The “Unpardonable Sin” Part 5

Part four was a short reading assignment, I had ended part three with the assumption that I had demonstrated the following conclusions from scripture -

A. Blasphemy is an “unpardonable sin" according to OT Mosaic law.

B. No sin, of any kind, is forgivable except by grace through faith in Jesus Christ!                      

C. The Holy Spirit is the initiator and guarantor of our salvation.

D. All scripture, including the teaching on the “unpardonable sin”, is written primarily for the instruction of born again believers in Jesus Christ.

E. It is at least reasonable to assume that the “unpardonable sin" teaching is meant to be a source of assurance/comfort for believers.

Now I will try to show how specifically this assurance is found -

I can’t say I am 100% sure what would qualify as “the unpardonable sin” today. Many say it was only possible for those who were walking the earth at the time of Jesus and related to the specific acts He did then and the scribes response to it. Others would say this sin is still possible and could be committed by anyone who attributed the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan or a demon. An example could be God healing someone through the prayer of a believer and someone saying “God doesn’t work that way, so it must be of the devil”.
Another popular understanding is that rejecting the saving work of the Holy Spirit, conviction unto salvation, would be the “unpardonable sin”. I will not say either of the first two are wrong and I would be very careful about attributing things done in Jesus’ or Holy Spirit’s name to the Devil.  However, I believe the last view has some merit, at least as it relates to who needs to be concerned about having committed or committing this sin.

It is my belief that the “unpardonable sin” can’t be something any current believer in Jesus Christ could have done in the past or could do in the future. No matter how anti-God the Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit we may have been, we can have absolute assurance that it won’t keep us from experiencing the redemption we are promised in Jesus if we continue to believe upon Him and His work. The reformed doctrine, generally called “perseverance of the saints”, would likely support this belief, but I think there is a specific reason to take comfort from this teaching in particular.

Here is how I arrive at this point -

When Jesus teaches/rebukes the scribes for their accusation against Him, He uses simple logic – “If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand and if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand” (Mark 3:24-25, Matt. 12:25 parallel).  Just as Jesus teaches that Satan’s work in the demon possessed won’t be undone by Satan, we can know that God’s work in us won’t be undone by God!

Believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit in a similar way to how the man Jesus exorcised was indwelt by a demon. The demons won’t work against Satan or vice versa, because they are of the same house and kingdom. These evil powers will be forever working together under Satan’s authority unless they are overcome by a stronger power (Mark 3:27).  Jesus and the Holy Spirit prove to be the stronger power in the narrative as Satan, the “strong man,” is bound and his goods/house are plundered (Mark 3:27).  We can know for sure that within the Trinity - God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are fully unified/one in all things and more powerful than Satan and any other things they have created.

Now consider the born-again believer who is indwelt and sealed by the Holy Spirit for salvation (Eph. 1:13-14). The Holy Spirit who dwells in us will “guide us in all truth”; “He will glorify Him”/Jesus (John 16:13-15); He will ensure our continuation in the faith (1 John 2:19-23); He alone is the reason we can/do confess that Jesus is the Son of God (1 Cor. 12:31); and it is the rejecting of Jesus as Lord that proves one was never of God’s house and kingdom at all (1 John 4:12-16).

With this understanding in mind, will the Holy Spirit in us ever be party to us rejecting Jesus? Can Satan, us, or anyone else bind up the Holy Spirit and undo His work? Never! Will the Holy Spirit in us be divided against Himself and the rest of the Trinity and allow us to blaspheme to the point of lost salvation?  No!

With that said, the only ones who are concerned about missing salvation, while acknowledging and wanting Jesus as Lord, are those with the Holy Spirit. Only those indwelt with the Spirit and part of God’s kingdom and household, are concerned about finding salvation through Jesus or would likely to be concerned about having committed an “unpardonable sin”. It is this very concern, in the case of a believer, that almost certainly assures they have not committed the “unpardonable sin”

So we can add this to our list of truths -

A. Blasphemy is an “unpardonable sin" according to OT Mosaic law.

B. No sin, of any kind, is forgivable except by grace through faith in Jesus Christ!                      

C. The Holy Spirit is the initiator and guarantor of our salvation.

D. All scripture, including the teaching on the “unpardonable sin”, is written primarily for the instruction of born again believers in Jesus Christ.

E. It is at least reasonable to assume that the “unpardonable sin" teaching is meant to be a source of assurance/comfort for believers.

F. Since a house divided against itself cannot stand, it follows that the recognition of Jesus as Lord and the desire to be saved by Him are evidence of the presence of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and demonstrate that an “unpardonable sin” - blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, has not occurred.

 Next - I will present what I believe to be a biblical case of post Pentecost, New Testament "unpardonable sin" and an example of the amazing pardonability of sin in Jesus Christ!