The Unforgivable Sin

In the Bible I read that the unforgivable sin is to claim one is God. But, I was led to believe that if we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, all of our sins would be forgiven. Surely if someone turned to Christ and accepted their past deeds as erroneous, than the Lord would see the new creation and not the old sin?

Thanks for the question! This touches on several important aspects of our walks with the Lord.  So that I am clear, I’m going to rephrase how I understand the question portion: “How can there be an unforgivable sin if Christ’s blood covers over all sin?  Doesn’t that mean that Christ’s blood can’t cover over everything?”

I think we first need to get a couple of things straight. 

1.  What is the unforgivable sin?

The unforgivable sin is mentioned in Matthew 12:22-37, Mark 3:20-30, and Luke 12:8-10.  The sin is not claming oneself as God, but rather blaspheming against the Holy Spirit.  Notice that the sin is specifically against the Holy Spirit, not against Jesus. 

Now it’s important to understand what is meant by blaspheming against the Holy Spirit.  It’s far more deliberate and radical than just offhandedly slandering God verbally or in your own thoughts.  Rather, in the context that we see it in, blaspheming against the Holy Spirit is actually an intentional, public, and deliberate act to attribute works of the Holy Spirit to Satan.  It’s also important to note that this is done in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.  The Pharisees are making an informed, willful, and intentional decision that comes out of the evil of their hearts.  Essentially, the Pharisees had been presented overwhelming evidence of God’s goodness, purity, and power through Christ’s work.  They clearly saw the evidence, and they rejected it completely.  But it goes farther than just rejecting the evidence.  They took it much farther, attributing miracles which displayed the absolute goodness and purity of the Holy Spirit to the absolute evil and filth of Satan.  This is far more radically evil than the simple refusal to believe.

2.  We need to talk about our theology of salvation (ordo salutis) now.

We believe that Christ’s work on the cross and his subsequent resurrection has paid for our sins and won the victory over sin.  Sin’s power is broken as a result of the cross and resurrection.  However, Christ’s work does us no good without the benefits of his work being applied to us.  We are still in sin, and responsible for all the penalties that come with being in sin, if Christ’s work is not applied to us.  It is our theology that it is by the work of the Holy Spirit that we are united with Christ, and thus receive the benefits of salvation. (Titus 3:5, John 3:5, Romans 8:9)  Our justification (which encompasses forgiveness) flows out of our union with Christ.  It is in our union that what is mine (sin) is his, and what is his (righteousness) is mine.

Answer:

Since it is the work of the Holy Spirit to regenerate and unite us to Christ which gives us our forgiveness and salvation, rejecting and blaspheming against the Holy Spirit is kind of a big deal.  You are rejecting the only one who can unite you to Christ, which closes off the possibility of being united to Christ.  Therefore, if there is no union, there can be no forgiveness.  Hence, this is the unforgivable sin.

Pastoral Aside

The Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible article on Mark 3 says this about concerned Christians.

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is informed and intentional, motivated by evil.  Because it is unforgivable, it cannot be committed by a Christian or by someone who is not yet a Christian but who later will come to faith.  Even so, sincere Christians sometimes fear that they have blasphemed the Holy Spirit.  Usually these people have simply misunderstood the nature of such blasphemy or have misjudged their own actions.  In any event, since the reprobate (those who will never come to faith) annont truly repent of their sin (cf. Ac 11:18), Christians who fear that they may have committed this unpardonable sin generally show by their very anxiety and repentance that they have not done so.

I don’t know where you are with Christ, but if you’re asking about repentance, then that’s a good sign that you haven’t committed this sin.  When I first read this passage, I thought to myself, “Well I’m toast!” I was struggling with just how sinful and rebellious I was.  Don’t be discouraged though.  Your question and wrestling with sin is proof that the Holy Spirit is working to make you more holy.  You haven’t done the one thing that could keep you from God, and the one who is infinitely worthy has paid the enormous cost to make you his own.  Romans 7 and 8 are great chapters to read if you want to take another look at the sin-life dynamic.

I’ll leave you with this quote that I think captures our situation since we’re don’t fall into the special case category of the unforgivable sin.

“Do you believe that the God of Jesus loves you beyond worthiness and unworthiness, beyond fidelity and infidelity, that he loves you in the morning sun and the evening rain, that he loves you when your intellect denies it, your emotions refuse it, and your whole being rejects it?  Do you believe that God loves without condition or reservation and loves you this moment as you are and not as you should be?” -- Brennan Manning

Thanks again for you question!  As always, you can contact me either through this blog or at my email, frank@mcleanpres.org to talk about this or anything else.

I am here for you!  <3

Blessings,

~Frank