless in Your judgment.” Psalm 51:4, ESV
Then, we must think about who God is. What is His character like? What kind of God is He? In another psalm of his, David wrote,
“The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works.” Psalm 145:17, KJV
God is holy. This means that He is perfect and pure. He is set apart from the things of this earth. God is also righteous. This means that He always does what is good and right. The word translated as “righteous” is the Hebrew word tsaddiyq, which can also be translated as “just.”[2] God is just. This means that He shows no partiality and that He never lets sins go unpunished.
Because God is absolutely holy, righteous, and just, He must punish ALL the sins of the unrepentant. If He didn’t punish even the smallest of our sins, He would not be God! We were created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). We were created to reflect God’s character, His holiness, His righteousness (Ephesians 4:24). Yet, the results of the Fall marred this image, and sin and death spread to all of humanity (Romans 5:12). We have the knowledge of what is good and what is evil (Genesis 3:23), yet we consistently choose to sin and do what is evil (Jeremiah 17:9). We have all fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23); therefore, we all deserve to be eternally separated from Him (Romans 6:23a). Stephen Nichols writes-
“Even the slightest sin is an affront, an insult, to the holy God.”[3]
But out of His grace, God provided a way for us to escape this punishment and separation. He sent His Son to take on our punishment, to die in our place, to forgive us of our sins, and to cover us in His righteousness (1 Peter 2:24, 2 Corinthians 5:21). At the moment we put our faith in Jesus, we are justified and made holy (Romans 5:1, 9), and every day after that God sanctifies us and makes us more and more holy, more and more like Him (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace,” Ephesians 1:7, ESV
So, do small sins deserve to be punished? Yes. We know what is good and what is evil, yet we choose to do evil and sin against God. God is holy, righteous, and just, and His character cannot allow unholiness, unrighteousness, and injustice go unpunished. Thankfully, He has offered us forgiveness through His Son, Jesus Christ. All we need to do to receive this pardon is to confess our sins and have faith.
“I acknowledged my sin to You, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,’ and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.” Psalm 32:5
[1] “Data Explorer,” The State of Theology, accessed October 13, 2020, https://thestateoftheology.com/data-explorer/2020/12?AGE=30&MF=14®ION=30&DENSITY=62&EDUCATION=62&INCOME=254&MARITAL=126ÐNICITY=62&RELTRAD=62&EVB=6&ATTENDANCE=254.
[2] Blue Letter Bible Lexicon, s.v. “Strong’s H6662 – tsaddiyq,” accessed October 15, 2020, https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H6662&t=KJV.
[3] Stephen Nichols, “The State of Theology: Does Even the Smallest Sin Deserve Eternal Damnation?” Ligonier Ministries, last modified October 12, 2016, accessed October 15, 2020, https://www.ligonier.org/blog/state-theology-does-sin-deserve-damnation/.
