Are all sins equal before God, and how are they forgiven? The debate over whether Scripture grades sin, and whether Christ gave the Church the power to absolve.
20 verses are cited on this page. Each one links to its chapter in the Greek text.
There is a sin unto death... All iniquity is sin. And there is a sin unto death.1 John 5:16-17
John draws the distinction directly: some sin is "unto death" and some is not. The mortal and venial categories name what Scripture already separates.
And whosoever shall keep the whole law, but offend in one point, is become guilty of all.James 2:10
The verse most often cited to say all sin is equal, and it does say that breaking one point makes a man guilty of the whole law. What it does not say is that every offence carries the same weight, which is what John distinguishes at 1 John 5:16, naming a sin unto death and a sin not unto death.
...but the blasphemy of the Spirit shall not be forgiven.Matthew 12:31-32
Christ himself sets one sin apart as uniquely grave. If all sins were equal, no sin could be singled out this way.
...he that hath delivered me to thee, hath the greater sin.John 19:11
Jesus speaks plainly of a "greater sin," ranking guilt by degree.
Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God?1 Corinthians 6:9-10
Specific grave sins, unrepented, bar a person from the kingdom. These are sins "unto death" in practice.
...they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God.Galatians 5:19-21
The works of the flesh carry the same exclusion, marking them as of a graver order.
...no fornicator... hath inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.Ephesians 5:5
Named sins forfeit the inheritance, which only mortal sin can do.
Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.John 20:22-23
The risen Christ breathes the Spirit on the apostles and gives them authority both to forgive and to retain sins. Retaining requires knowing the sin, which points to confession.
...whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven.Matthew 16:19
The power of binding and loosing given to Peter, which the tradition reads to include the forgiveness of sins.
...whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven.Matthew 18:18
The same authority extended to the apostles together, exercised in the Church.
Is any man sick among you? Let him bring in the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick man: and the Lord shall raise him up: and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him.James 5:14-15
Presbyters are called in, and forgiveness follows. The sequence is not private prayer and then absolution from God alone. It is the sick man calling for the elders of the church, and the sins being forgiven in that setting.
Confess therefore your sins one to another: and pray one for another, that you may be saved.James 5:16
An apostolic command to confess sins, joined here to the ministry of the presbyters called in the previous verses.
And many of them that believed, came confessing and declaring their deeds.Acts 19:18
Confessing and declaring, exomologoumenoi and anangellontes, and the deeds are named aloud rather than privately regretted. These are believers already, so this is not conversion. It is what the Church did after conversion.
...and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.2 Corinthians 5:18-20
Paul describes an entrusted ministry of reconciliation, a stewardship of God's forgiveness exercised through appointed men.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all iniquity.1 John 1:9
Cited by both sides, and it settles less than either wants. The verb is homologeo, to say the same thing, and John does not say to whom. What the letter does say is that this is written to a church, not to individuals alone.
Why doth this man speak thus? he blasphemeth. Who can forgive sins, but God only?Mark 2:7
The objection in Scripture's own words, and Christ does not deny the premise. He proves the authority instead, and Matthew's account of the same scene ends with the crowd glorifying God for giving such power to men.
Let us go therefore with confidence to the throne of grace: that we may obtain mercy, and find grace in seasonable aid.Hebrews 4:16
Direct access is real and the Church has never denied it. The question is not whether a sinner may approach God, which he may, but whether Christ also left a way of absolution in the Church, which is a different question the verse does not touch.
For there is one God, and one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus.1 Timothy 2:5
One mediator, and the same letter opens by commanding intercession for all men, which would be impossible if mediation of every kind were excluded. A priest absolving does not mediate alongside Christ. He acts in the person of the one mediator.
John distinguishes sin "unto death" from sin "not unto death" (1 John 5:16-17), and Christ singles out sins by their gravity (Matthew 12:31; John 19:11), so the mortal and venial distinction is scriptural, not invented. And the risen Christ gave the apostles genuine authority to forgive and to retain sins (John 20:23), which is exercised in the sacrament of Penance. The Council of Trent (Session 14) defined Penance as a true sacrament instituted by Christ, in which grave sins committed after Baptism are forgiven through the absolution of the priest to whom they are confessed.