THE UNPARDONABLE SIN
By C. D. Cole
“Wherefore
I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but
the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And
whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him but
whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him,
neither in this world, neither in the world to come” (#Mt 12:31,32).
“Verily I
say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, 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:
Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit”(#Mr 3:28-30).
“And
whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him:
but unto him that blashphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be
forgiven”(#Lu 12:10).
The writer believes that the above Scriptures are all that can certainly
be applied to the question of the unpardonable sin. He does not believe that #Heb 6:4-8 10:26-31 have anything to say on the subject. They
do indeed sound a solemn warning against apostasy, but they give no help in
defining the unpardonable sin. As to #1Jo 5:16, we are not so sure. Dr. Broadus thought it
alludes to the unpardonable sin. Be that as it may, it throws no light on what
the unpardonable sin is.
The unpardonable sin is a much abused and sadly misunderstood subject.
It has, we fear, been used to frighten the unregenerate into the church,
thereby making them twofold more the children of wrath. Wrong views of the
matter have driven men to despair and, in some instances, into insanity.
A NECESSARY DISTINCTION
We
must distinguish between an unpardoned sin and the unpardonable sin. There are
many unpardoned sins, but only one unpardonable sin. All the sins of the
finally impenitent and unbelieving will be unpardoned, but there is one sin for
which there is no pardon. Murder may be an unpardoned sin, but it is not unpardonable.
Any and every sin is a damning sin if not repented of. Our Lord clearly
distinguished between the one sin that "hath never forgiveness," and
all other sins that shall be forgiven on the terms of repentance and faith.
1. -WHAT THE UNPARDONABLE SIN IS NOT
1a) It is
not any sin against men. Many are the sins men commit against one another, such
as murder, theft, false witness, malice and envy. But none of these is the sin
that will not be forgiven. Many have been guilty of these sins and through repentance
and faith have been forgiven.
1b) It is
not any sin against Jesus Christ. Many are the sins against the Son of Man,
such as denial of His deity and virgin birth, denial of His blood atonement,
ignoring His claims of Lordship; in short, rejecting Him as the Lord Jesus
Christ. These are sins of the deepest dye, but many who have been guilty of
them have repented and found forgiveness. If rejecting Jesus Christ as Saviour
and Lord is the unpardonable sin, then well nigh everybody would have committed
it. To be sure the man who rejects
Christ until his time runs out will be unforgiven—all sins are unpardoned—but
this does not mean that he committed the unpardonable sin. Our Saviour made it
clear that it is not any sin against Himself, but a particular sin against the
Holy Spirit.
1c) It is
not any sin against the decalogue or ten commandments. There is no sin covered
by the ten commandments for which there is no provision of pardon. Christ died
to redeem sinners from the curse of the law, therefore, there must be
forgiveness from every part of the curse.
1d) It is
not any sin against God the Father. "All manner of sin and blasphemy shall
be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be
forgiven unto men."
1e) It is
not every sin against the Holy Spirit. There are sins committed directly and
specifically against the Holy Spirit. He is grieved, resisted, quenched, and
ignored. Believers may and do grieve, quench and ignore the Spirit. Unbelievers
resist the Spirit in the objective ministry of His word. They resist Him by
rejecting the call of the gospel and by opposing and persecuting the preachers
of His word. The Holy Spirit is the
Author of the Bible. "Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears,
ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the
prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which
shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the
betrayers and murderers:" (#Ac 7:51,52), the only passage in the New Testament where
there is any mention of resisting the Spirit. To the Jews who stoned him to
death, Stephen said, "Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers
did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?" In
rejecting the preaching of Stephen, the Jews were behaving as their fathers had
towards the prophets, and Stephen called this resisting the Holy Spirit.
Unbelievers resist the outward ministry of the Spirit in the preaching of the word
until their resistance is overcome by the subjective work of the Spirit in the
effectual call. Dr. Broadus says that resisting the Spirit and blasphemy
against the Spirit "are quite different things."
2. -WHAT THE UNPARDONABLE SIN IS
2a) It is
expressly said to be blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. To blaspheme is to
speak injuriously against somebody. Blasphemy is an insulting or slanderous
remark about some one. Every blasphemy is not unpardonable; it is only the
blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. The Jews at Antioch spake against Paul and
his doctrine, "contradicting and blaspheming"
(#Ac 13:45). Paul, before his conversion, compelled the
saints to blaspheme: "And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and
compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I
persecuted them even unto strange cities" (#Ac 26:11). Paul tells the Jews that they caused the name of
God to be blasphemed among the Gentiles: "For the name of God is
blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written" (#Ro 2:24). And Paul himself was formerly a blasphemer:
"Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I
obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief"
(#1Ti 1:13). But none of these cases was blasphemy against
the Holy Spirit.
2b) The
Scriptures with which we began this article give us a clear and unmistakable
instance of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, and therefore, an example of the
unpardonable sin. The Pharisees blasphemed against the Spirit when they said, "He hath an unclean spirit." (#Mr 3:30). Matthew tells us that they attributed the
miraculous work of the Spirit in Christ to Beelzebub, the prince of demons. Of
course, they blasphemed our Lord too, in saying that He had an unclean spirit,
but that was not what made their sin unpardonable. They recognized the Holy
Spirit in the miracle, and slandered Him by calling Him an unclean spirit. And
in doing this, they were guilty of an eternal sin.
CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH THE SPIRIT IS
BLASPHEMED
1. There
must be an unmistakable work of the Spirit. Dr. Broadus thought the sin was
committed in connection with public miracles, and therefore, not committed in
our day. He says, in commenting on #Mt 12:31,32: "There is here no allusion to the peculiar
gracious office and work of the Spirit in calling, renewing, and sanctifying
the soul; it is the Spirit of God as giving power to work miracles."
2. There
must be knowledge that it is the work of the Spirit. Paul had blasphemed Jesus
of Nazareth, and yet obtained forgiveness, "Who was before a blasphemer,
and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it
ignorantly in unbelief" (#1Ti 1:13). Paul did not believe that Jesus spoke and
wrought miracles by the Spirit of God. He was ignorant of the Spirit working in
Jesus, sincerely believeing Jesus to be an impostor and possessed of an evil
spirit. But the Pharisees knew better; they knew the miracles had been
performed by the power of the Holy Spirit, and blasphemed against Him by
calling Him Beelzebub, an unclean spirit. It was not a case of mistaken
identity with them as it was with Saul of Tarsus. Thomas Goodwyn, one of the
Puritans, says that two things are necessary in committing the unpardonable
sin: "Light in the mind and malice in the heart." Anxiety or fear of
having been guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is in itself evidence
that one is not guilty of it. Those who are afraid they have committed the sin
may be assured they have not.
3. -WHY BLASPHEMY AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT IS
UNPARDONABLE?
3a) It is
not because the sin is too great for the blood of Christ to atone for. This
would limit the intrinsic value of His blood. We believe the death of Christ is
sufficient for the salvation of every accountable being, including the devil and
his angels, had it been designed for them.
3b) It is
not because the sin is too great for the grace of God to cope with. Where sin
abounds grace much more abounds. This is obvious when we consider some of the
cases God has pardoned. Take, for example, the case of Manasseh, the wicked son
of the godly Hezekiah, whose wicked career is recorded in #2Ch 33:2-10: "But did that which was evil in the sight of
the LORD, like unto the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD had cast out
before the children of Israel. For he
built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he
reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of
heaven, and served them. Also he built
altars in the house of the LORD, whereof the LORD had said, In Jerusalem shall
my name be for ever. And he built
altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the
LORD. And he caused his children to
pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times,
and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit,
and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him
to anger. And he set a carved image,
the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David
and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen
before all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever: Neither will I any more remove the foot of
Israel from out of the land which I have appointed for your fathers; so that
they will take heed to do all that I have commanded them, according to the
whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses. So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the LORD had
destroyed before the children of Israel.
And the LORD spake to Manasseh,
and to his people: but they would not hearken." Surely, if any man
could sin away the day of grace, Manasseh had done so. Surely, if the enormity
of offenses makes them unpardonable, those committed by this man must have been
such. Surely, if there are crimes too
much for the mercy of God to save from, it must have been those of which this
Satan-controlled King was guilty.
Surely, if there is a sinner too much for the Holy Spirit to cope with,
it was this wretch who provoked God so grievously. And yet the happy sequel is
the story of his conversion. Consider also the case of Saul of Tarsus,
denominated the chief of sinners, who, by the grace of God, became the greatest
exponent of the faith he once opposed. Truly, "Where sin abounded grace
did much more abound."
3c) The
unpardonableness of sin must be attributed to the sovereign will of God. And He
has sovereignly (I do not say arbitrarily) determined that there is one sin He
will not forgive. He could if it pleased Him to do so. We believe with Job that
"What His soul desireth, even that He doeth." There is one kind of sin for which there is
no provision of pardon. Therefore, there is one kind of sin for which Christ
made no atonement. There is one sin of which the Holy Spirit will not convict,
and from which He will not convert. There is one sin God will not pardon. The
Bible calls it blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, and we dare not call it by
any other name.
The Holy Spirit is thus highly honored in the divine economy. His
personality and deity may be denied by men and He may be contemptuously
referred to in the neuter gender as "it," but He is in truth a person
of high esteem in the Godhead.
"To
God the Spirit’s Name
Immortal
worship give,
Whose
new-creating power
Makes the
dead sinner live:
His work
completes the great design,
And fills
the soul with joy divine."