The Bible says that there is a sin which humans commit which is absolutely and finally unpardonable, unforgivable.

Sensitive Christians cannot help but be frightened by this most horrible revelation. Perhaps many of us know people for whom this fear became one of total despair. How well I remember a dear old saint who, because she had once partaken of Holy Communion under circumstances which she regarded as unworthy, thought that she was irrevocably guilty of this transgression. Her case was obvious. In how many believing hearts does not the fear lurk that my sins might well include one that renders me forever ineligible for forgiveness and salvation?

We hope that this study of this difficult aspect of biblical revelation will not only instruct but comfort some anxious heart!

   

1. Does the truth about the unpardonable sin imply that the grace of God is not without limit?

In was in 1938 that a Dutch theologian, A. D. R. Polman, published a book on this subject. It opens with a reference to St. Augustine (354–430 A.D.), which gives some idea as to how long this problem has troubled God’s people. Polman wrote,

Augustine has said somewhere that no man can think, speak or write about the doctrine of reprobation truly and. helpfully unless he finds a song in his heart to the praise of Him whose eternal election is a much greater mystery . . . . Augustine regarded it as a most wicked arrogance and audacious conceit when some sit in judgment upon the former when they have not experienced the saving glory and wonder of the latter . . . . This holds for our subject (the unpardonable sin) as well. Here, too, every part of our interpretation must be guided and qualified by humble amazement at the unspeakable wonder which is God’s gracious forgiveness of our sins.

Polman was right. If we are to speak properly of the unpardonable sin we must first see the amazing wonder which is forgiveness. We are best reminded of this by a few randomly chosen citations from Scripture. We begin with Isaiah, who cried though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (1:18)

The Spirit inspired. Micah to say,

Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in lovingkindness. He will again have compassion upon us; he will tread our iniquities under foot; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. (7:18, 19)

One of Paul‘s grandest doxologies is I Tim. 1:17, “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” It is interesting, however, that this loving ascription of praise to God follows upon these words,

I thank him that enabled. me, even Jesus Christ our Lord, for that he counted me faithful, appointing me to his service; though I was a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: howbeit I obtained mercy . . . . Faithful is the saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief . . . that in me as chief might Jesus Christ show forth all his longsuffering, for an ensample of them that should thereafter believe on him unto eternal life. (vss. 12, 13, 15, 16)

That is a sample of the way in which the Word speaks about divine forgiveness. If anything is incredible, it is not that there might be a sin unto death, but that there is a longsuffering of Christ which forgives me!

But now let’s go back to the question written over this section. Is the grace of God’s forgiveness limitless? Is there a God-ordained boundary between that which can be and that which is not forgiven?

The answer is Yes!

2. Where does the Bible say that such a boundary exists?

There are a number of Bible texts which prominently and incontrovertibly indicate that there is a sin which will not be forgiven. For your convenience we print them here in full.

Our Lord is quoted to say,

Therefore I say unto you, Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in that which is to come. (Matt. 12:31, 32)

Mark reports this,

Verily I say unto you, All their sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and their blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: but whosoever shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit hath never forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin: because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.(3:28–30, italics inserted)

Luke says,

And every one who shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Spirit it shall not be forgiven. (12:10)

Surely these passages say very plainly that there is such a thing as an unpardonable sin. It is a sin against the Holy Spirit, more specifically, it is to blaspheme against the Spirit. It is beyond the pale of divine forgiveness.

Other passages are also often considered in this connection. Three of the most familiar are in the Book of Hebrews. They read as follows:

Hebrews 10:26–29: For if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries. A man that hath set at nought Moses’ law dieth without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, think ye, shall he be counted worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

Hebrews 6:4–6: For as touching those who were once enlightened and. tasted. of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good Word of God, and the powers of the age to come, and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

One final reference: in his first epistle John writes about praying for others. This Christian privilege is very definitely qualified, however, by these words,

If any man see his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask, and God will give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: not concerning this do I say that he should make request. All unrighteousness is sin: but there is a sin not unto death. (5:15, 16)

3. What do such Bible passages mean?

Obviously Matthew 12:31, 32; Mark 3:28, 29 and Luke 12:10 are the primary sources for our interpretation of the unpardonable sin. Especially since there is some difference of opinion as to whether I John 5:16, 17 and the Hebrews passages really refer to the sin against the Holy Spirit. G. C. Berkouwer in his two-volume work entitled Sin says, “in John nothing can be found of the pneumatological aspect, so definitive in the words of the Gospel writers” (II, p. 111. Dutch ed.). The emphasis in these passages according to such opinions is· on the matter of apostasy or falling away from the faith, not on blasphemy of the Spirit.

In our judgment, however, John is definitely referring to the unpardonable sin when he writes that “there is a sin unto death.” This is by the nature of the case a sin against the Holy Spirit because it represents a stubborn denial of the truth that Jesus Christ is both God and. man in the unity of the divine person, for that message is the testimony of the Spirit through the preaching of the Gospel. K. Schilder was right, we feel, when he wrote

And if later in another Bible passage mention is made of an unpardonable sin it must mean the same outpouring of wickedness which is mentioned by name in Matt. 12. (Woord en Kerk, I. p. 222)

Going on, however, to the very important passages quoted above from Matthew, Mark and Luke, we should note first of all that the setting was a fierce conflict between our Lord and the Pharisees. Matthew 12:14 says that things had already reached the stage in which the “Pharisees went out, and took counsel against Him, how they might destroy him.” Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from Jerusalem. People found Him, however, “and he healed them all.” Perhaps the wonder which impressed the people most was our Lord’s power over the demons, those awful instigators of every kind of opposition to the Savior. Deeply moved, they asked, “Can this be the son of David” (that is, the promised Messiah)? Mark tells us that the tensions aroused by our Lord’s mighty works were so great that His own family thought it necessary to save Him from the horrible consequences they envisioned. They thought Him to be a wild-eyed fanatic or even psychotic who needed help, so that “they set out to take charge of him, for people were saying. ‘He must be mad!’” (Mark 3:21, Phillips).

Certain experts, scribes and Pharisees, decided that it was time to investigate. So they came out to see Jesus, leaving Jerusalem. They concluded that Jesus, lord of the demons, was Himself demon possessed. He could do what He did because He was in league with Beelzebub, chief of the devils. Note what they alleged: Christ was really a damnable Nazarene. He had sold Himself to Satan and was therefore able to do such great wonders. That was the explanation of His power over the unclean spirits.

It was this incredible blasphemy which moved our Lord to speak the most terrifying words ever heard anywhere! He regarded. their sin as blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, because it was by that Spirit’s omnipotent and gracious power that He did His mighty and gracious works. To say that He did what He did. by a Satanic power was to speak evil of the Spirit. That sin; Christ declared. was absolutely unpardonable. There is forgiveness for all kinds of sins, even for blasphemy against the Son of God! – but not for the sin against the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit of God openly and demonstrably works so that a blind mute who is demon possessed is wonderfully enabled to see, speak . . . if then people say that this is attributable to the devil, well, it is time to say something about the fact of the unpardonable sin.

There is some difference of opinion as to whether Jesus was saying that the Pharisees had actually committed the sin against the Spirit or whether He was warning them about the possibility of doing so. Calvin, rightly, we think, assumed that they had by their blasphemy committed the sin. H. Bavinck, peerless Reformed theologian of the first quarter of this century, left this an open question. He regarded it as most likely that Jesus was giving the Pharisees a final warning. The real question at this point is whether it can be said of anyone in this life that he has irrevocably sinned the sin unto death. We will return to this question later.

What is the sin against the Holy Spirit? This definition is, I think, helpful:

The unpardonable sin is a denial in spite of better knowledge of the truth, or still worse, a declaration that something which is obviously heavenly is actually satanic. (Translated from Honig, Handboek van de Gereformeerde Dogmatiek, p. 403.)

With various writers we draw these conclusions with respect to and from Matt. 12:31, 32:

a. The blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is preceded by a process of hardening.

b. This process is caused by an unwillingness to bow before the preaching which calls men to self-examination and conversion, a summons which the hearer may not dismiss as trivial or rooted. in untruth.

The unpardonable sin, therefore, consists of a deliberate blaspheming of the Son of God in terms of that Holy Spirit of God who works in Him and through Him. It is indeed a sin against one’s own conscience and against his better knowledge. It is a sin which goes so far as to render its perpetrators worthy of the accusation that they are, in effect, allies of the Evil One.

And then there are those passages in the Book of Hebrews. Rightly, we feel, these texts have been placed in context with those that speak of the sin against the Holy Spirit.

Heb. 10:26 speaks of a certain willful sinning which places one outside the circle of Christ’s sacrifice for sin, and therefore beyond all possibility of forgiveness. Heb. 10:29 follows the statement (vs. 28) that in the O.T. dispensation a person was put to death without possibility of appeal if two or three witnesses declared him guilty of trangressing Moses’ law. It goes on to say that if that was the case then, what would be the punishment for one who has “spurned the Son of God. and profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace?” (RSV) Heb. 6:4–6 states that there is an apostasy, a falling away from the faith after knowledge of the “goodness of the Word of God,” even after having been “partakers of the Holy Spirit” which places one beyond the possibility of repentance and restoration.

Prof. Berkouwer, however, feels that we ought not be too quick to assume that these passages refer to the sin against the Holy Spirit. He points to the fact that the unique, specific element in the description of that sin (blasphemy of the Spirit) is not mentioned. Berkouwer is not saying (De Zonde, II, pp. 114, 115) that there is no relationship whatsoever between the Hebrews passages and those in the Gospels, but he does feel that the fact that the sins mentioned in the Hebrews are conscious and deliberate and against better knowledge is not enough to establish them as unpardonable. He concludes that this sin is only to be understood. in terms of contradicted evidence. The contradiction of the evidence for the claims of Christ exposes a heart so unbelieving and so apostate that it merits Christ’s most awesome warning concerning the unpardonable sin (op. cit. p. 118).

A very good definition of this sin was offered by Herman Bavinck when he wrote that the sin against the Spirit is a conscious, malicious, deliberate ascription of that which is clearly a work of God to the influence and working of Satan, which is therefore a d.efinite blaspheming of the Holy Spirit, a malicious assertion that the Holy Spirit is a demon out of the abyss, that the truth is a lie, that Christ is Satan himself (Gerejormeerde Dogmatiek, 4th ed. , p. 137).

4. The great secret.

Even now it has not become perfectly clear just what the sin against the Holy Spirit is.

To that specific question we address ourselves in a second article.

Its difficulty goes without saying! Augustine spoke of it as “the great secret.” Other students of this matter are convinced that there is no actual answer, that it must remain a forever insoluble problem.

We owe it, however, to any serious-minded. Christian who has deep concern and real interest at this point to attempt an answer. Pastors do meet people-perhaps not as often as formerly – who are deeply troubled by the thought that they may have actually sinned the sin which is unto death.

It was Klaas Schilder who said several years ago that if there were only a few who could still struggle with such things that they, too, deserved sympathy and consolation.

We agree.