The Unforgivable Sin

Read Mark 3

“Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men,
and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who
blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never
has forgiveness, but is subject
to eternal condemnation”
(Mark 3:28-39)

Thoughts… Jesus revealed unlimited forgiveness through his death by which God’s great grace covers all our sin. All our sin, with the exception of one: Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit—the unforgivable sin as it has been called.

These three words—the unforgivable sin—have caused untold anguish to many who have misunderstood their meaning and thought they had committed this grievous sin of sins. Maybe they had become angry in a time of bitter disappointment or loss and let their rage fly, cursing God. Perhaps they fell into a sin they had vowed to God never to commit again. Maybe they had toyed with something Satanic, or mocked the work of the Spirit in a church service only then to be hit with the terrifying thought that they had insulted and blasphemed the Holy Spirit and so, based on this passage, were hopelessly and eternally damned.

But one of the chief problems with this passage is that it is always the wrong people who obsess over it. It’s usually either those who have a high degree of moral sensitivity and care deeply about their relationship with God, or it’s those who suffer the religious symptoms of a psychological illness.

The context of this confrontational encounter gives us a better understanding. Jesus has been performing many outstanding miracles (Mark 3:10-11, see also Matthew 12:22-30 and Luke 11:14-28), plainly evident for all to see. Most of the people were astounded by Jesus’ power over disease, demons and death, but out of sheer jealous and condescending elitism, the religious leaders scorned Jesus’ ministry as the work of the devil.

So Jesus’ declaration of this unforgivable sin here is clearly a response to the sin of these few. It is not the sin of blurting out some momentary blasphemy against the Spirit of God. It’s the much more sinister offense of looking into the very face of Truth and calling it a lie. The teachers of the law were seeing the undeniable healing imprint of God’s Spirit and still deliberately calling it a work of evil.

We need to understand that these leaders were not simply ignorant or perhaps confused in this matter; they knew exactly what they were doing. It is worth noting that verse 30 doesn’t translate very well from the Greek text in most English versions. An imperfect tense is used which suggests that theirs was a chronic attitude. In other words, they were continually declaring that Jesus had an evil spirit. This was not simply a spur-of-the-moment declaration, but an ongoing fixation.

Why couldn’t they be forgiven for this sin? Not because God’s grace was withheld from them, but because with each denial, they became increasingly incapable of responding to the Spirit of Grace.

Now here is the real danger in this—and the message for us who read this sobering text: When we deliberately choose a lie when confronted with God’s Truth, it is not that God then withholds his Truth—or his love and redemption for that matter—but that with each such deliberate choice, we become less able to respond to these graces.

Bottom line: There is such a thing as an unforgivable sin: It is the steadfast refusal to be forgiven! The only sin that cannot be forgiven is the one for which we refuse to repent.

However, when we bring to the Lord a soft and sorrowful heart, we find as King David did, that “a broken and contrite heart—These O God, You will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17)

Prayer… Father, create in me a tender heart. Keep me sensitive to the convicting work of your Spirit and cause me to be quick to repent.

One More Thing… “God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but He has not promised tomorrow to your procrastination.” —Augustine