Ask a Pastor Column

Q: Is there an unforgivable sin? How can it be unforgivable if Christ died for all sin? (Part Two of Two)

A:  As mentioned in a previous article, there are two cases in Scripture where the Bible states that an act will not be forgiven. The sin of unforgiveness was covered last week. This week we will examine blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

As always, we must understand blasphemy against the Spirit in the context in which it was written (Matthew 12:22-32; Mark 3:22-30). Matthew and Mark both record similar accounts of an interaction between Jesus and the Pharisees. Christ had performed a miracle that clearly demonstrated His divine nature. Rather than acknowledging His identity as the Son of God the Pharisees attributed the miracle to Satan (a.k.a. Beelzebub). Jesus gave a rebuttal to their accusation (Matthew 12:25-29), then sternly warned the Pharisees that they had crossed a line by trying to twist an obvious work of the Holy Spirit into an act of the evil one (Matthew 12:31-32). He warned them that “speaking against the Holy Spirit” will not be forgiven (Matthew 12:32), and Mark made it very clear that Christ was referring specifically to their accusation of Him as being demon-possessed (Mark 3:29-30).

We must understand that the Holy Spirit was working with Christ through that miracle to present clear and convincing proofs of Christ’s identity as the Son of God and promised Savior (John 10:24-25). Everyone confronted by those proofs had to make a choice: either to accept the obvious conclusion that Jesus is the Christ and believe in Him, or to deny reality and make up an excuse that would allow them to live as they pleased. The Pharisees chose to believe the absurdity that Satan was casting himself out rather than accept that Jesus was the Son of God. They committed the sin of unbelief, which in this passage is called blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. And since belief is the one requirement for forgiveness (John 5:24), unbelief is the one sin not covered by the cross. Failure to believe clear proofs about Jesus is the only truly unforgivable sin; it is the only thing that can keep us from going to Heaven (John 3:18).

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