Friday, December 21, 2012

The Unpardonable Sin



Believers as well as theologians have debated for years as to the meaning of the phrase ... "the unpardonable sin."  This term isn't found in the Bible, nor is "the unforgivable sin" which would be the same thing.  So what is it, and how is it committed? 

At first glance, the word "unpardonable" looks to suggest an "act" of some kind that someone will not forgive ... even if that person asks for forgiveness.

My dictionary defines unpardonable as ... "a fault or offense too severe to be pardoned; therefore it is unforgivable."

I'm not too worried if man decides not to forgive something I have committed.  It might make me feel bad that they won't forgive me, but life will go on.

But what about God?  The Lord is going to be the final judge as to whether we spend eternity with Him or separated from His presence in darkness.  I don't even want to think about where that place of separation from God will be.  Most people call it Hell.

So where did this conception of doing something that even God won't forgive come from?  How about ... right out of the mouth of Jesus.

Matthew 12:31-32 ... "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.  Whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come."

Wow ... what is all that about?  A sin that shall never be forgiven.  I thought all sin, past, present and even uncommitted future sin was placed upon Jesus as He hung on the cross.  Jesus carried that sin with Him upon the cross ... right?  In fact, the Apostle Paul said something like ... "He became sin, who knew no sin."  (2nd Corinthians 5:21)

I'm not going to deal with the legality of sin today, (now that Jesus has become the sacrifice for all our sin) but even so, I want to put this statement Jesus made to His Jewish contemporaries in context, in it's scriptural setting.

Right before Jesus made this statement about forgiveness, someone was brought to Him that was, as Matthew put it ... "possessed of a devil, was blind and couldn't speak."  So Jesus proceeded to heal this individual which amazed the people and caused them to assume He was "the Son of David" ... meaning the Messiah.

But when the Pharisees heard that the people thought He was the Messiah, they said in response that Jesus ... "healed by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of the devils."

This is what led Jesus to declare that blasphemy will not be forgiven.  Blasphemy as described in this scripture, in simple terms, is giving credit to the devil for the miracle that the Holy Spirit of God performed.

So I turn again to the dictionary to look up the educated definition of blasphemy ... "the act or offense of profane talk or speaking sacrilegiously about sacred things of God, including His miraculous acts."       

Profane talk ... (speaking with irreverence or disrespect concerning something sacred) can be considered a type of blasphemy.

Speaking sacrilegiously ... similar to profane; (regarding sacred things as secular.) 

By this we see that God will not share the recognition or glory with anyone ... especially with the devil.  Why is that?  Because God is so holy that such a statement, (or in this case, a charge against the Holy Spirit in Jesus) became ... "an offense too severe to be pardoned; therefore it is unforgivable."

The Pharisees were supposed to know God.  How could they watch Jesus heal and deliver this person from the demonic powers that bound this individual and then proclaim that it was the power of the devil that freed him from the power of the devil's captivity and bondage?  Now that's ignorance

Jesus even asked them ... "If Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?"

If there is a lesson to learn from this unforgivable situation that the mouths of the Pharisees got themselves into ... it is to be slow to speak, and when we do speak ... give God all the credit and praise for every good gift that comes your way.

The Pharisees thought they could discredit and harm the good reputation of Jesus and the works of the Holy Spirit in His life.  Didn't happen, did it?  Instead, they ended up in deep trouble ... unforgivable blasphemy ... as far as we understand it.  But in truth, forgiveness is up to God. 

I don't know if any of these Pharisees were ever forgiven for this sin.  If any of them later accepted Jesus as their Savior and Lord ... then they were forgiven.  You may ask ... "How do you know that?"   John 3:16 says ... "Whosoever believes" ... which includes even those who speak out of ignorance and unbelief.

May I give you my opinion on the unpardonable sin?     

"The only unpardonable sin, is sin that is unconfessed."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello, I’ve been struggling with this fear for about a year now. I’ve hand memories come into my head and a OCD like attack of tormenting blasphemy.

A year ago I came to Christ , well I accepted the truth. The attacks or convictions go like this. There are 3 memories of things I said. I’m not even sure I said them but that’s what my mind is saying.

First one is I’m watching tv and someone was talking in tongues and I said that person was possessed.

Second one is I’m driving down the road and it was around Halloween and these kids were dressed as devils at a church, I said there devil worshipers .

The third one is. That I called god a evil spirit. I tried to remember why I’d say such a thing and I don’t even know why, I didn’t know who god was and after knowing him I couldn’t say them things, I think I was saying them things cause of how evil this world is. But it’s not him it’s the ruler of this age who is bad.

Now I don’t believe these things. And like I said I don’t even remember if I said these things. I never liked religion or knew much about God or Jesus. But one day I started looking for the truth about life and came to the bible after looking at many other religions and science theory’s. anyone willing to talk to me? I’ve prayed a lot over this and tried to explain myself to the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob.

Any help would be awesome. Prayers would be nice also, I’ve confessed and repented with tears and fear like no other to these things even though I don’t remember if I did them or not. Should I have done that? Please help.
With Love
Charles

Following Him said...

Hi Charles ...

So, you are having trouble believing that God can forgive anyone's sin ... except yours? Why is that? Do you think that your sin is worse, or greater than mine. I have shaken my fist at God before because He didn't do what I wanted Him to do. Guess what ... He still forgave me.

Do you feel like God forgave you because you were a sinner? When you asked Him to forgive your sin, all your sin from your past life ... not just some of them ... did He?

Did you confess that you needed Jesus to become your Savior and Lord? If you did, then He became your Lord and placed with-in your soul His Holy Spirit to help you walk free from your old sinful nature.

Let me give you a Scripture you need to see and understand ...

Romans 8:1 ... "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus ..."

Because you have accepted Jesus as your Savior and Lord ... there is nothing you have done in the past that will condemn you in God's eyes. Jesus paid the price for all your sin ... period.

May I ask one thing of you Charles? Go to my Blog Archive and click on January 09, and pull up my post ... "A Simple Period." I think that post will help explain why believers in Jesus no longer need to worry about past sin. It's on Romans 8:1.

Just know that the enemy of your soul, the very same fallen angel that tried to talk Jesus from going to the cross, will continue to tell you all kinds of lies about your past sin not being forgiven.

The devil condemns ... God just quietly convicts when you sin.

Blessings ...