The Unpardonable Sin

  

 

In my 20+ years of ministry and serious bible study, I’ve noticed that there are a lot of verses and passages that people tend to take out of context or just plain get wrong.  I think that most of these mistakes come down to people just not wanting to take the time to actually study the Bible, they would rather just listen to what their pastor or Sunday school teacher says, or they read commentaries or books by people that also would rather not do any kind of serious Bible study.  

 

When I was in seminary, I had a very well-known Pastor and Bible teacher for one of my professors.  I won’t share his name, but He was teaching some very unbiblical things.  One of the things he teaches is that repentance isn’t necessary for salvation.  This is dangerously close to a heresy.  Repentance isn’t only necessary, its required.  Obviously, most people won’t have a perfect repentance, that’s very rare.  Sanctification is a lifelong process.   But you cannot come to Jesus and ask for forgiveness and eternal life if you have no intention of repenting of your sins. You cannot repent without Him, but you must come to Him willing to repent.

 

I think a lot of people simply want to force the Bible to fit into their little box of trendy, popular beliefs.  And this is a huge problem.  This is why we have so many churches and individual Christians that support abominations like homosexuality, transgenderism, abortion, and a myriad of other things that God clearly hates, and the Bible clearly speaks against.  People today have a certain worldview that they entertain and if scripture doesn’t agree with what they believe then they simply change the meaning or ignore those verses that disagree with their views.

 

This is one example:  The Unpardonable sin.  There is so much debate about this, almost as much as Predestination, which is also true by the way.

 

 

Mathew 12:22-32

 

^{Jesus had just finished chastising the Pharisees for their rebuke of Him healing people on the Sabbath.  Now they were about to cross a deadly line.}

²² Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. ²³ And all the multitudes were amazed and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”

²⁴ Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”

Now, I’ve heard many preachers and teachers say that the Pharisees were accusing Jesus of being demon possessed, or possessed by Satan, but clearly that’s not what they said. They said that He was casting out demons by the power of Satan.

Let’s move on.  I want you to pay close attention here.

²⁵ But Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. ²⁶ If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? ²⁷ And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they shall be your judges. ²⁸ But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. ²⁹ Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. ³⁰ He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.

Here He’s exposing the Pharisees ultimate agenda.  They are jealous of Him.  The Pharisees were proud and wealthy, and they enjoyed the high social status that their positions offered, and Jesus was trying to take all that away from them and they were jealous.  They wanted to destroy Him so they could keep all His glory for themselves.

Now pay close attention here because Jesus clearly explains what the unpardonable sin is.  People want to say that you cannot commit the unpardonable sin now because it could only be committed while Jesus was alive, not so.  I believe it can still be committed simply based on what Jesus says…

See, I don’t just read the Bible, I study it.  I don’t just blindly accept everything a preacher or Bible teacher says. I look for myself.   I look at the original Greek and Hebrew, I pray through it, I never read between the lines, or try to add or take away from what the scriptures clearly say.  I encourage everyone to do this because this is why God gave us His written word in our own language.  It’s not meant to be confusing if you simply read it and take it at face value.

The Unpardonable Sin

³¹ “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. ³² Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.

OK. A lot of people are saying that the Pharisees were accusing Jesus of being possessed by Satan and that is the unpardonable sin.  Well, that would be blasphemy against Him and He clearly says that any blasphemy against Him would be forgiven. No, they were accusing Him of casting out demons by the power of Satan and Jesus said that He was casting out demons by the Holy Spirit.  So, what the Pharisees were doing was contributing the work of the Holy Spirit to the Devil, that is the unpardonable sin.  He went on to say that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit would not be forgiven in this age or the one to come.  

That sin would not be forgiven under the old covenant or the new covenant.  It would not be forgiven while He was on earth or after He died and rose again and ascended into Heaven, It will not ever be forgiven. Period.

This particular sin can still be committed.  This is why I’m so hard on KJV only people. I personally know people who have committed this sin.  I know preachers who stand in the pulpit and blaspheme the Holy Spirit over and over again nearly every Sunday.

Listen, if you like the KJV bible and you prefer using it, fine, there’s nothing wrong with it.  But when you publicly claim that it’s the only real bible and the only one anyone should us, you are coming dangerously close to blaspheming the Holy Spirit and I’m warning you to stop before you cross a line that you can’t come back from. 

When you start claiming that all bibles other than the KJV are of the devil, then you have crossed the line and committed the unpardonable sin.  No if’s, ands, or buts. I’m not going to go so far as to say that you will go to Hell for this because Jesus doesn’t say that, and I would never try to put words in the Lord’s mouth.  In Mark 3 He does say that people who commit this sin are in danger of eternal damnation, but He never comes right out and says you will go to Hell for it.  But He does say that this sin will never be forgiven.  That much is clear.

Now, I’m not saying that all the modern versions of the Bible are good, some of them are not good, some are pretty bad, but I don’t have the nerve it takes to trash any version of the Bible and I never promote one version over another, have too much respect for the Holy Spirit and too much fear of God to ever say anything like that.  It’s dangerous.

Now, you can believe whatever you want to believe, I’m going with what the Lord said because He is much smarter than you or me.  But you need to think long and hard before you open your mouth and share your opinions about Bible translations with others because you are treading on some very thin ice.