Q
uestion
157
Are some sins worse or better than others?
Nadia Bolz-Weber
Who is...
?
Nadia Bolz-Weber
I once irted with JFK Jr. without realizing
who he was. Then I was horri ed.A.
It’s important to recognize the difference between “big-S Sin” and
“little-s sins.” Big-S sin is the human state of being “turned in on
self” without a thought of God or neighbor. Big-S sin is putting
ourselves on God’s throne and not allowing God to be God for us. The fancy
Latin that Martin Luther used was se encurvatus en se: the self turned in on the
self. This phrase describes that state of big-S sin in which every human being
on the planet lives.
Little-s sins are the result of big-S sin. However, even if someone man-
aged to pull off not committing little-s sin, he or she would still be plagued
with big-S Sin. Yet part of Christianity tries to come off as a way to avoid little-
s sin so that you are progressively sanctifi ed until—poof—you are without
big-S sin.
For the record, Lutherans like myself do not think this is actually pos-
sible, even though it sounds really nice.
Now, back to the question. Are some little-s sins worse than others? Yes.
Are some little-s sins better than others? No. (Leave it to a Lutheran to make
something a paradox.) But here’s the thing: The sin of murder is more harmful
than the sin of, say, stealing a saltshaker from Denny’s. But the big-S Sin of the
sinner who stole the saltshaker is no less than the big-S Sin of the sinner who
killed another sinner.
Being Christian does not mean that we follow a really great Sin Manage-
ment Program. It means that we confess that the grace of God is suffi cient.[I]f grace is true, you must bear a true and not a fi ctitious sin. God
does not save people who are only fi ctitious sinners. Be a sinner and
sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly. For he
is victorious over sin, death, and the world.^3 —Martin Luther- Letters I, Luther’s Works, American ed. (Fortress, 1963), 48:281–82.