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This is a new feature of Truth Matters and will deal with many of those hard to understand passages which are common to us all. I will be the writer/contributor for this offering with the sole purpose of being a help to the body of Christ, the church.
I am a fan of western genre films/movies. John Wayne along with Randolph Scott, Joel McRae, Tom Selleck and Sam Elliot, Ben Johnson, and Clint Eastwood are the western actors I enjoy the most. There is one called Unforgiven (which I have only seen once on DVD because of the language). It is the story of a man who has led a sordid life and has tried years to put it behind him. It haunts him and, after a tragedy he falls back into the old way. In the end, he is haunted by old ghosts. Unable to forgive or be forgiven, he just fades away, never to be seen or heard from again.
This illustrates a verse I want to focus on, 1 John 5:16: “If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it” (KJV).
Sin is capable of infinite expansion. The preacher who speaks lightly of sin risks sending multitudes to a godless eternity. They say with Satan, “Ye shall not surely die” (Genesis 3:4).
“Unforgiven sin” is the worst of all fates. It brings pollution, condemnation, fear—and physical death brings no relief. Its only prospect is “the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:29).
For most sin, there is forgiveness available. However, there is a line which, if one steps across it, would seal his eternal destiny. It is sometimes called “the unpardonable sin.” The writer to the Hebrews also speaks of it as “wilful sin.”
“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame,” Heb. 6:4-6 (KJV). “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,” Heb. 10:26 (KJV).
Hermeneutics is the branch of theology that deals with the principles of Biblical exegesis. Contextual interpretation is vital here, answering the questions How, What, Why, When Where and Who. The writer is not addressing the Gentiles here. How can a Gentile crucify Jesus Christ again? The priests of the Temple were daily offering sacrifices for transgressions. They continued their practice after Calvary and the Resurrection. Jesus had put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. The writer also says in Heb. 10:11, “And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins” (KJV).
If God is pleased with Calvary, then what must be His displeasure with those who advocate and substitute another way? Thousands in Jerusalem were “treading under foot” by the act of despising, Christ’s shed blood. This action and attitude counted that blood as an unholy thing, as just the blood of another human being.
Tradition suggests that the Temple priests patched the torn veil which had been parted supernaturally and placed it back in service and the daily sacrifices of lambs, goats, pigeons and doves were resumed. This was the willful rejection of a nation that nation’s spiritual leaders. The Gentile was foreign to this Temple and priesthood. He was an alien and stranger from the commonwealth of the nation of Israel. He was foreign to the covenant and promise. He was without God and without hope in the world (Eph. 2:12). This charge could not be laid at the feet of the Gentile! He was guilty of crimes and transgressions to be sure, but the Gentile had not been to Calvary. He did not know about Calvary—but the Jewish priests did.
True believers can and do violate agreements with heaven. They presume and assume, many times to their sorrow and chastisement; there is no arguing with that. The unregenerate man lives in sin and loves it; the regenerated man might lapse into sin, but he loathes it. The word willful is key. It means voluntary.
Mark 3:29-30 records a singular incident: “But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness . . . , Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit” (KJV).
Jesus uses the negative never here. Never has a strong emphasis. It is eternal, and It is not just a sin against the Holy Spirit or grieving Him—it is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Resistance to the Holy Spirit is not blasphemy. Thousands have resisted the Holy Spirit and yet been converted. If prolonged sin, and repetitive sin is that unpardonable sin, all the lost have committed this transgression. If it were a degree of sin, no soul could ever know whether he had committed it or not, since that degree has never been revealed. Involuntary utterance under stress or delirium, since it is free of all moral intent or guilt is not blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. This sin is one single, isolated, peculiar/particular blasphemy which stands beyond repentance and pardon.
Jesus said in Matt. 12:27, “And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges” (KJV). Now, the Pharisees had said “This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils” (v. 24, KJV).
This was a malicious, unforgivable charge since it denied the evidence as well as the integrity of Jesus, the Son of God. Jesus states clearly in Mark 3:28-29, “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” (KJV). Verse 28 gives abundant pardon, but verse 29 gives the exception.
What was their blasphemy? It was irreverence, reviling, abusing. They attributed everything unclean to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit may prick your conscience, but never under any circumstance is He anything but holy—the third Person of the Godhead.
Satan has used this rare incident to his advantage. Bludgeoning people with this fear, he drives them to despair. The destroyer uses this as an instrument of terror.
This is the apex of sin. It is abuse that cannot be ignored or forgiven. It is blasphemy that degrades God’s holy nature and deity. It is the utmost in treason. It is an offense of enormous magnitude because it elevates man to deity while mocking His only begotten Son! It is in character with the deceiver. . How awful the power of the tongue, the fire it can kindle. The only transgression which has never forgiveness, the tongue can commit! It is different from what Jesus catalogs as “all sins” and “all blasphemies.” It is solitary, singular—it stands alone. It leaps from the lips and when it is uttered, that person is forever unforgiven.
Nothing is more clear in the Bible—the sin is in ascribing those miracles to the power of the devil which Christ wrought by the power of the Holy Ghost. The impious audacity of putting the holiness of His work to the account of the spirit of evil is what Jesus calls blaspheming the Holy Spirit.
The effect is instantaneous: Jesus closes the door. They are finished. Mark 3:29 reads, “But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation” (KJV).
The ASV says, “but is guilty of an eternal sin.” He who does such will never, for all eternity, be anything but a blasphemer. He has forged a chain which can never be broken.
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