What is the unforgivable sin?
The phrase people usually reach for is "the unpardonable sin," and it comes from a scene where Jesus had just healed a man and the religious leaders said His power came from the devil. The commentators are agreed on what the sin was, less agreed on whether anyone can commit it now — and nearly all of them write with one eye on the anxious reader who fears he already has.
The sin named in its setting
Scripture does not leave the sin undefined; Mark supplies the reason for the Lord's warning in Mark 3:30, "for they were saying, 'He has an unclean spirit.'" One writer traces the whole scene to show what those words meant.
Edward DennettThe people were deeply impressed with this display of divine power and mercy, and saw in it evidence that He was the Messiah... But the enemies of Christ — the Pharisees — made it an occasion to show their hatred, and with the miracle in front of their eyes, indeed admitting it, they credited the power they had seen to the devil... The sin spoken of, then, is the deliberate crediting to Satan of power worked by the Holy Spirit, and so blaspheming the Holy Spirit by calling His works devilish.
Blasphemy against, not sin against
Much of the fear around this subject comes from a phrase that people use but the Bible does not.
The Bible TreasuryOur Lord most solemnly pronounces their doom, and shows that they were guilty — not of sin, as men say, but of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. There is no such phrase as sin against Him in this sense. People often speak this way, Scripture never... How many have groaned in terror through fear of being guilty of sin against the Holy Spirit! That phrase allows vague ideas and general reasoning about what it might be. But our Lord spoke definitely of blasphemous unforgivable sin against Him.
The same distinction is drawn elsewhere by pointing to Ananias in Acts 5, who lied to the Spirit: that was sin against Him, and it was not this.
Other AuthorsThis awful sin is not what is spoken of as sin against the Holy Spirit, as in Acts 5:3; it is more; it is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, and is defined in Mark 3:30: "They said, He has an unclean spirit."
Why no forgiveness
The reason given is not that God's mercy runs out, but that this attitude of soul has closed the only door mercy uses.
William KellyIt means crediting to Satan that power of God which the Holy Spirit exercised then and afterward; and it speaks of deep and settled hatred of God. Souls that give themselves up to such malice against the worker of all good are beyond pardon. Forgiveness is for those who repent and believe the gospel.
A word against the Son of Man
The Lord drew a line between speaking against Himself and speaking against the Spirit, and one writer points to a man whose life proves how wide the forgivable side of that line is.
William Kelly"And whoever shall say a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but to him that speaks injuriously against the Holy Spirit it shall not be forgiven." This has been proved. Who spoke more against Him than Saul of Tarsus? Who was a more blessed proof and witness of forgiveness than he was?
Can it be committed now?
Here commentators differ. Some hold that the sin belonged to a particular moment and cannot be repeated.
Samuel RidoutBut you will notice that this particular form of blasphemy was necessarily limited to the time when our Lord was on earth. His works had to be seen, His power over Satan clearly shown in the miracle, before this height of wickedness and hatred could find expression.
Others leave the question more open, and press the warning on the conscience of the present reader.
Leslie M. GrantThe question has been raised whether this sin can be committed today, since Christ is not here doing His great works of power. But if someone today would dare to take up the same attitude toward the works of the Lord, despising God's clear witness, is he not inviting the same judgment warned of here?
For the troubled conscience
Writers repeatedly note that the people most frightened by this passage are the very ones furthest from it. One gives a simple test of what such a person would actually be like.
Other AuthorsIf you held a thought like this, you would never hear the name of Jesus mentioned without a shudder. You would avoid, as you would avoid a place of disease, every place where He is worshipped and praised. You would not let your children own a Bible or listen to a Christian preacher. You would not even care to touch the hand of a believer in Christ.
Summary
- Defined — The sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit: calling the Spirit's visible work in Christ the work of an unclean spirit.
- Distinguished — Scripture never speaks of a vague "sin against the Holy Spirit" that dooms a person; it speaks of blasphemy, and keeping that word in view spares souls needless terror.
- Deliberate — It was not ignorance but settled hatred; men admitted the miracle and still credited it to Satan.
- Debated — Some hold the sin was tied to Christ's visible miracles and cannot be committed now; others warn that the same contempt for God's witness invites the same judgment.
- Door open — Forgiveness is for those who repent and believe; Saul of Tarsus spoke against the Son of Man and was forgiven, and fear of having committed this sin is itself evidence you have not.