The Unpardonable Sin

The Bible teaches that there is an unpardonable sin or a sin which cannot never be forgiven.

The Lord stated that the blasphemy of the Spirit will not be forgiven in Matthew 12:22-32.

Matthew 12:22 Then a demon-possessed man {who was} blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw. 23 All the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard {this} they said, “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.” 25 And knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? 27 If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast {them} out? For this reason they will be your judges. 28 But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 Or how can anyone enter the strong man's house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong {man?} and then he will plunder his house. 30 He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters. 31 Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. 32 Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the {age} to come.” (NASB95)

Some great theologians such as Lewis Sperry Chafer write that this sin only takes place during the First Advent of Christ when He was physically present on earth.

Chafer in effect states, and many follow his interpretation of this passage, that the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit was unique to Christ’s First Advent and was the attributing the miracles of Christ to the devil rather than the Holy Spirit, thus defaming the perfect integrity of the Spirit’s witness concerning Christ.

I know many great Bible teachers who when you ask them, “What is the unpardonable sin?” they usually reply, “It is blaspheming the Holy Spirit” or “It is the sin of attributing to the devil the works of the Holy Spirit and could only take place during the First Advent of Christ.”

First of all I believe this interpretation was in response to the false claim by some that you can commit a sin that cannot be forgiven.

There is no sin that cannot be forgiven except for the rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior over a lifetime.

People go the eternal Lake of Fire because they choose to and not because of their sins since the penalty for the entire human race-past, present and future was paid for by Jesus Christ on the cross.

The unbeliever’s sins are never mentioned at the Great White Throne Judgment of unbelievers, but rather their own inferior human works performed in self-righteous arrogance and this is according to Revelation 20:11-15.

So, the Scriptures emphatically teach that the only sin that can’t be forgiven and that sends a person to the eternal Lake of Fire is the rejection of Jesus Christ as one’s own personal Savior.

The sin of rejecting Christ as Savior is the reason why people will end up in the eternal Lake of Fire forever and ever and this is not the will of God though because the will of God is that all men be saved.

God’s attitude toward the entire human race is that He desires all to believe in His Son Jesus Christ (John 3:16-17; 1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9).

Secondly, as I noted earlier many expositors state that the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit was unique to Christ’s First Advent and was the attributing the miracles of Christ to the devil rather than the Holy Spirit, thus defaming the perfect integrity of the Spirit’s witness of Christ.

When I say unique I mean that at no time in history have these conditions ever existed where Christ was on the earth performing miracles by means of the Spirit.

These expositors are missing the point and the principle, which our Lord is relating in this passage.

It is the rejection of the Spirit’s witness concerning the Person of Christ at the point of hearing the Gospel for salvation that is blasphemous and unpardonable and not simply attributing the miracles of Christ to the devil.

To say that the blasphemy of the Spirit only took place during the First Advent of Christ is diminishing the rejection of the Spirit’s witness concerning Christ in subsequent dispensations such as the church age.

In other words, it is just as much blasphemous today to reject the Spirit’s witness concerning Christ during this dispensation as it was during the First Advent!

To say that the blasphemy of the Spirit was attributing Christ’s miracles to the devil is putting undo emphasis on the rejection of the miracles rather than their rejection of the Spirit’s witness concerning Christ as their Messiah.

Remember the miracles of Christ were to demonstrate that He was the Jewish Messiah since the Jews require a sign according to 1 Corinthians 1:22.

The Jews rejection of Christ’s miracles then revealed an even deeper problem among them and that was their negative attitude toward the Spirit’s witness concerning Him.

The Spirit witnessed that Christ was the Messiah by performing the miracles for the humanity of Christ.

The Spirit employed miracles to convict the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah and He doesn’t operate that way today because Christ now sits at the right hand of the Father.

He no longer employs miracles to witness to the unbeliever that the Lord Jesus is the Messiah since the Lord no longer resides on planet earth but at the right hand of the Father.

So, blaspheming the Spirit is not a particular act of sin but rather a negative attitude towards the Spirit’s witness concerning Christ that extends over a lifetime.

It cannot be forgiven because it is the rejection of the Spirit’s witness concerning Christ in common grace over a lifetime.

If you reject the Spirit’s repeated attempts over a lifetime to witness that Jesus is the Christ, then you will go to the Lake of Fire.

I say it is the rejection of the Spirit’s witness of Christ over a lifetime because there were many times before we became born-again and saved that we rejected the Spirit’s witness concerning Christ in common grace.

God is patient, He will offer the Gospel to the unbeliever throughout their lifetime as we noted in 2 Peter 3:9.

We have all been hostile towards God before salvation, were we not? (Colossians 1:19-21)

We have all rejected Christ before being declared justified through faith in Jesus Christ and then changed our attitude at some point and trusted in Him as Savior.

Therefore, the blasphemy of the Spirit is an attitude that extends over a lifetime that rejects what the Holy Spirit has to say about Jesus Christ and can occur in any dispensation.

The blasphemy of the Spirit is a lifelong, antagonistic and hostile mental attitude towards the Holy Spirit’s witness regarding the Person and Work of Christ at the point of hearing the Gospel for salvation and is not merely attributing the miracles of Christ to the devil.

If you reject Christ as Savior, you are rejecting in effect the witness of the Spirit and thus calling the Spirit a liar.

The blasphemy of the Spirit is a lifelong negative attitude towards the Spirit’s work in common grace.

The problem was not that the Pharisees rejected the miracles and attributed His miracles to the kingdom of darkness but rather the problem was their negative attitude toward Christ.

It is not attributing the miracles to the kingdom of darkness that cannot be forgiven but rather the lifelong rejection of the Spirit’s trustworthy witness concerning Christ at the point of hearing the Gospel for salvation.

This is why the Lord said that the blasphemy of the Spirit couldn’t be forgiven.

Thirdly, is it any more blasphemous to reject Christ then as it is today?

Is it any more blasphemous to reject the Spirit’s witness concerning Christ then as it is today?

Of course not!

Therefore, we can conclude that the blasphemy against the Spirit is not unique to the dispensation of the hypostatic union or First Advent of Christ since individuals are rejecting the Holy Spirit’s witness of Christ at the point of hearing the gospel for salvation even today in our day and age, thus it can and does occur in every dispensation of history.

The reason why the Lord said that rejection of the Spirit’s witness concerning Himself is blasphemous, and not the rejection of Himself is because the Holy Spirit is that member of the Trinity who convicts the unbeliever in common grace.

The Holy Spirit in common grace takes the Gospel message and makes it understandable to the unbeliever so that they can either make the non-meritorious decision to believe in Jesus Christ as Savior or reject Him (cf. John 16:7-11).

The Holy Spirit takes whatever truth is communicated to the unbeliever and makes it understandable so that they can make a decision for or against Christ as their Savior.

A spiritually dead person cannot understand the things of God without the aid of the Holy Spirit in common grace and this principle appears in 1 Corinthians 2:1-10.

The Holy Spirit in common grace has to make spiritual information understandable to the spiritually dead person so that they can make a decision to either accept Christ as Savior or reject Him (2 Corinthians 6:1-2).

This process takes place over a lifetime until the unbeliever accepts Christ or they die but there are no more opportunities after death (Hebrews 9:27).