Spring 1996


THE UNPARDONABLE SIN

By: Michael Tao


"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. And whoever 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." - Matthew 12:31,32

Pharisees said Christ cast out devils by the prince of devils, and after knowing their thoughts, Christ made the above statement. It gives an impression that it is an unpardonable sin if one blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, as the Pharisees did in this case. By reading Matthew 12:31-32, we can see there are two conditions : one is "All manner of sin and blasphemy", another one is the "blasphemy against the Holy Ghost". However the former "shall be forgiven"; the later "shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come".

The reasonable explanation is Christ talked about two spiritual conditions: the saved and the lost. We are all sinners, and we have committed all kinds of sin, including blasphemies against our Creator; we certainly sinned against God, other people, and even ourselves. The word "blasphemy" means impious and reproachful speech injurious to divine majesty (Strong's Concordance). However these can all be forgiven once we put our trust in Christ and all our sins shall be cleansed by His Blood.

However if an unbeliever resists or rejects the Holy Spirit, which is what "blasphemy against the Holy Ghost" means here. Holy Spirit, being the Comforter, has the power of convicting sinners, and reconciling them to God. John 16:8 says, "And when he (the Holy Spirit) is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment". When a lost person resists the Holy Spirit, it is a rejection to the call of repentance, then this lost person will remain unsaved - and "shall not be forgiven". The only unpardonable sin in the Bible is the sin of unbelief in Christ.

If these blasphemous Pharisees repented, they certainly could go to heaven! On the other hand, Christ was not teaching that Christian will lose their salvation when they resist the small voice of the Holy Spirit.

Let us take a look at the verse with the greatest obscurity :
First John 5:16 says, "If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death."

So what is this "sin unto death"?

However there can only be two kinds of death - physical and spiritual. Here it talks about physical death. It is difficult for us to discriminate what kind of sin is unto physical death. There are examples that Christians died because of God's punishment, such as those who observed communion unworthily(1 Corinthians 11), and those that lied to the Holy Spirit(Acts 5), however it is far from being exhaustive. We should not dwell our thoughts on other's sin, but when a misconduct becomes so obvious and we do not have faith to pray for God's forgiveness, then we should not press the issue (Romans 14:23). God can take his stiffnecked ones home, so that they will not be stumbling blocks for others on the face of this earth.