The Unpardonable Sin or The Sin That Will Not Be Forgiven?

One of the worst or most desperate cases we can ever meet is the case of someone who has committed what we have hitherto known as an unpardonable sin. 

How do you know that you have committed this sin which looks like you are entering the point of no return?

We will set the foundation of this discourse with what the Bible says about it. 

Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.  And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. —Matthew 12:30-32 NIV

So Jesus, here, takes away all neutral ground.  We are either totally surrendered to Him, or we are against Him. Half-hearted Christians are actually against the Lord! And evidently, this issue of not being completely surrendered to Jesus in every area of our lives has something to do with the unpardonable sin.  Because right after taking away all neutral ground, Jesus talks about the unpardonable sin.  So the sin that cannot be forgiven is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. 

Could there be a line somewhere in our Christian experience where, if we cross that line, we’ve gone too far; we pass the boundary of God’s mercy and enter His judgment, His punishment? And we should not think about this as some arbitrary decree where God says, “Alright, I’ve put up with you long enough, I’m finished.”  No. The unpardonable sin must be something we do—where we place ourselves beyond God’s reach. It is like the course of the Antediluvians that brought them speedy destruction.

A good understanding of this disturbing study demands a good understanding of the Character of God. Is God trying to keep people out of Heaven, or is He trying to bring people into Heaven?  Every work of God in human life shows He’s trying to bring people into Heaven. The Bible tells us in 1 Timothy 2:4  that it is God’s will for all humanity to be saved.  Of course, we know that not all will be saved, but God is working in every life to lead people to salvation.  Will God’s work to bring home the benefits of atonement succeed in your life?

In His dealing with the sin problem, God has made available to all of us this wonderful promise: 

 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. —1 John 1:9 NIV

It comes out that for any sin we are willing to confess, God is willing to forgive.   You say, “Well if that is true, how could there be an unpardonable sin?”  Evidently, the unpardonable sin is a sin that is not confessed, not repented of.   Because if we confess, we can be forgiven.  

If we think of sins in terms of types of sin, then we may miss the most important point about blasphemy about the Holy Spirit. Let us look at our anchoring text again:

Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. —Matthew 12:30 KJV

Every type of sin may be forgiven.  Evidently, then, The unpardonable sin is not a TYPE of sin, but rather a DEGREE of sin, a continual resisting of God’s working in our lives until we can no longer respond to His leading.  Few things are this scary!

Up to where we have reached, you need to take home two important facts about the sin that will not be forgiven. 

First, the unpardonable sin is a sin. What is sin? I will give two bible definitions for sin:

Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. 1 John 3:4 KJV

Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. James 4:17 KJV

It matters to the master what you do with every truth He has revealed to you. If you know better, you must do better to have peace with your conscience. If you know 10% and practice 10%, you are doing a good job. If you know 75% and practice 75%, you a doing a good job.  However, if you know 80% and practice 65%, the remaining 15% will never give you peace. 

Secondly, the unpardonable sin is an offense against the Holy Spirit. To understand what this sin against the Holy Spirit is, we need to understand what the Holy Spirit’s function is. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead, and there are many things that the Holy Spirit does in all of our lives. We will look into a few of them:

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. John 16:13 KJV

And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. John 16:8

For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. 1 Corinthians 12:13 KJV

There are many more that you can read all through the Bible. So here we have three things the Holy Spirit does in every life.  He guides us, convicts us, and unites us together.  As long as we allow the Holy Spirit to do those three things (and many more that we have not listed here), we need never fear committing the unpardonable sin.  However, if the Holy Spirit seeks to guide us to truth, and we resist His guiding, or if He convicts us of sin—the areas we’ve been breaking God’s law—and we don’t want to give it up, don’t want to change; or if the Holy Spirit seeks to unite us together into one body, one church, and we refuse that step—then we’ve begun the process (it is a process) of committing the unpardonable sin.  

Stay tuned for part two of this study, titled “How People Commit the Unpardonable Sin.”