“Do you really believe that there is a sin that is unforgivable? Do you really hold to that?”

What the unforgivable sin is not

Most people have no idea what the unforgivable is. There are many people who think that they are so “bad” that what they have done must be the unforgivable sin. The following is a list of some of the things people have thought the unforgivable sin to be.

• Murder

• Adultery

• Masturbation

• Blasphemy

• Having an abortion

• Not going to church

• A divorce

All these ideas are very wide of the mark.

Did Jesus ever say that there was any sin that would not be forgiven?

“Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.” Matthew 12:31

What the unforgivable sin is

Jesus had just healed “a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute.” Matthew 12:22

The Pharisees said that Jesus had expelled demons by the power of the prince of demons, Beelzebub. So their unforgivable sin is attributing Jesus’ miracle, which was performed in the power of the Holy Spirit, to Satan. The unforgivable sin is to call Jesus and his divine power satanic.

People who do this would never go to Jesus for forgiveness, as they are saying he is of the devil. So their sins will never be forgiven by God.

UNBELIEVERS

Some have theorized that the one sin that is unforgivable is the sin of “unbelief.” That is to say that “unbelief” is the one sin that the blood of Jesus could not cover. Every other sin in the world can be forgiven, but if one fails to place one’s faith in Jesus Christ and decides to remain in “unbelief”—then that sin of unbelief is not forgivable. It is a direct rebuff of the work of the Holy Spirit on one’s heart.

ARE YOU WORRIED?

Anyone who is genuinely concerned that he may have committed the unforgivable sin, has not done so. For such a person will ask God for his forgiveness. It is only the person who does not think that he or she ever needs God’s forgiveness, who may have committed this sin.

NO ONE IS TURNED AWAY

Jesus said, “Whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” John 6:37

A QUOTE TO CHEW OVER

“There is only one person God cannot forgive. The person who refuses to come to him for forgiveness.” Anonymous

Mark Water, Hard Questions about the Bible Made Easy, The Made Easy Series (Alresford, Hampshire: John Hunt Publishers Ltd, 2000), 62–63.