What is the Worst Sin?
The Cardinal Sin is . . . ?
What is the cardinal sin in your opinion?
Murder? Homosexuality? Adultery? Greed? Or could it be pride? Or arrogance? Blasphemy? Could the worst sin be hypocrisy?
Before you continue, please stop and consider. What is the worst sin according to the Bible?
While there is no single verse that says, “The greatest sin is . . ,” the Bible makes it clear one sin, and only this one, stands out beyond all others. What is it?
The sin of unbelief is the cardinal sin. No other sin sends a man to hell.
I have led murderers to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Greedy people, homosexuals, robbers, hypocrites, impure people, go to heaven when they put genuine faith in Jesus. According to Ephesians 5:6 and other Scriptures, these and other impure people go to heaven through faith in the sacrifice of Christ Jesus for us. They, however, have no inheritance when they get there. But inheritance is a subject for another time.
I know some well-meaning and generally righteous Christians will exclude lesbians, the immoral, and other impure believers from salvation, but I choose to spread the grace of God. If only “pure” people, that is unmixed, go to heaven, then Jesus would be the only human there. Be honest, we all have some mixture, don’t we?
There is only one sin that merits eternal judgment: unbelief. The cardinal sin is refusal to believe God by rejecting His offer of the gift of eternal life. The Bible says God justifies the ungodly (declares righteous in His sight) when he puts his faith into Jesus (Romans 4:5). And again, we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law (Romans 3:28). [Unrighteous] Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness (Galatians 3:6).
I do not condone or minimize sin. However, the only sin that is not forgiven is the sin of unbelief. All other sins are forgiven when a person accepts by faith Christ’s sacrifice. (I understand Jesus’ warning regarding blasphemy against the Holy Spirit to be a willful, determined rejection of the person and work of the Holy Spirit.)
Since unbelief is the one sin that is so important to God, what are the practical implications for us who do believe God?
What are the personal results of faith?
Eternal salvation, a life with Jesus, is the greatest benefit. In addition,
People of faith are happier than non-believers.
People of faith are healthier than unbelievers.
People of faith have better marriages, have more satisfying sexual relationships, and make more money on average than unbelievers.
All this according to various researchers.
What are the results of faith for society?
We who believe God are learning to give ourselves to prayer for revival. The grace of God in revivals sweeps many unsaved into the saving arms of Jesus. It has happened in past revivals and it will happen again as we seek God for it.
We who believe God are now persuading unsaved friends, relatives and strangers to consider Jesus as Savior. How can anyone who believes what Jesus said about heaven and hell not give the good news? The news that Jesus died for our sins, rose from the dead and offers a free gift of eternal salvation through faith in Him!
We who believe God are joining a life-giving church and becoming faithful members of it. We will do everything possible to make our church shine as a light in the community. We guard and protect our church and its people, knowing that our church is the pillar and support of the truth (1 Timothy 2:15).
We who believe God are learning to humble ourselves and pray, seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways. We are giving ourselves to these activities, expecting God will hear our prayer, forgive our sin and heal our land (2 Chronicles 7:17) just as He promised.
We admit we cannot pull this off on our own. We need the Holy Spirit to work His motivation and energy inside us.
Let me share two things that are helping me. One is to pray with somebody else about revival. I pay weekly with a likeminded man named Ken. The other thing that helps is a little app from the Family Leadership Council in Iowa. A bell rings on my phone at 7:14 each morning and again at 7:14 each evening to remind me to humble myself and pray. You can get the app here.
The cardinal sin in unbelief. The cardinal virtue is faith, active faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:5f). God has promised to heal our land as we actively believe Him to do it.
A cardinal is a bird, a color, a Roman Catholic holy guy, and an adjective meaning something that stands out. “Cardinal sin” is a Roman Catholic concept, not found in the bible. The etymology of the word goes back to the Babylon Mystery religion, which grew by absorbing smaller churches, usually without change, and eventually absorbed the Christian church in Rome and became the Roman Catholic Church. One of those smaller churches had priests who wore red robes, the priests of the hinge. Cardinal in Latin means hinge.
So the only proper response to the question is “Why should any non-Roman Catholic care?”
Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Nothing there about sins. The rest of the book carefully explains that the Christian is alive in spirit but the body is dead to sin. So sins don’t count.
Thank You Mark,
It’s important thing to cherrish Our faith.