A friend asked me the other day to brainstorm with her about the unpardonable sin. I recall the different sermons I heard from different pastors about it, and it seems that there is a great deal of confusion and disagreement about it in the body of Christ. Furthermore, any time Satan can divide the church and bring us out of one accord he steals some of our victories. Satan has used this confusion on the topic for a long time to bring doubt to both the unbeliever and believer; that they have sinned beyond God's capability to forgive and there is no hope for salvation.
I don't know all the answers but I do know that the Word cannot contradict itself, we must rightly divide the word of God, we must meditate on the word, and pray for wisdom and revelation.
In Mathew 12 and Mark 3, Jesus was just brought a man that possessed a blind and dumb spirit. He cast this unclean spirit out and the Pharisees heard of it, they accused Jesus of using witchcraft and the power of Satan to cast out the demon. This ticked Jesus off and he tried to reason with them saying that how can you use the power of the devil to defeat the devil. This rebuke by Jesus is what instigated the teaching of what we call the unpardonable sin.
Jesus said (paraphrasing) , Listen, you can talk bad and lie about me and that's ok, but if you lie about and condemn the works of the Holy Spirit and call them works of the Devil, you will not be forgiven. In Mark, it goes a little bit differently and says that you are in danger of eternal damnation.
So how can it be that, over and over again, that God said that All of your sins are washed away if you believe, “and there is therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ”, ... How can the word contradict itself? Well it can't so we have to look at this much closer.
Here are some keys that might be important as I share my thoughts brainstorming this.
In rightly dividing the Word, we must look at the context (who it was being directed towards). This was being directed at the Pharisees, old covenant Jewish religious leaders, whom had hardened their heart toward Jesus. It wasn’t directed at the disciples. Let us meditate and consider this for a bit while we move on.
Let’s look at the translation … Mathew and Mark were translated a little bit differently. Mark talks about eternal damnation but Mathew doesn’t. Ok, let’s look at the Greek to see if there are some clues there. Mathew translates pretty clear, but let’s look at Luke. Did they really get two different revelations on this message and which is closer to accurate?
Mathew:
He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come .
Luke:
Verily I say (5719) unto you, All sins shall be forgiven (5701) unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme (5661) :
Amhn legw (5719) umin oti panta afeqhsetai (5701) toiv uioiv twn anqrwpwn, ta amarthmata kai ai blasfhmiai osa ean blasfhmhswsin; (5661)
But he that shall blaspheme (5661) against the Holy Ghost hath (5719) never forgiveness, but is (5748) in danger of eternal damnation:
ov d' an blasfhmhsh (5661) eiv to pneuma to agion ouk exei (5719) afesin eiv ton aiwna, alla enoxov estin (5748) aiwniou amarthmatov
I left the Greek translation attached to this because I want to bring out a point which I will touch on a little later.
KJV says, ‘is in danger of eternal damnation.’ Damnation was not in the original Greek text. The word for Damnation here is ‘Krisis’ and means separation, judgment, condemnation. The word used in the original Greek text is ‘amarthmatov’ which means sin. If you translate the original text it reads something like this … ‘But if someone speaks evil of or reviles the Spirit of the Most Holy, he will not receive forgiveness in this age, but will be bound to the evil deed forever.’
Now this reads a lot like Mathew. It doesn’t talk about eternal damnation.
We know that there has to be something that has been lost in the translation and or true intent of this message because of the following:
It cannot mean that anyone that assumes and accuses someone exhibiting a gift of the Holy Spirit as working with the devil is damned to hell, with out any hope. If that was the case, there would be a lot of pastors and congregations that would be walking on very thin ice when they say that the gifts of the Spirit are not for today, and that speaking in tongues is the manifestation of the devil (I have heard this preached).
We know this because the Apostle Paul, then Saul of Damascus, would have never received salvation. He personally did and gave authorization to have people killed for heresy. He accused and spoke evil of the Holy Spirit no differently than the Pharisees did and probably have evil in his heart while doing it. I am sure he was being egged on and influenced by Satan. Yet Paul did receive salvation, was baptized in the Holy Spirit, and proved this with signs and wonders following. Paul says that there is “No Condemnation To Those In Christ Jesus.”
So what’s the deal.
Did Jesus just favor Paul more than the Pharisees and possibly us? Peter says in Acts 10:34 that God is no respecter of persons.
Here is what I think, and this is just my opinion and what I have been able to discern up to this point. I am praying for wisdom and revelation on this. Not from Man, because every man has their own opinion, but from God. Looking on the internet, I have not found any that agree with me, nor have I heard anyone preach this, so I am alone in the desert on this one to some extent.
I believe that context is extremely important here. Jesus was speaking directly to these Pharisees. It says in Mathew 12 that when the Pharisees started accusing Jesus, that Jesus saw their heart and knew their thoughts. I believe he was addressing the church under the Mosaic Covenant (The Law). I believe that Jesus was saying that no sacrifice they can perform under the old covenant would clean them from the evil they were thinking and speaking; that this sin would be bound to them forever. This was a big deal for the Pharisees. They were very religious and knew what it meant for them if they were forever unclean. Telling them that Jesus wouldn’t forgive their sins and they wouldn’t receive salvation was not of any significance to them because they didn’t believe Jesus to be the Messiah anyways.
I don’t believe that there is a sin that is too bad for the blood of Christ to wash. Nowhere in the teachings of any of the disciples and apostles does, in the hundreds and hundreds of places referencing forgiveness, does it keep throwing out the unpardonable sin disclaimer. You won’t find … 1 John 2:12 I write to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name, OH YEAH, INCASE YOU LIED ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THEN YOU ARE NOT ONLY UNFORGIVEN, YOU ARE DAMNED. Or Colossians 1:13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins., UNLESS YOU MISTAKENLY ACCUSED SOMEONE MANIFESTING GODS POWER AS SUPERNATUREAL AND DEMONIC.
It says, He has Forgiven All our Sins, We are no longer condemned. We have been sanctified through His Blood if we believe. NO SMALL PRINT EXCLUSIONS.
Even though the King James translation in Mark is a little off, I think that somehow they may have captured the intent of the message. Jesus was saying that the sin of blaspheme against the Holy Spirit will be bound to you and that no sacrifices that you perform will make you clean. And that you will be held accountable for these words. And I think the part that KJV picked up is significant. And if you do not let your heart become sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit, you will never hear Him convicting you of the truth of the Gospel, and that you are in danger of missing the Messiah and missing the calling to receive salvation through Jesus Christ.
But thank God we have a redeemer in Jesus Christ that has forgiven All of our sins, he sits at the right hand the Father as an advocate for us, and that there is no sin that is too ugly for the blood of Christ to wash.
Romans 10:9-10
That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
I am sure this has stepped on peoples toes. As there are about as many opinions on this topic as there are denominations. If I did step on your toes, I encourage you to open up the word and meditate on the topic. Seek wisdom and revelation. Open your heart to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. He will bring to remembrance all things that Jesus said. You don’t have to rely on your pastor to spoon feed you every ounce of revelation. Dig in and pray that God will open your eyes and let you see things as never before; to make the Word come alive in your heart and burn with revelation and understanding.
