The Unforgivable Sin

An Exposition of Mark 3:20-35

The fact that Jesus states that there is a sin one can commit which cannot be forgiven in either this life or the next is frightening. What is this sin? Can I commit this sin? The Christians who are terrified that they might have crossed that line live lives of fear and despair. There are others who feel that a Christian cannot commit this sin because they believe once saved, always saved. People who believe this might say that the LORD might punish them in this life, but in the end they will be saved. This could lead to a sense of false confidence. Because of this, it is imperative that we understand what this unforgivable sin is, and then answer the second question concerning whether a Christian can commit this sin. To do this we will examine the text in Mark 3:20-35, and interpret it in the light of other Scriptures which shine light upon it.

The first thing the text tells us is that a large crowd had assembles around Jesus. The fame of Jesus had spread abroad. Many were curious and went to see. Others came and believed. However, Mark points out a certain subgroup who had come. It identifies them as “His own people.” The broader context indicates that some of them were of Jesus’ own earthly family. This may have included the people of Nazareth who would have been Jesus’ cousins. They had failed to believe on Him in the synagogue. In fact, they attempted to hurl Him off the bluff and stone Him. Here it says that they thought Jesus was out of His mind. “He was beside himself,” they said. It is interesting that the Greek word here is the one we get the English “to exist” from. I guess we are all crazy if we exist. His own people, His mother, brothers, and sisters had come to take Him away because He was mentally ill or perhaps possessed of a devil. They came to take Him home and lock Him up. They were embarrassed by Jesus.

Then the Scribes came from Jerusalem and escalated the situation. They publicly declared that Jesus was possessed by Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. It would have been insulting enough to say that Jesus was demon possessed. But they said that Jesus was doing his great works by Beelzebub which was another name for Satan himself. We need to look further into the implications of this. By saying this, they implied that Satan was more concerned about the well-being of people than God was. There could be no greater blasphemy. It was a statement that Yahweh was not concerned with the welfare of His people. Nothing could be further from the truth. Also, nothing could be farther from the truth than that Satan cared for humanity so much that he healed them and cast out demons. They were attributing the works of God to Satan and to Satan the works of God. Yet, these Scribes claimed to be from God and doing His work.

Jesus brings their hypocrisy and blasphemy to light. If the demons came from Satan, why would He cast them out? He said that “a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.” This kingdom would have to come to an end. Satan had no motive to do this. What is implies here is if Satan was not the one who cast out demons, then who did? Jesus came to bind Satan and plunder his kingdom.

Jesus then says that all matter of sins that men can be forgiven. Even the blasphemies they cat could be forgiven. But the one who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven ever but will be subject to eternal condemnation. So the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is the unforgivable sin. Jesus further elaborates that the cause of His reply was the the charge that Jesus had an unclean spirit. The gospels tell us that Jesus was filled with he Holy Spirit and did His works in the power of the Holy Spirit. The Scripture also tells us that Jesus performed the tasks the Father gave Him to do. So, their blasphemy went deeper than the blasphemy of Jesus’ person. We can see in the Old Testament that the works of the Holy Spirit were done by people who personally had moral failings such as Samson. Even Saul was accounted among the prophets. One can speak against their own failings. But the good works they did, they did in the power of the Spirit. They did not even accord this to Jesus. We know that their accusations against Jesus such that He was a glutton and a drunkard were false. These were blasphemies against Jesus. These were serious blasphemies in their own right as Jesus is God the Son. They are blasphemies against God also. But these blasphemies could be forgiven, for which we all are glad. It is only by God’s grace that we are enlightened to the true person of Jesus. Even Jesus own immediate family were ignorant about the person of Jesus despite the stories their mother, Mary told them about the miracle surrounding His birth. They may have even convinced Mary that her vision was delusional, although it is more likely they brought her with them to try to convince Jesus to come quietly. Perhaps Mary feared for the safety of her Son and wanted to protect Him. Mother Mary was flesh and blood just as we are. We don’t know of Mary’s motives, but she came along to beckon Jesus to come home with them. As bad as his brothers and sister’s behaved as they had not yet been converted, later James and Jude became leaders in the church. This is proof that blasphemies about Jesus can find forgiveness and should serve to encourage us.

We mentioned earlier that one of the two dangers this passage addresses is that of over-confidence. This is displayed in the behavior of the Scribes as well as the Pharisees. They believed in God’s choosing of Israel as his chosen people. He might chastise them and had in the past. But they were always the elect. The Pharisees and Scribes, most of who were also Pharisees believed in the resurrection and eternal life. They were chosen by God for this. In other words, they were the elect and called upon their election as proof that they were saved. Their works served as the badge of their election. We see some of this in the Reformed churches today. Because their salvation in Christ had been decreed from the foundation of the world, they were predestined to eternal life. However, what does Peter mean when he says “Make your calling and election sure?” This would be a meaningless statement unless their was some uncertainty about this. We can see how Jesus felt about the Jews understanding of election in John 8. They claimed to be the children of Abraham, but Jesus said rather that their father was actually the devil and that they were doing the works of the devil. These people were attributing the works of Satan to God which we have seen is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. I am not here to get into a controversy about election here, but it is clear these claimed. they were the elect but were not. Whether they ever were is another question to be discussed elsewhere. Let it be sufficient to say that Satan is well able to twist the doctrine of election even as he does the law of God to deceive people into a false sense of security.

The other error is under-confidence. One of the ways this is often expressed is also in Reformed circles where many have been tortured with the idea that they were elected to damnation. This is another dangerous twisting of the doctrine of election. As the word “confidence” means “full of faith,” we can see how dangerous this is. One has to be saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. This lack of confidence prevents one from apprehending the word of God. The Scripture clearly states that God is not willing that any single person perish, but rather that they might come to eternal life. No doctrine of predestination can be allowed to annul the clearly stated word of God. It is true that many will fail to believe and perish. But to say that God wills people to eternal condemnation can also lead to blasphemy. Some things are best left as mystery. We must proclaim the Gospel of Christ and call upon all people to believe. This means we must challenge the people who consider themselves the un-elect.

The problem of under-confidence is epidemic amongst those who call themselves Arminians. They place great emphasis upon their own decision to believe the gospel. God offers salvation to all in Christ, but it is up to us to believe it and accept it. The problem then becomes “How can we be sure that we really believe?” this is compounded by the corollary that if we can choose Christ, then we can un-choose Him. This means that we can lose our salvation. This places the onus of becoming a Christian as well as staying saved upon our own actions. This turns our faith into a work. There are many who have to continuously have to come to the altar to regain their salvation. They live their lives in a sense of an unsure assurance. They find it hard to grasp the words of Jesus that no one is able to pluck them out of His hand, no less the Father’s. These doubts tend to erode our faith with devastating consequences. Our assurance has to come from what God has said and what He has done in Christ and not ourselves. The devil would like to do nothing more than to get us to doubt our salvation. He would like us all to do what Job’s wife counseled Job: “Curse God and die!” We must realize that faith is a gift from God and doubt of God’s Word and works is a plague from Satan.

When we look at this unforgivable sin, we should learn to accredit the works of God to God and the works of the devil to the devil and not mix this up. God wants us to believe and build our faith. Satan wants us to doubt or worse yet bow to him. The devil is incapable of doing any good work. Even those which might appear to be good are really deceptions. His ultimate purpose is to utterly destroy us. He can even infect the church. Even Peter himself who had just been blessed for confessing Christ was strongly rebuked by Jesus when he tried to substitute the work of God that Jesus would be rejected and crucified in Jerusalem. Jesus said He tried to substitute the work of God with the ideas of men who were influenced by Satan. We must take cheer that Jesus did not eternally condemn Peter for this. How often have we been guilty of this! The world always wants to substitute their own works and ideas of salvation for the works of God. The idea of God, and therefore God, is blasphemed everywhere as evil who does evil. There are many Satanists to whom good works are attributed. This is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit in either case. For these, we can only hop that they did this in ignorance, for to knowingly attribute the works of God to Satan or the works of Satan to God is truly the unforgivable sin.

We should not be terrified about the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. But neither should we be cavalier about it either. Instead, God calls us to discern good from evil, attributing the good to God and the evil to Satan. No truly good work, even if it were done by the devil, is still a work from God, although it is impossible that Satan could actually do one. But evil people could be used by God to achieve His good purpose. Likewise, anyone who does a truly evil work is doing the work of Satan. God is incapable of doing evil, but even of a saint does an evil work, it is still of Satan. God calls us all to repent from evil and choose the good. So let us go forth this morning armed with the truth.