When I was a new Christian, the topic of the unforgivable sin was pretty prominent in church circles. The Scripture references this in Matthew 12:31-32, Mark 3:28-30, and Luke 12:10, all recording the same episode in Jesus' ministry when the Pharisees accuse Him of driving out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons. Jesus reasons with them that Satan driving out Satan would divide his kingdom, and a divided kingdom does not stand. He continues the discussion with more examples, saying you can't rob a house unless you first tie up (or otherwise render harmless) the house's owner, and that those who aren't with Him are against Him. Reading from Matthew 12, the relevant verses immediately follow and are linked to the argument by the words "and so." Verse 31-32 reads, "And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come" (NIV).
Occasionally, someone will feel they've committed this sin and fearfully seek out counsel. Long ago, a woman said to me, "I don't get this verse. You hear people cuss out Jesus or God all the time, but I've never heard anybody cuss out the Holy Spirit." I think this example reveals what many people think the unforgivable sin entails, because they equate blasphemy with four-letter words. Others worry because they want to know exactly what this sin is, thinking this is the way to avoid it.
This is not the way to avoid it, and Jesus was helpful and wise to discuss it just as He did. No more, no less.
Consider the Garden of Eden. In the current vernacular, Adam and Eve had one job, right? Well, okay, two: tend the garden and don't eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In all the garden, they were forbidden ONE thing. What happens when you are forbidden one thing? The "white bear" phenomenon kicks in. Psychology also calls this the ironic process theory. In short, if you tell yourself or someone else not to think of a white bear, that's exactly what you will think of. In trying to obey the direction, your brain will (a) try to push the thought away, and (b) continually check that you are not thinking about it. Of course, both (a) and (b) guarantee you are thinking about it. Did Adam and Eve know what they were not supposed to do? Yup. Did they end up doing it? Also yes. To digress for a moment, this is not an argument that there should never be just one rule (or an argument against all rules!). No, I think Adam and Eve's fall becomes a lesson in how vigilant we have to be, and how much we need God's help, and even more than His help, the desire to please and fellowship with Him, in order to avoid sin. Especially that one sin we are trying hardest to leave behind.
What if that unforgivable sin were defined as some definite, specific action? You know what we'd do? We'd think about it. Stop to examine it as we walked by. Go up to it and put our toes right smack against the boundary line and sniff to see if it was "good for food." That behavior and preoccupation wasn't in Adam and Eve's best interest; why do we think it would be in ours?
Turning back to our Matthew 12 passage, often enough when considering this topic we stop at verse 32 and don't read to the completion of Jesus' teaching. He continues, "Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks." He then says people will give account for every careless word they've spoken. In other words, not only can't a divided kingdom stand, but someone with an evil heart can't speak a good word (can't cross over to God's kingdom in any sense); he is entrenched in his evil.
Taken in context, then, the unforgivable sin seems to mean attributing the Holy Spirit's works to the devil, and perhaps also attributing evil works to the Holy Spirit--trying to produce good when, without Jesus as our righteousness, we are in fact evil and cannot bear good fruit. Does trying to do so constitute lying to the Holy Spirit, as Ananias and Sapphira did, and died for it? Perhaps. What I feel more confident saying is that constant and permanent rejection of the Holy Spirit's witness of Jesus Christ as Savior eventually becomes unforgivable, as does spending one's entire life believing they can do good while rejecting the need to be born again. If this is a correct view, then perhaps it's true, as I've heard said, that when a person is concerned about having committed this sin it's a sure sign they haven't; i.e., someone who has committed the sin would be beyond caring. What we do know is that whosoever will may take the water of life freely (Revelation 22:17), anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (Joel 2:32), and that all who are weary (Matthew 11:28) and thirsty (John 7:37) may come. If you want Jesus, nothing you've done is unforgivable.
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