d. Classification of sins by degree.
Seen from the degrees, the Scripture itself distinguishes between serious and less serious sins. On the one hand, the Scriptures teach that every sin, because it is άνομία or rebellion against God, subjects one to condemnation, Gal. 3:10. On the other hand, the Scriptures clearly distinguish degrees in sinning. Thus Christ says of the Jews that they have μείζονα άμαρτίαν than Pilate, John 19:11.
1652) Cf. on this section Der Lutheraner 34, 129 the article "Have a good conscience!" In pastoral practice we learn that, for example, when entering into marriages in forbidden degrees, the nupturients easily imagine they had a conscientia recta, while in fact, as not infrequently soon turns out, they had a conscientia dubia.
1653) Cf. Hengstenberg in the commentary on Psalms on this passage.
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The children before the anni discretionis (אֲשֶׁ֨ר לֹא-יָדְע֤וּ טֹ֣וב וָרָ֔ע הֵ֖מָּה [HEBREW]) are less guilty than the old, Deut. 1:39: "Your sons, who today understand neither good nor evil, they shall enter [into the land]." It is scriptural teaching that when the will of God is known, it is more grievous to sin than when there is a lack of knowledge. "The servant who knows his Lord's will, and has not prepared himself, nor done according to His will, he shall suffer many stripes. But he that knoweth not, yet hath done that which is worthy of strokes, shall suffer few strokes. For to whom much is given, from him much will be sought, and to whom much is commanded, from him much will be required." 1654) Accordingly, the Scriptures also teach degrees of eternal punishments for sin.1655) The most serious sin is contempt for the gospel of grace or sola gratia. In the gospel of sola gratia, God reveals His very heart or will against the whole world of sin. He did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him, John 3:17. The enmity against the gospel is sharply marked and steers into the path of the national sin of carnal Israel, when we ascribe to ourselves a greater righteousness or a lesser guilt before God after the process of the Pharisee in a comparison with other men. With this, the will of grace of God, which is sola gratia, is completely rejected. Therefore Paul, after his eyes were opened, calls himself a πρώτος των αμαρτωλών,1656) and the Reformer of the Church warns himself and all who boast of the Christian name with these words:1657) "That Christ says: 'Let the first be last,' he takes away all presumption from you, and forbids you to exalt yourself above any harlot, if you were like Abraham, David, Peter, or Paul. But in that he saith: 'The last shall be first,' he defends thee from all despair, and forbids thee to exalt thyself among no saints, though thou be Pilate, Herod, Sodom, and Gomorrah."1658) The division of sins into peccata cordis, oris,
1654) Luke 12:47. 48.<w:t>1655) Cf. vol. III, 615.<w:t>1656) 1 Tim. 1. 15.
1657) On the Gospel on the Sunday Septuagesima, St. L. XI, 515.
1658) This does not contradict the scriptural statements in which a distinction is made between great and lesser sins. The doctrine teaches that all men are in the same total ruin, Eph. 2:1-5, Jn. 3:6. The doctrine further teaches, and Christians know it from experience, that
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operis is usually, but not in every single case, a gradation. An unforgiveness quietly cherished in the heart can be a more serious sin than an evil word uttered or a work performed in a sudden surge of passion.1659)