Chapter Five The Unforgivable Sin AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE SPIRIT OF MAN BEING BORN of the Holy Spirit, but yet not being the Spirit Himself has obviously been an integral and often reiterated part of this study. The reason it has been emphasized so often is that it aids in answering three specific questions: 1. How could the baptism of the Holy Spirit be a separate and distinct work beyond salvation? 2. How could a Christian ever fully renounce Christ if his reborn human spirit is actually the Holy Spirit [Deity]? (Deity can never be tarnished by sin.) 3. What occurred in the lives of the disciples in the upper room in John chapter 20? The unforgiveable sin may seem like an odd subject to interject at this point in the study. However, an examination of this often avoided theological subject might possibly provide another layer of understanding in regard to our three-part being and its correlation to the Spirit Himself. Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 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 (Matt. 12:31-32). It s dreadful to think there s a sin which our merciful and loving heavenly Father will not forgive in this age or the age to come! Jesus teaching concerning blasphemy of the Holy Spirit has been the subject of great debate throughout the centuries. To some Christians this subject is a matter of complete indifference. After all, why be concerned about it if we have a
genuine relationship with the Lord? Why make an attempt to understand something which appears to be so complicated and controversial? The real question is, can we understand this subject at least to some level that provides us with a modicum of satisfaction? When we consider the magnitude of Jesus statement, it would seem prudent to at least make an attempt. The way we begin is by searching for any parallel passages. We gather the evidence. After reading such a strong statement by Jesus, one might assume there s at least one other portion of Scripture which touches on the same subject. Consider the possibility of the following passage being a parallel text to Jesus statement. For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord. And again, The Lord will judge His people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb. 10:26-31). It s important to note that the writer of Hebrews 1 is addressing Christians. We can determine this based upon the following contextual usage of words and phrases. a) The writer uses the word we which is obviously an inclusive word. He s including his readers in the same group as himself (Christians). b) The instruction in this passage is aimed at those who sin willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth. This would indicate a postsalvation audience those who believe in the redemptive work of Christ. c) The phrase by which he was sanctified is another clear indication the writer is addressing Christians. 1 Hebrews does not name its author, and there is no unanimity of tradition concerning his identity. Some scholars point out certain internal evidences that may indicate a Pauline authorship, while others suggest that one of Paul s associates, such as Barnabas or Apollos, may have written the book [Hayford, Spirit-filled Life Study Bible, pg. 1870].
d) Lastly, examining these statements in context with the entire epistle also confirms it is written to Christians. The writer includes a comparison between an old covenant relationship with God and a believer s new covenant relationship with the Father through Christ (e.g. Moses law in contrast to the blood of Jesus). He uses this comparison to emphasize the seriousness of a believer turning his back on Christ after he has received Him into his life. The Christian s covenant is final. There was one sacrifice made for all which will never be duplicated. Though the new covenant is new and better, it also requires more responsibility on the part of a believer. To whom much is given, much will be required (Luke 12:48). The words insulted the Spirit of grace bear an unmistakable similarity to Jesus words blasphemy against the Spirit. This passage more than implies how a believer in Christ can willfully sin to the point where there no longer remains the possibility of repentance. Sinning willfully describes a Christian who continually (as an act of his will) sins without remorse. It describes an individual who chooses to practice lawlessness without contrition after they ve received the knowledge the truth (see Matt. 7:23 and Gal. 5:21). They revel in unrighteousness [lawlessness] while choosing to discard the inheritance of the saints which was bought and paid for with the blood of Christ. Conversely, this passage is not a depiction of a believer who sins, but afterward goes before God s throne of grace and repents (Heb. 4:16 and 1 John 1:9). A Christian who loves the Lord should never walk in fear of insulting the Spirit of grace. The Lord desires for us to be at peace with Him and walk in His grace, mercy, and forgiveness. For most Christians it s unthinkable that anyone who has experienced the salvation of the Lord would ever renounce Christ, reject the covenant, and utterly destroy themselves by choosing to practice lawlessness. Further on in Hebrews the writer gives us the following warning: Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking diligently lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears (Heb. 12:14-17). Once again we can see how a proper analysis reveals that the writer is addressing Christians. This passage also shows us a believer can fall short of the grace of God. Esau is used as an example. He typifies falling short
because he sells his birthright (the father s inheritance for the firstborn) in order to satisfy a temporary fleshly craving. Moreover, since this passage is addressing Christians, we must ask ourselves what is our birthright? Our birthright is the inheritance we have as saints. It describes everything Jesus bought and paid for; that which has been freely given to those who believe. Hebrews 12:14-17 also speaks of the detrimental effects of a root of bitterness. It can not only cause a believer to fall short, but also walk in such a way as to become a profane [godless] person. When Esau traded his birthright for a morsel of food, he was exposing his heart and his utter disdain for his inheritance. It was worth nothing more to him than one bowl of stew to satisfy a transitory fleshly desire. This is the most base exposure or example of dishonoring Christ when comparing what Esau accepted in exchange for his father s favor and possessions. The distain he displayed for his inheritance was so detestable that when he cried out in repentance no forgiveness was found. This passage is key in understanding the spiritual condition of one who would trade their salvation (their inheritance as a saint) for the works of the flesh. The Weight of Evidence Here are the parallels between Matthew 12:31-32, Hebrews 10:26-31, and Hebrews 12:14-17: 1. The parallel phrases are: blasphemy against the Spirit ; insulted the Spirit of grace ; and fall short of the grace of God. 2. The parallel end results are described as: will not be forgiven men ; there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins ; and he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance. 3. The parallel descriptions of a profane person and his actions are: trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing ; and lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. 4. The parallels concerning the eternal weight of the decisions made are described as: either in this age or in the age to come ; and The Lord will judge His people. 5. The parallels of context: (a) all three passages are written to Christians; (b) all three passages speak of blaspheming or insulting the Holy Spirit, as well as falling short of His grace; (c) all three passages speak of how there remains no more sacrifice for sins for the one who
has committed such a traitorous act; (d) all three express how this profane person counts the blood of the covenant as a common thing something easily tossed aside like a piece of garbage; (e) all three speak of eternal judgment. How can this happen? Can someone who receives Christ actually begin to practice lawlessness to the point where their heart becomes hard, their mind is deceived, and they would sell their birthright for a morsel food? Jesus gives us a glimpse into the judgment of such a one in Matthew chapter 7: Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness! (Matt. 7:21-23). Some would say those who are judged by Jesus in this passage were never born again. Nevertheless, we must consider how these individuals cast out demons and performed many wonders in His name. According to Scripture, a person cannot cast out a demon without knowing Christ and the authority the Lord has given to those who believe (Mark 16:16-17, Acts 19:13-16). Additionally, according to Scripture the gifts of the Spirit operate as the Holy Spirit wills (1 Cor. 12:11). Jesus never refuted their claims of doing miraculous works in His name, indicating at some point it had occurred. If, in fact, they were actually doing miracles, and there s no contextual reason to suggest otherwise, then they must have had at least a brief history of serving Christ. Matthew 7:23 shows us why they were rejected at the judgment of Christ. They were rejected because they practiced lawlessness. If their cries for mercy were sincere, and they were based upon doing works pleasing to God during a period of their lives, then it also means at some point they became apostate and began to practice lawlessness, which is a sign of an unrepentant heart driven by sin (1 John 3:4). What we practice is a choice. It is something to which we present ourselves as an act of our will. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now
ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 6:18-23). Lawlessness is easily defined as sin or uncleanness. In contrast, believers are told to present themselves to righteousness for holiness. Both the etymology and sematology of Romans 6:18-23 indicate how the giving of oneself to righteousness or lawlessness is a recurrent choice in the life of a Christian. God, through Christ, has set us free from sin. According to Romans chapter 6 we do not have to sin and therefore we cannot blame anyone else (even the devil). It is imperative we understand that to whomever we present our members, we become slaves of whether to lawlessness and sin, or to righteousness and holiness. What does this have to do with the spirit, soul, and body, or the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Now that we ve spent ample time laying out and examining the evidence, showing how God has made us a three-part being and how it is the sin-tarnished human spirit that is reborn within the salvation experience (via the power of the Holy Spirit), we can now understand the following: If a Christian becomes apostate to the point at which there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins (i.e. they cannot repent), their human spirit may once again become so laden with sin it would take another atoning work of the cross in order for them to be saved. If they insult/blaspheme the Holy Spirit in such a way, then there is no longer any forgiveness because God will not sacrifice His only Son again. The reason this can occur is because the reborn human spirit, though born of the Holy Spirit, is itself not the person of the Holy Spirit/Deity (e.g. the Spirit Himself that bears witness with our spirit ). It would be impossible for the person of the Holy Spirit to ever become tarnished by sin. However, it would not be impossible for the human spirit to become soiled again with sin if an individual willfully practiced lawlessness. This is evident within Paul s admonishment: May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. If it were not possible for the opposite to occur, then why even present the suggestion? What the Scholars Say As mentioned earlier, scholars have differed in their interpretations of
Jesus words every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. One prominent theologian wrote: The Pharisees slandered the Holy Spirit by knowledgeably attributing His work to the devil, thus committing the unpardonable sin. Their sin was not an act of impulse or ignorance, but the result of a continued and willful rejection of the truth concerning Jesus. It was a sin against spiritual knowledge, for they had ample evidence of the truth from the words and deeds of Jesus. In deliberately choosing to insult the Spirit, they forfeited His ministry in their lives and will not be forgiven. i This statement represents a common interpretation of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. It can also be expressed in a simplified manner: it pertains to those who reject Christ (i.e. unbelievers). There are several problems with this interpretation. 1. The Pharisees were already un-forgiven because they were of the world they were already unbelievers. If Nicodemus (who was a Pharisee) needed to be born again in order to see the kingdom of God, then obviously the same would apply to the others. Jesus said, He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:18). If unbelievers are already condemned, then why would Jesus tell a man who was already condemned that he was going to be condemned if he insulted something he didn t really believe in? 2. Jesus asked the question: Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch? (Luke 6:39). The Pharisees were already blind because they were sinners [unbelievers]. Again we see a redundancy in this line of reasoning which logically would invalidate the premise. 3. A third problem can be witnessed in the life of the apostle Paul. Before being born again, he would have fit within the mold of the Pharisees who slandered the Holy Spirit. (In reality, so do all non-believers.) By Paul s own admission, he was the quintessential Pharisee (Phil. 3:4-6). He blasphemed the Holy Spirit even to the point of attempting to exterminate those who believed in the redemptive work of Christ the regenerative work administered by the power of the Holy Spirit. Yet, Paul was saved, and thus forgiven. 4. The fourth problem was identified in the parallel passage, Hebrews
10:29, which lead us to a completely different interpretation than many of the scholars suggest. In reference to Hebrews 10:29 (i.e. insulting the Spirit of grace), Dr. William Evans interprets it in a similar traditional fashion: It is the work of the Spirit to present the atoning work of Christ to the sinner as the ground of his pardon. When the sinner refuses to believe or accept the testimony of the Spirit, he thereby insults the Spirit by esteeming the whole work of Christ as a deception and a lie, or accounts the death of Christ as the death of an ordinary or common man, and not as God s provision for the sinner. ii What Dr. Evans neglects to acknowledge is that the audience addressed in Hebrews 10:29 is believers (e.g. counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, v. 29). The passage in question would be meaningless to non-believers. Even the illustration of a profane person used in Hebrews 12:16 speaks of the Old Testament equivalent of one of God s people (Esau was Isaac s son and Abraham s grandson). Once again, in Hebrews 12:15-17 it is Christians who are told to look carefully so we do not fall short of the grace of God. It warns us against allowing any root of bitterness to spring up and cause trouble. Why would this apply to non-believers? Then, the writer of Hebrews goes on to explain: by this [i.e. a root of bitterness] many become defiled. So, we must ask who are the many referred to in the passage? Contextually, the answer is Christians. Then it goes on to speak of Esau. The writer is still relaying a warning to Christians of how they could actually become a profane person who, after insulting the spirit of grace, diligently seeks repentance with tears and doesn t find it (Heb. 12:15-17). Without question, the study of the unforgivable sin should increase our reverence and commitment to God. At the same time, those who fear God give very little thought to where that boundary lies. However, for those who trample the Son of God underfoot, and count the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified a common thing, there awaits a fearful expectation of judgment. The apostle Peter also spoke of a fearful expectation of judgment for those who renounce Christ. For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage. For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again
entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: A dog returns to his own vomit, and, a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire (2 Pet. 2:18-22). In this passage Peter is speaking to Christians as he refers to those who have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This seems to represent another proof text. Albeit, those who disagree might argue that once a name is written in the Lamb s Book of Life (Rev. 20:12) they are eternally secure and cannot renounce their belief in Christ. They would argue that passages such as this only speak of how unrighteous living will impact the rewards given at the judgment seat of Christ. One of the biblical texts used to support this idea is found in 1 Corinthians. If anyone s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire (1 Cor. 3:14-16). While so much could be written about individual rewards Christians will receive for the work they do in Christ, this should not be viewed as a parallel passage to the those we have already explored. The subject matter and context are dissimilar. Summary Salvation should never be viewed as something a Christian struggles to keep. Salvation is a rest it is not fear-based. We have not been given a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and sound mind (2 Tim. 1:7). We must also remember there s no condemnation to those who are in Christ and do not walk according to flesh (Rom. 8:1). A Christian s relationship and rightstanding with the Lord is something to be cherished and enjoyed. As long as that attitude remains, this knowledge concerning the unforgivable sin will be purely academic. Alternatively, there s an expressed condemnation, as well as a punishment for those who willfully reject Christ after having received the knowledge of the truth (Heb. 10:26-31). It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them (2 Pet. 2:21). Furthermore, it is not biblically
accurate to teach that a Christian s name cannot be taken out of the Book of Life. In his letter to the church at Sardis, Jesus warned believers (through the apostle John): He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels (Rev. 3:5). One of the questions which normally rises at some point in these discussions is where is the line we cannot cross? The answer is that no one knows, and God has not revealed it. Why? The Lord knows the tendencies of man s flesh, and it would certainly be unwise to reveal such a thing. Along those lines, apart from theological studies, is this subject really something a child of God should focus attention on? Once again, the purpose of studying this subject, within the larger study of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, is to understand more fully the dynamics of the born again human spirit versus the Holy Spirit. If our efforts to understand the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit lead us to the conclusion it is possible for a believer to renounce Christ by willfully practicing lawlessness to the extent where he finds no place for repentance, then we must also conclude it s the human spirit which becomes saturated with unrighteousness. It certainly cannot be the Holy Spirit/Deity because He is forever holy. This would be one more example of the distinction between the reborn human spirit and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, in this scenario, in order for one to become born again again, the writer of Hebrews asserts that God would have to give His only Son a second time which He will not do. i Spirit-filled Life Study Bible, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc., commentary by Dr. Jack Hayford, pg. 1427. ii The Great Doctrines of the Bible, William Evans, Moody Press, Chicago, Il., 1912, pg. 120.