Are there levels of sin?
by Rod Jackson
In my answer I will show that the bible teaches that there are levels of sin. All verses are taken from the New American Standard Bible and anything in [square brackets] is added by me for clarity.
"Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven." Matthew 12:31
So we see that sins are forgiven people except blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
"but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin" Mark 3:29
Here we see it is a sin. So already we have seen that there is one unforgivable sin and the rest are forgivable. Thus there is at least these two levels.
"Jesus answered, 'You [Pilate] would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he [Judas] who delivered Me up to you has the greater sin." John 19:11
So we see that Judas has a greater sin than Pilate.
"Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness." 1 John 3:4
This is a biblical definition of objective sin.
"Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments..." Matthew 5:19a
Here we see Jesus mentions there is a least commandment (He doesn't say what it is though). But from the above definition of sin as lawlessness, we can then see that to break the least command would be a lesser sin.
"But when the Pharisees heard that He had put the Sadducees to silence, they gathered themselves together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, 'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?' And He said to him, 'Love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself.'" Matthew 22:34-39
So here we see that there is a greatest and 2nd greatest commandments, so again by implication it would be a greater sin to break the greatest commandment than the 2nd greatest commandment. So we have seen that the bible does teach that there are levels to laws and sins.