If All Sin is the Same, How Aren't God's Varying Punishments Unbalanced Justice
If all sin is the same, then doesn't God's varying punishment of sin make Him unjust?
No. All sin is the same, but God's punishment of any sin could be infinite, so He's limiting it in every case. He seems to use punishment to curtail the people involved and not just to be an equal and opposite power to counterbalance sin in us.
But to tell it, we can correlate God's punishment with the sin in question and see if there's a pattern. Then we can know better whether our understanding of the purpose of punishment against sin should contain this element of balanced justice in the first place.
Jesus said that the one who handed Him over had a greater sin than Pilate, because Pilate's authority didn't come from himself. That seems to be strong evidence that different sins are different. But the context and wording might clarify a more solid entrenchment of one conclusion or the other. Look into it.
Leviticus has different punishments for different sins. That's because it's civil law.
The requirements for pastors and deacons show that certain sins are particularly bad for leadership.
In 2 Kings 21:11, God punishes Jerusalem and Judah according to the sin. Because it was worse than others, the punishment will ring in the ears of others. Because they became a spectacle for evil, God made them a spectacle of punishment. And so it's equal punishment to the sin; the sin is different in this very practical context.
James 2:10 - "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." And God consigned everyone to infinite guilt under His Law. We have always needed the Savior, from Adam's time forward.
So, all sin is NOT the same in the practical way it affects us, individually and as a society. However, all sin is still the same in the sense that any one sin causes death, which is infinite punishment.
The conclusion, then, is that sin is the same in the higher sense where we have our existence, but it's practical variations matter in the lower sense where we operate.
In justification, all sin is the same. You can't let the pagans think otherwise, for their own good. Their death is infinite.
In Christian growth toward Christ and in everyday matters among each other, all sin is not the same. We can't think otherwise, for our own good. We must not despair of sin's burden, because our Master has us; He has paid. And we must not gloss over any sin lightly - it cost Him so dearly!