It’s Unforgivable

I recently came across a survey from an atheist website. It asked: “Did you commit the unforgivable sin?” The result quite surprised me. 13% said yes; 74% replied “yes, and I would do it again.” I wondered: “Do they even know what it is?” and “Do I even know what it is?” Let’s see what we can find out.

Before it’s even possible to address the question at hand, a more basic question comes to mind. That is: “What is sin?” There are lots of definitions. “An offense against morality.” “An evil act.” “An offense against God.” I’m sure that there are many other characterizations as well. The simplest would be something like: “Doing that which one ought not.” But a question remains. What ought I not? This is where things get murky. Is a thing solely good, or bad? Are their gray areas in between? Can something be partially good? Can good in our culture be bad in another?

In the first century, Christian women were to be modest in dress and they were to wear hair coverings. Why? In our sexualized culture, we assume that these instructions meant that women should not flaunt their sexuality. But that was not the case. The ruling was an admonition against flaunting wealth. In America, we tend to be hypersensitive to the first meaning, but we are blind to the second. Whether a thing is good or bad depends on both motivation and cultural context.

The New Testament declares that long hair is a shame to a man. Is that true in every place at all times? It wasn’t for Jewish men who were fulfilling Nazarite vows. Neither was it for Native Americans in the New World. Yet the first thing that missionaries did in North America was to cut the hair of indigenous children.

What about diet? In the first century, Jews would not eat with gentiles. This included early Jewish followers of Jesus. Sounds racist. Was it? We can get some insight if we study Peter’s Acts 10 vision. This event happened when God’s kingdom was about to move beyond the Jewish umbrella.

He (Peter) became very hungry and wanted to eat, and while the food was being prepared, he fell into a trance and saw heaven open and something like a large linen sheet coming down, being lowered by its four corners to the ground. In it were all kinds of four-footed animals, reptiles, and birds of the air. Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter! Kill something and eat it.” (Acts 10:10-13 ESV)

Peter was horrified. For many years as I read this passage, I missed the point. Yes, this violates Torah’s dietary laws, but there is more to it than this. Suppose the linen sheet contained our pets. How would we feel when we heard: “Kill something and eat?” Would we dine with people that feast on animals that we love? What then is the vision trying to communicate? It is declaring: “Peter, you are going to interact with many people groups with customs that seem extremely offensive. Be careful before you cast judgment. When it comes to diet, Jesus taught: “It is not what goes into the mouth that makes a person unclean. It is what comes out of the mouth that makes a person unclean (Mat. 15:11 ESV).” Might not this same principle apply to other behaviors that we consider sin? Cultural presuppositions cloud how we view ourselves and others.

So, what then is sin? Paul tells us that all things are permissible, but not everything is helpful (1 Cor. 6:12). He also provides some guidelines. It could offend the conscience of another believer (1 Cor. 10:29), it could lead a vulnerable person to go down a destructive path (1 Cor. 8:10-13), it could bring division or disrepute (1 Cor. 10:23-24, 1 Cor. 10:31-32), or it could gain control over us (1 Cor. 6:12). The bottom line is this: Avoid anything for which we doubt its goodness (Rom. 14:23).

As Christians we live in liberty. We are not subject to a long list of rules. So what do we do? Jesus provides the answer:

You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important commandment. The second is exactly like it: ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments. (Mat. 22:37-40 ESV)

Okay, some don’t believe in God. I get it. Well then, stick to the second commandment. Who is our neighbor? The answer: Whoever we come in contact with, either in person or online. This includes our enemies. It includes those that say and believe the most offensive things. With this in mind, it should be possible to understand what it means to “love our neighbors as ourselves.” We can use this awareness as a rudder to steer us away from our moral blind spots. Here are a few examples. Joining in with twitter mobs is sin. Labeling someone forever for some perceived or actual ill-advised comment is sin. Maliciously destroying a person’s reputation is sin. Spreading or entertaining gossip is sin. I could go on but hopefully, I’ve made my point. It is not hard to know what we ought not.

Let’s return to the issue of the unforgivable sin. Jesus said:

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. (Mat.12:32)

This passage implies that if I speak even once against the Holy Spirit I will never be forgiven. I’m in trouble. One and done. I’m guilty to be sure. What do I make of this? Is there hope?

Hyperbole is used all through both the Old and New Testaments. Exaggeration is an effective way to make a point. If a parent says: “Do that again and I’ll knock your head off.” Do they mean it? I hope not. Why would we so spiritualize the Bible to exclude or downplay its use of this technique? Jesus said, “If your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away (Mat. 5:29).” Really? “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God (Mark 10:25).” Is that so? “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword (Mat 10:38).” Should I go buy one? Whenever you pray, go into your closet (Mat. 6:6). I’m not near my closet. It would be better if Judas had never been born (Mat. 26:24). But then there would be no salvation. There are many more examples like this. This is my conclusion: There is no sin beyond forgiveness. Jesus is simply saying, “Don’t mess with the Holy Spirit.” As far as forgiveness is concerned, nothing is impossible with God.

In the passage quoted above, Matthew informs us that this terrible sin will neither be forgiven in this age nor the next. The parallel verse in Mark expresses the warning differently. That verse tells us that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is an eternal sin (Mark 3:29). In other words, it can’t be forgiven because it keeps happening eternally. As long as a person is continually resistant to the work of the Holy Spirit, forgiveness is not possible. How can it be otherwise? God does not force us to repent and turn to him. That is something we choose to do willingly. As long as rebellion persists, forgiveness is beyond reach.

We will not be judged for the sins we commit. Jesus took care of those. We will be judged for the attitudes of the heart that lead to those sins. As George MacDonald states, when we know that God is love, we will run willingly into his arms. We will trust him to purge us of every evil that is destructive to our souls. By accepting God’s perfect love, even the unforgivable sin will be burned away and destroyed. Praise God for that!

Thanks for listening,
Dan Harvey, author of Wrestling with Faith, secondlooknow.com

It’s Unforgivable

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