The Unpardonable Sin

I’ve heard different ministers expound on what they feel the “Unpardonable sin” really is. Over the years I’ve heard sermons about the “Unpardonable Sin” as a person in anger curses god or the Holy Spirit. To me, that has made no sense. I am sure that many people have in anger either taken God’s name in vain and cursed Him or have said they hated Him. It is only my opinion, but if Judas Iscariot had asked Jesus to forgive him, he would have been forgiven.

Recently I heard a message that made more sense to me. The minister talked about the grammar, syntax, and the history of the Pharisees and Scribes. Who should know the Old Testament and the prophecies of the promised Messiah? The Pharisees studied and taught the words, while the Scribes did nothing but read and copy the texts day after day. Certainly they should be aware of the attestations bound up in the revelation of the Promised One. These religious elitists chose to ignore the prophecies of the Scripture and accused Jesus of using the power of Beelzebub to cast out demons and to do miracles.

According to the preacher the verb used, cast accusations at Jesus for each miracle. The Pharisees and Scribes rehearsed this among themselves, ignoring the Word of God, to which they held allegiance, making repeated accusations, rejecting the truth that they saw unfolding before them. They chose to ignore the prophecies of the Scripture and hardened their hearts to the truth. It became a religious sin.

Jesus answered the Scribes and Pharisees on three levels. The first was at a spiritual level, “How can Satan cast out Satan?” The Jesus asks, “And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.” He turns their accusations back at them. When he says, “All sins are forgiven and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.”

That sin is rejecting Jesus as the Messiah, rejecting the redemption offered, rebuffing the Holy Spirit, and dying without accepting Jesus as Savior. Once a person is dead, they cannot ask for forgiveness. They cannot accept the redemptive power of Christ’s blood. The sin unto death is refusing the gift of eternal life. This explanation of the “unpardonable sin” makes sense to me.

When a person’s conscience is pricked by the Holy Ghost, it’s proof that the sin unto death hasn’t occurred yet. Or if a person has accepted Christ as Savior, Satan will cause a person to question their salvation to limit that person’s effectiveness and testimony.