The “Unpardonable Sin” Part 1

The “Unpardonable Sin” or should it be “The Amazing Pardonability of Sin in Jesus Christ”. Before accusing me of heresy, remember the titles given to chapters and shorter sections of the Bible were not original to the text, but have been added to aid us in locating passages and giving us a preview of their subject matter.

I will attempt to prove from Scripture that the passage(s) below, regarding the “unpardonable sin”, is/are not for the purpose of teaching those who are lost just how lost and hopeless they are, or to cause doubts in the mind of believers about their salvation, but rather to give assurance of salvation to born again believers who may doubt God would save such as them.

Mark 3:28 “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; 29 but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”— 30 because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

Matt. 12:31 “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.

The issues at hand are clear – it is possible for all sins and blasphemies man commits to be forgiven, including speaking a word against the Son of Man. However, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit or speaking against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven - ever! What does blasphemy mean?

Greek blasphémia: slander or abusive language against God. To call what God calls right wrong and vice versa. Dictionary definition: Blaspheme – To show contempt or disrespect for God. (World English Dictionary)

Biblical example of how serious God takes blasphemy –

Lev. 24:10 Now the son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel; and this Israelite woman’s son and a man of Israel fought each other in the camp. 11 And the Israelite woman’s son blasphemed the name of the LORD and cursed; and so they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.) 12 Then they put him in custody, that the mind of the LORD might be shown to them. 13 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 14 “Take outside the camp him who has cursed; then let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him. 15 “Then you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. 16 And whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him, the stranger as well as him who is born in the land. When he blasphemes the name of the LORD, he shall be put to death.

Is there any more serious sin we could imagine than showing contempt for God? If there were only one unforgivable sin, we could see how disrespecting God could be it! We still might think a warning is in order or God should take circumstances into account. This may be a young man called a “son” and he may have less sound teaching about God since his father was Egyptian. Maybe God would give some slack for the boy’s age and the bad influence of his Egyptian father, and since God isn’t visibly standing right in front of him, surely he could get a break.  “No,” God says, “whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death”! This sin was still treated seriously at the time of Jesus as He was condemned to death for blasphemy (Mark 14:62-64) as was Stephen, even though he was not officially charged or put on trial (Acts 7:54-60).

Summary up to this point – blasphemy is to be punished by death; there are no amends or animal sacrifice to set aside the penalty!

Therefore, blasphemy is an “unpardonable” sin according to OT Mosaic law.

More to follow -

"Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved."