Monday, March 17, 2008

Question of the Day

Matthew 12:30-32:

He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters. Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come

Mark 3:28-30:

Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"-- because they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit."

What is the "unforgivable sin"?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

John,

We are saved by God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.

God the Father by his grace.
God the Son by His Righteousness, death and blood, and life.
God the Holy Ghost by his illumination, his renovation, and his preservation. (Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress, Part II)

If we reject God the Father or God the Son, we can still be forgiven, because the Holy Spirit, working in us can lead us to the error of that rejection and can show us the true path and put us back on it.

However, if we reject the Holy Ghost and reject the workings of the Holy Spirit in our mind and heart that tells us we need the Grace of the Father and the Righteousness of the Son for our salvation, then one is surely doomed. They will never come to realization that they need saving in the first place if they miss the work of the Holy Ghost.

Thus, they will have blasphemed the Spirit and shall be damned. The Spirit shall have revealed to a man what is needed to be saved, but that man shall reject that revelation. God's grace and Christ's blood will cover all sin, no matter how bad. But if the Holy's Ghost's call is rejected those sins will never be covered and that grace will never be extended. That person will die a sinner and will be damned.

At least, that is what I think is meant by "unforgiveable sin."

John Meunier said...

Cat worship

Mark said...

In the original biblical context, blasphemy was attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to the work of demons. The Pharisees accused Jesus of doing his miracles through the power of the devil (Matt 12:22-32).

I think this is why we need to be very careful about throwing stones at preachers and teachers. We need to investigate before we indict, lest we reject the possible involvement of the Holy Spirit in someone else's work.

Dan Trabue said...

Littering.

Michael said...

Not bringing fried chicken to a pot luck.

JD said...

In all seriousness, Keith is correct. The big question that I have, and maybe someone more learned can answer this:

If at a time in my life I had accepted Christ's love and forgiveness and proclaimed my faith in Christ, then I choose not to listen to the Holy Spirit in my daily walk, by continuing, fully choosing, to live in sin that I know is egregious to God and the Holy Spirit, have I blasphemed the Spirit, or had I never really heeded it to begin with? What if later in life I come back to Christ and "re-dedicate" my life? If I have blasphemed the Spirit, am I know forgiven?

PAX
JD

Mark said...

I don't think blasphemy, at least in the biblical context, is rejecting God or failing to walk by the Spirit. These sins can be forgiven because one can turn to God after a lifetime of rejection or repent to walk again in the Spirit.

Blasphemy literally means "to slander." When the Pharisees accused Jesus of doing miracles by the power of Satan, they were committing blasphemy because they hard-heartedly assumed that he was an agent of the devil when, in fact, he was the Son of God.

Keith H. McIlwain said...

I believe that the unforgivable sin is rejecting God's offer of saving grace. The Spirit speaks to us all (prevenient grace!) about this saving grace, and to many (most?) about Jesus. To reject God's plan of salvation through Christ, as communicated through the Spirit, is the unforgiveable sin.

Now, what does this say about those who never hear about Jesus? I think God will judge fairly, but I don't want to get too far into all that.

JD said...

Mark said:

"I don't think blasphemy, at least in the biblical context, is rejecting God or failing to walk by the Spirit. These sins can be forgiven because one can turn to God after a lifetime of rejection or repent to walk again in the Spirit."

So what does it say about those that know God, but choose to disavow Him or sin knowing what they are doing is wrong, don't repent, because they are taught the concept of "once saved always saved?" Are these people blaspheming the Spirit of God? If they do not think they are wrong and believe the do not have to ask forgiveness, and don't, what have they done?

My wife speaks about it this way. One can become a Christian, but we still sin regularly, mainly because most Christians don't total give of themselves to the Spirit, as Paul talks about. They are Christians living in the flesh. As we grow in our Christian walk, and become less afraid of giving complete control to Christ, we begin to live in the Spirit, having a repentant heart, always searching for the presence of God in their lives. That is a normal process. My question stems from the idea that some accept Christ, for whatever reason, and then blatantly live in sin believing all will be good in the end. I struggle with that.

PAX
JD