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Unpardonable Sin
(From Forerunner Commentary)

Matthew 12:31-32  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) This is the unpardonable sin. It says if a Christian commits blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, there is no forgiveness for it. What does He mean? He is pronouncing the terrible fate of those who choose the wrong side. If we blaspheme the Spirit of God, which is God's power and the agency by which He works, we have determined that God has no power. This is, of course, a lie, because, as He just explained in the Parable of the Strong Man (Matthew 12:29), God is the most powerful Being. If we deny God's power, it is denying God Himself. He says a person can blaspheme the Son of God, but try blaspheming God's power! Doing so makes Him into something else—it changes His nature (Romans 1:22-23)—and that is unforgivable. So we must choose our side carefully, because if we blaspheme what God is able to do, guess where we end up? In the Lake of Fire. There is more to the unpardonable sin, but this is part of it. Richard T. Ritenbaugh Parables of Matthew 13 (Part 2): Leaven

Hebrews 6:4-6  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) Christ's sacrifice applies only once for each person, and if we reject God's grace, it cannot be applied again. This is why willing apostasy is so terrible and why the apostles fought so strongly against heresy in the first century. The eternal lives of thousands of God's people were at stake! In a more passive way, sin can lead to eternal death by continued neglect. The sinner may know he should repent of sin, but because of lethargy he never bothers to overcome it. He is apathetic; he just does not care. The Laodicean attitude (Revelation 3:15-19) comes dangerously close to this type of sin, and if not repented of, it can lead to the unpardonable sin. Martin G. Collins Are Some Sins Worse Than Others?

Hebrews 10:26-29  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) This is what the unpardonable sin ultimately accomplishes. Through willfully practicing sin, the sinner rejects the very basis of his covenant with God, the blood of Jesus Christ. If one deeply appreciates and values His sacrifice, he will not willfully practice the very actions that made that sacrifice necessary. God forgives with the understanding that the one forgiven has turned from sin and will continue to overcome it. When God designed this creation, He considered His purpose along with our free-moral agency. He concluded that He had to devise a payment for sin so profound in its implications that the heirs of salvation, out of overwhelming gratitude, would drive themselves from sin. Such a price of redemption could not be the death of any common person or animal, for these have neither the worth nor the ability to pay for all sin. Only the sacrifice of the sinless God-man, Jesus Christ, could meet these qualifications. What we see in Hebrews 10:26-29 is the end of a person who, by the very conduct of his life, reveals his pitiful assessment of that sacrifice. The author makes a three-fold indictment against this person. First, they repudiate the oath taken at baptism. Second, they contemptuously reject Christ. Third, they commit an insulting outrage against the merciful judgment of God. John W. Ritenbaugh Christ, Our Passover

Hebrews 10:26-29  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) Those whom God has called to receive the knowledge of salvation will not be given a second chance if they sin willfully. Hebrews 10:26-29; 6:4-6. To receive this punishment, though, it was first necessary for them to have known God's truth (Hebrews 10:26). God will forgive any sin that is repented of—even if, through weakness, temptation, or habit, the sin is repeated. As long as a person's intention, attitude, and desire is to obey God, he will repent, and God will forgive him (I John 1:9). Jesus said we ought to forgive 70 times seven times (Matthew 18:21-22). God is even more willing to forgive than that! So what is a willful or an unforgivable sin? If a person has been given spiritual understanding of God's way and has experienced the blessings of that way, but decides he no longer wants it, changes his attitude, deliberately chooses a life of rebellion, despising God's laws, then his sin is unforgivable because he will not repent of it! God will not give eternal life to anyone who insists on living Satan's way. Such people have been specially called by God and given His Spirit, yet at some point in time they purposely, knowingly rejected it! Perhaps through bitterness, refusal to forgive others, or neglect of prayer and Bible study, they stopped allowing God to build His character in them. Like the servant who did nothing with his talent (Matthew 25:24-30), some failed in God's purpose for them. They became so calloused to their negligence and their sins that no matter what God could do to try to correct them, they will never want to repent. God gives everyone all the help, encouragement, and opportunity for success they need to inherit eternal life. God will never quit helping anyone! But these people have quit on God! They show by their actions that they do not really want eternal life in God's Family—and so God, in love, will not give it to them. To guarantee peace, prosperity, happiness, and success throughout all eternity, God cannot allow these selfish people to make life miserable for others around them. Although God certainly has no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:31-32), these sinful people must be put out of the way. The Last Great Day: God's Master Plan Completed!

1 John 1:8-10  (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up) John is instructing us about the obligation we have due to receiving atonement through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Forgiveness does not remove from us the obligation to keep the commands of God. The law of God is not done away once we are under the blood of Jesus Christ. His death paid for our past sins. Though His death will pay for sins committed after our original forgiveness, we are urged not to break God's laws. Sinning without serious regard and deep appreciation for Christ's death brings us into danger of committing the unpardonable sin (Hebrews 10:26, 28-29). A disciplined and robust effort to obey God's commands witnesses to Him the depth of our appreciation for the grace He gives through Christ. John W. Ritenbaugh The Offerings of Leviticus (Part Six): The Sin Offering

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