Unforgivable Sin

[John 8:32]

Hi John,

Could I get forgiveness for my sin? Is this still forgivable?

Yes!

Let's put some scripture to it...

Isa 1:16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
Isa 1:17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
Isa 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Isa 1:19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:

Notice verse 16, repentance (the desire and action of not sinning, but of doing right) is the first step.

Also, one must believe on Christ...

Act 10:42 And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead.
Act 10:43 To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.

This verse sums up the process...

Act 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

All manner of sin can be forgiven except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Now a one time mistake is not an attitude and way of life. One who is willing to repent and trust God WILL be forgiven...

Heb 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Heb 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Don't be afraid, go boldly to God and ask. Christ's primary job for the last almost 2000 years has been to provide forgiveness...

Heb 7:25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

He sits at the right hand of the Father and intercedes for us when we falter, when we fail, when we sin. He is our advocate...

1Jn 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
1Jn 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

This scripture gets repeated so often it sometimes loses it's effectiveness, but read it carefully...

Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Now not only the world, but us individually. If I had been the only one who ever sinned, Christ would have died for me so that I can have eternal life. Same goes for you.

Rom 5:6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Rom 5:7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Rom 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
Rom 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

Go directly to God in a humble, repentant attitude and He will forgive you.

 

[rick77]

I feel I have offended the lord beyond forgiveness because I have attempted to speak in tongues but I did so in fleshly tongues not in real. I know there is a true gift of tongues and baptism of the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues, but I got mislead by an internet article that said , how to speak in tongues that told that by faith receive the gift and to start talking . open your mouth and move the lips,,,, which is incorrect, The fear inside me is eating me away . Can this be forgiven?

We don't turn our backs to our children cause they do dumb stuff...Our heavenly Father has one great sense of humor... just look around Spoken by one who grew up in Pentecost.. those teaching such shouldn't be, but those seeking the Lord and or His gifts... He looks on the heart

[MENTION=47381]reba[/MENTION] thanks for your posting, I want to add something that also happened, I saw a beautiful white dove flying in front of me, also I suffer from OCD, anxiety, depression and insomnia, please I ask prayers, I don't know what is going on on me. That scared me still.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

Jethro Bodine do you believe in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues?

Yes.

Without going into detail, I have no excuse whatsoever to not believe in it. And it's not because I speak in tongues, 'cause I don't.

So the unforgivable sin has nothing to do with speaking in tongues in the flesh?

Nothing. Nothing at all.



God testifies to the world through the ministry of the Holy Spirit:

"6...it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 9 We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son." (1 John 5:6-10 NIV)

You see, what the Pharisees did was 'hear' the unmistakable testimony of the Holy Spirit about Jesus via the signs and wonders Jesus was doing and the things he was teaching (Hebrews 2:3-4 NIV), in effect calling the Holy Spirit a liar and a deceiver--an unholy thing. That's blasphemy.

Jesus is saying there is no forgiveness available for the person who knowingly and willfully rejects the message of forgiveness delivered by the Holy Spirit. What they knew to be of God (God does not speak with a speech impediment) was rejected, and attacked as having come from the devil.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

Blasphemy of the Spirit is rejecting the testimony of the Holy Spirit that goes out into the world to convict people regarding the gospel. That testimony goes forth in spoken words, or signs and miracles. The Pharisees saw the testimony of God about Christ in the miracles he was doing but rejected that testimony. There is no forgiveness available for someone who rejects the testimony God gives about the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ.

I don't understand. What about an atheist that rejects the testimony. No forgiveness for an atheist? Say the atheist rejects the testimony, but a few years later he's ready to give his life to Christ. Will Christ forgive him?

He can repent up to and until God turns him over to his unbelief.

 

[littlecloudsong]

Blasphemy of the Spirit is rejecting the testimony of the Holy Spirit that goes out into the world to convict people regarding the gospel. That testimony goes forth in spoken words, or signs and miracles. The Pharisees saw the testimony of God about Christ in the miracles he was doing but rejected that testimony. There is no forgiveness available for someone who rejects the testimony God gives about the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ

I basically agree, but I agree with what has been said above, with your definition it sounds like it would be impossible for any atheist to come to faith, and there's one talking to you now who did :nod. I don't think that was what you had in mind, though. I think that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit can concern seeing something that can only possibly be a work of the Holy Spirit, and understanding it as such - and then, whilst accepting that the Holy Spirit exists, reviling him as evil. My ESV Study Bible says something along the lines about actively and deliberately calling the gospel Satanic and repeatedly resisting the work of the Holy Spirit.

The ESV definition is far more extensive in its reach than my own opinion, and I'd much sooner give authority to it, than to myself. But I can imagine how a scenario such as the one that Jesus faced with the scribes might surface today. If someone healed somebody by the Holy Spirit, and another Christian, knowing full well that it was the Holy Spirit, went and cursed the Holy Spirit, then I think that they would have committed that sin. I imagine it could happen in a controversial area like same-sex attraction. There's something to chew on, in any case...

 

[Jethro Bodine]

I agree with what has been said above, with your definition it sounds like it would be impossible for any atheist to come to faith, and there's one talking to you now who did :nod.

And praise God for it!

As I said to urk, the atheist can repent up to and until God turns him over to his unbelief.

Calling the Holy Spirit a liar and the worker of satan's deceits for the purpose of rejecting the gospel is a sin you can not die in. There are sins you can die in...sins that don't lead to death. Blasphemy of the Spirit, as you have articulated it, is not one of those.

And I agree with your example...as long as the rejection of the power of God is for the purpose of rejecting the gospel outright and wanting to live in willful sin instead.

 

[littlecloudsong]

Hi Jethro,

Thanks for the encouragement! I'm sorry I edited my post after you quoted - so I put the quoted bit back again .
I was just wondering - do you have a Scripture verse that affirms what you're saying about calling the Holy Spirit a worker of Satan's deceits not being a sin you can die in? Or anything from a commentary or a pastor on this?

Not trying to be pedantic - just wanted to make sure!

 

[Jethro Bodine]

I was just wondering - do you have a Scripture verse that affirms what you're saying about calling the Holy Spirit a worker of Satan's deceits not being a sin you can die in? Or anything from a commentary or a pastor on this?

Not trying to be pedantic - just wanted to make sure!

It comes from 1 John 5.

"6...it is the Spirit who testifies...

9 ...God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony (the Holy Spirit's testimony). Whoever does not believe God has made him (the Holy Spirit) out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given (through the Holy Spirit) about his Son. 11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life."

[...]

16 If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death." (1 John 5:6-12, 16-17 NIV)

When a person does not accept what the Spirit is testifying to (that Jesus is the Christ) they are in effect calling the HOLY Spirit a liar...a deceiver...something profane, something unholy...IOW, they are blaspheming that which is Holy...the HOLY Spirit of God, the Spirit of Truth. And anyone who does that, John says they do NOT have life in them. They do not belong to Christ. To have Christ you have to accept the testimony about Christ that the Holy Spirit gives about Christ, whether that be through spoken words or through the evidence of the working of miracles, and signs and wonders.

I was careful before to say that when the rejection of the Holy Spirit is for the purpose of rejecting the gospel of Christ, and you know without a doubt what is being communicated, that is when attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to that of a liar and a deceiver, an agent of satan doing the lying work that satan does, becomes the sin unto death. I don't believe for a minute the sincere, Christ seeking person, before or after salvation, who has a hard time knowing if miracles really are genuine or not is committing the sin unto death, that is, calling the genuine work of the Spirit the lying deceiving work of the enemy. See the difference?

 

[Guest]

There are sins you can die in...sins that don't lead to death.

Like what.

 

[Jethro Bodine]

There are sins you can die in...sins that don't lead to death.

Like what.

Any sin that still lies between the place you are in Christ now, and perfection in Christ. That sin is covered by the blood of Christ while you are still in the process of overcoming it.

For example, I struggled with fits of rage for years in my walk with Christ. All through the struggle I was covered by the blood of Christ. If I had died before I got to the place I am now (I say that with all humility), still ensnared in that cycle of rage, I would not have been condemned by that sin.

 

[reba]

Nicely said Jethro

 

[littlecloudsong]

When a person does not accept what the Spirit is testifying to (that Jesus is the Christ) they are in effect calling the HOLY Spirit a liar

I agree to the extent that it's blasphemy when the Spirit's work is considered Satanic or demonic - but not when it is simply not accepted by someone whose spiritual eyes have not been opened. The Spirit testifies that Jesus is the Christ in Scripture, and I was exposed to Scripture and didn't accept it on the first reading; ergo, that can't be an example of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit otherwise I wouldn't believe. I don't think the passage you've chosen maps onto blasphemy against the Holy Spirit well.

I don't want to be argumentative, but I would like to explain. John is talking to people who are already members of the Church, and he is talking about a specific issue in the Church in this letter. The overarching issue written about in the book is that there are people entering the church and teaching doctrines that are not from God - my Explore study notes confirm as much. In John 5, the dichotomy that John seems to be talking about is the testimony of God versus the testimony of men. Where they conflict, the testimony of God always trumps the testimony of men, says John. Those who do not believe God (but believe men instead when they contradict God), call God a liar. That's the situation that John is describing.

Now, given this contextualized understanding of the passage, I would apply that passage to similar cases: where people accept church doctrine as true when they know that it contradicts the Holy Spirit's testimony, they are implicitly calling God a liar. But I wouldn't extend application further than that. What I mean is that those who haven't had their spiritual eyes opened to know the Holy Spirit or what his particular testimony is in the first place, do not fall under John's indictment. Moreover, you can recite the gospel off by heart, but until your heart is unhardened, you see without seeing and you hear without hearing. I know people who have been brought up sitting in a church pew and have rejected the gospel until much later in their lives. Their behaviour is a symptom of their condition: they are spiritually blind, and John wasn't primarily talking to spiritually blind people; he he was talking to believers. Nor do I think the passage applies to people who have doubts whether what they thought was the Holy Spirit speaking or acting was actually him, or was really something else (we're told to test the spirits; we can get this wrong and still be saved). This 'calling God a liar' is in the context of choosing manmade doctrines over the Holy Spirit's testimony, when we know in our hearts that the Holy Spirit alone has authority.