Is there an unforgivable sin? What is the unpardonable sin? How do you know if you’ve committed an unforgivable sin?
Jesus speaks a lot about sin & forgiveness, but there is only 1 time He mentions a sin that will not be forgiven “either in this age or in the age to come”. This is serious & has eternal consequences. To understand this better let’s look at the situation where Jesus spoke about this.
“Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to Him (Jesus), and He healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” Knowing their thoughts, He said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” - Mt 12.22-32
These people just witnessed Jesus perform a miracle by the work & power of God’s spirit (Holy Spirit). And in this particular case, the religious leaders (Pharisees) who thought they knew about God, were denying the work of God before their very eyes. They even went as far as to say Jesus’s work was the power of Satan (Beelzebul). When someone denies the work of the Holy Spirit, Jesus calls it blasphemy against the person of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it’s important to understand 1) what blasphemy is & 2) what the work of the Holy Spirit is!
Blasphemy is cursing, slandering, showing contempt or lack of respect for God & in this case, the Holy Spirit. Jesus explains in Jn 16.8-11 that part of the Holy Spirit’s job is to bring conviction in your conscience about the sin of unbelief in Jesus Christ; the absolute righteous purity of God; and the certainty of God’s judgment.
The fact that you are reading this right now may well be the Holy Spirit leading you to contemplate these truths. So think about this: God is utterly holy & perfect. We have all sinned & fall dreadfully short of His righteous moral standard. In our sinfulness, we follow our own desires without any regard for God’s. God considers this hostility & the behavior of a rogue enemy. Part of God’s perfection is His absolute justice which must punish sin. Since we have all sinned, we are all under God’s wrath & condemned to an eternal hell.
And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. – Heb 4.13
Love. Only because of God’s pure love, He made a way to satisfy His justice & rescue us from His just wrath. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to live the perfect sinless life we could never live & then to lay down his life for us. When He was killed by cruel crucifixion, Jesus was taking the punishment for our sins. God tells us that if anyone confesses to Him that they’re a guilty sinner & trusts that Jesus died in their place for all their sins (past, present & future), that He grants them total forgiveness & eternal life with Him. If you have done that, then you never have to worry about committing the unforgivable sin! Evidence of this will be a reorientation of your life away from sin (repenting) & towards God. And even if we stumble & fall into sin again, God – rich in grace & mercy – has still forgiven us because of what Christ has done (1 Jn 1.9).
This is great news! If you feel you have committed some horrible sin, it can be forgiven! Christ’s sacrifice was enough! You can be totally forgiven & set free by God’s grace!
Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. – Jesus in Mt 12.31
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace – Eph 1.7
But if you haven’t trusted in Christ to save you, please don’t blaspheme the work of the Holy Spirit any longer by being indifferent to what Christ has done for you, or relying up on religious deeds, or denying Almighty God or His coming judgment. Right now, you can trust in Jesus Christ & make Him the Lord & love of your life! Pray to God about what’s been explained here! Otherwise, you will slip into eternity with no hope of forgiveness! Don’t delay because you never know when that may happen! Why not know God & live for Him today!?
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. – Jn 3.36
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Rom 6.23
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. – Heb 10.26-27
For God so loved the world, that he gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. – Jesus in Jn 3.16-21
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved-- and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. – Eph 2.1-10
“Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to Him (Jesus), and He healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” Knowing their thoughts, He said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” - Mt 12.22-32
These people just witnessed Jesus perform a miracle by the work & power of God’s spirit (Holy Spirit). And in this particular case, the religious leaders (Pharisees) who thought they knew about God, were denying the work of God before their very eyes. They even went as far as to say Jesus’s work was the power of Satan (Beelzebul). When someone denies the work of the Holy Spirit, Jesus calls it blasphemy against the person of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it’s important to understand 1) what blasphemy is & 2) what the work of the Holy Spirit is!
Blasphemy is cursing, slandering, showing contempt or lack of respect for God & in this case, the Holy Spirit. Jesus explains in Jn 16.8-11 that part of the Holy Spirit’s job is to bring conviction in your conscience about the sin of unbelief in Jesus Christ; the absolute righteous purity of God; and the certainty of God’s judgment.
The fact that you are reading this right now may well be the Holy Spirit leading you to contemplate these truths. So think about this: God is utterly holy & perfect. We have all sinned & fall dreadfully short of His righteous moral standard. In our sinfulness, we follow our own desires without any regard for God’s. God considers this hostility & the behavior of a rogue enemy. Part of God’s perfection is His absolute justice which must punish sin. Since we have all sinned, we are all under God’s wrath & condemned to an eternal hell.
And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. – Heb 4.13
Love. Only because of God’s pure love, He made a way to satisfy His justice & rescue us from His just wrath. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to live the perfect sinless life we could never live & then to lay down his life for us. When He was killed by cruel crucifixion, Jesus was taking the punishment for our sins. God tells us that if anyone confesses to Him that they’re a guilty sinner & trusts that Jesus died in their place for all their sins (past, present & future), that He grants them total forgiveness & eternal life with Him. If you have done that, then you never have to worry about committing the unforgivable sin! Evidence of this will be a reorientation of your life away from sin (repenting) & towards God. And even if we stumble & fall into sin again, God – rich in grace & mercy – has still forgiven us because of what Christ has done (1 Jn 1.9).
This is great news! If you feel you have committed some horrible sin, it can be forgiven! Christ’s sacrifice was enough! You can be totally forgiven & set free by God’s grace!
Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. – Jesus in Mt 12.31
In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace – Eph 1.7
But if you haven’t trusted in Christ to save you, please don’t blaspheme the work of the Holy Spirit any longer by being indifferent to what Christ has done for you, or relying up on religious deeds, or denying Almighty God or His coming judgment. Right now, you can trust in Jesus Christ & make Him the Lord & love of your life! Pray to God about what’s been explained here! Otherwise, you will slip into eternity with no hope of forgiveness! Don’t delay because you never know when that may happen! Why not know God & live for Him today!?
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. – Jn 3.36
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Rom 6.23
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. – Heb 10.26-27
For God so loved the world, that he gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. – Jesus in Jn 3.16-21
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved-- and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. – Eph 2.1-10