If I’m being honest, most of my emotional breakdowns have stemmed from broken theology. Before we can venture to uncover what God has to say about the specific fear of disqualifying oneself from salvation, we need to break down what’s causing the break downs. All lies are based on a thread of truth.
The enemy used the Bible to tempt Jesus (Matthew 4). Was Psalm 91 a lie just because Satan used it out of context? Of course not! In fact, out of all the psalms, Psalm 91 is actually a pivotal stronghold of spiritual warfare against Satan. It’s actually the psalm that my husband and I prayed over our home when we faced a distinct and direct spiritual attack shortly after our marriage.
Satan quoted verse 11-12, which says, “For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.”
But the very next verse says, “You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot” (Psalm 91:13).
And who is the roaring lion lurking for his prey or that serpent from of old? Yup, I think Satan is scared of Psalm 91 and so he wanted it to mean something it was never intended to mean. If he could use Psalm 91 to get Jesus to sin, he may not have had to dread it so much. But in fact, Jesus resisted the temptation, knowing exactly what the heart of Psalm 91 truly was.
Is the idea that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven a lie? Of course not! Jesus never lies! He meant what He said and it really is true that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven.
Satan does lie though, and it’s not beneath him to twist truths such as this teaching of Christ and attempt to wreak havoc on the heart and nerve of a child of God.
So let’s lay out our terms. I was listening to a Charlie Kirk debate this evening and the first thing he would do with an opponent was to define the terms of the debate. “What do we agree this word means?” Or “what is the intent of such and such a phrase?” And that’s exactly what needs to happen at the onset of a book like this. Let’s go over terminology and Scripture so we’re clear on our premise.
So what exactly is the “Unpardonable Sin”? Firstly, that exact term does not actually show up in Scripture. Jesus said in Matthew 12:31-32 that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit would never be forgiven - and I will never deny that truth. I just want to clarify that the exact words “unpardonable sin” aren’t actually a direct quote. (This will be important later.)
The basic idea of the “Unpardonable Sin” or “Unforgivable Sin” as I’ve also heard it put, is this: if someone does indeed commit that sin, that person will not be forgiven.
This is significant, because if your sin is not forgiven, you will not be a redeemed child of God. In this case, you are not going to Heaven. In this case, you are not a Christian. In this case, you are going to Hell. In this case, you are done for.
And as has been already confessed, it’s a terrifying prospect. Many a tortured mind has longed for God and yet felt hopeless. But that’s not where you or I or anyone else needs to be stuck, because the fact is, if you desire God, you can always call on Jesus’ name and be forgiven. That’s the part a lot of us miss. And this book is an attempt to help explain that there is no disparity between this paragraph and one above it.
If the term “Unpardonable Sin” is not actually a direct quote of Scripture, then why do we even use it? The church has used it for so many years; it’s kind of an orthodox way to mention the idea. I, for one, don’t see a problem with orthodox terminology. I think there would be a lot less heresy in the world if orthodoxy was a word in the average believer’s good books. We are standing on the shoulders of theological giants, humble folks who took the Bible to mean what it says, and some of their phrases have just stuck - and that’s a good thing.
That being said, I’m still not a huge fan of the term “unpardonable” just because in the mind of a ten-year-old (aka younger me) it sounds like when Jesus died, He died for the sins of the whole world - except that one - because it made God so mad that He was like, “I won’t lay that one on Jesus - just all the other ones”. That’s the heresy I believed as a kid - and it tore my little heart to shreds.
Is it just semantics to differentiate between the phrases “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven” and "blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the unpardonable sin”? Maybe. But to me, it made a big difference. Just to clarify, I’m not setting out to knock orthodoxy in any way, shape, or form. In fact, there will be a lot more old quotes in here than new ones. Nobody should ever try to reinvent the wheel. If anybody comes up to you saying, “I’ve got this great new idea about theology”, you may as well write it off as heresy. That’s not at all what this book is going to be.
All I’d like to do within this book is to remind people of old truth treasures and piece them together in such a way as the troubled sinner can be emboldened to rest in the loving arms of Jesus through nothing but the truth of God’s Word, the Bible.
So what does the Bible actually say about this issue? My husband and I are reading through Matthew, and just the other day, we read through one account of Jesus’ teaching on the matter. And I must say that even to this day, that passage still shakes me. I still have a troubled day after reading it. I still consciously trust in Jesus for my salvation in the face of doubt. And the fear doesn’t last. The Holy Spirit reassures me (literally assures me again) and God’s patience leads me to repentance. If you struggle with that same fear, I’m not sure if you’re encouraged or discouraged by my confession. I guess the takeaway is that you might never be free from temptation to fear, but each time your fear is overcome by the grace of God, your faith will grow.
Here’s what my husband and I read in Matthew last week:
“Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come” (Matthew 12:22-32).
So that’s the center of a lot of fear, a lot of questions, a lot of controversy. What is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? I am not going to try to answer that question. I’m not that wise and I’ve wrestled with that question for thirteen years and still have no definite answer.
Here’s what a few wise people have have surmised:
Billy Graham puts it this way:
“Many Christians have heard that there is an unpardonable sin and live in dread that something grave they have done before or after conversion might be that sin.
Their fears are unfounded. While there is an unforgivable sin, it is not one that a true believer in Jesus Christ can commit. The one sin which God cannot forgive is mentioned in Mark 3:28-30 and Matthew 12:31-32. Jesus had been performing miracles, including driving demons out of people by the power of the Holy Spirit. Instead of recognizing the source of Jesus’ power and accepting Him as God’s Son, the religious leaders accused Him of being possessed by the devil and driving demons out in the power of the devil.
Jesus responded by saying, “I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.”
The sin of the religious leaders, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, was a refusal to accept the witness of the Holy Spirit to who Jesus was and what He had come to do, and then submit their lives to Him. Jesus said concerning the Holy Spirit, “When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment” (John 16:8). They chose rather to reject the Spirit’s witness to their sin and to Jesus, and accused Him of being demon possessed!
The point for us is that if we have received Jesus as our Savior and Lord, we have not blasphemed the Holy Spirit; we have accepted His witness. One study Bible explains it as follows: “To commit this sin one must consciously, persistently, deliberately, and maliciously reject the testimony of the Spirit to the deity and saving power of the Lord Jesus.” If a person keeps doing that until death, there is no hope of forgiveness and eternal life in heaven.
Once again, the unpardonable sin is not some particularly grievous sin committed by a Christian before or after accepting Christ, nor is it thinking or saying something terrible about the Holy Spirit. Rather, it is deliberately resisting the Holy Spirit’s witness and invitation to turn to Jesus until death ends all opportunity.
In order to experience God’s peace, we must come to Him, trusting His promises. Isaiah 1:18 says, “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” In 1 John 1:9 we read: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Jesus Himself assures us, “Whoever comes to me I will never drive away” (John 6:37). Our God is a compassionate and merciful God. He desires that no one should be lost, but that all should come to salvation through repentance and personal faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord (2 Peter 3:9; Acts 2:21).”
Here’s another take on the situation from Bible teacher, John Piper:
“What is the unforgivable sin?
Jesus said that all sins against the Son of Man will be forgiven but that sin against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven (Matthew 12:32). So what is it? What is this unforgivable sin against the Holy Spirit?
My own understanding is that it is not any particular word you might speak. I've had people come to me over the years with tears in their eyes saying that they're scared they said something horrible in their past that qualified as the unforgivable sin.
I don't think any particular words are the issue here. I think the issue is that when the Holy Spirit begins to work and testify to the living Christ in your heart, and you continually resist, there comes a point where your resisting is unforgivable. That happens when you can no longer repent.
Esau is the example of this in Hebrews 12:17. He sought repentance with tears but couldn't find it. Notice it doesn't say he sought forgiveness with tears and couldn't find it. It says he sought repentance.
Anybody struggling with this question should know that any sin which you can authentically repent of and embrace Christ for will be forgiven.
The unforgivable sin is when you have resisted him so decisively that he has forsaken you and you can no longer repent. You try to repent and you can't repent. You can't be genuinely sorry for your sin or turn away from it. That is a horribly frightening situation to be in.
But any listener who is now broken-hearted for his sin and does not despise Christ can be forgiven for every sin, no matter what he might have said to the Holy Spirit or however long he might have resisted him.
He can be forgiven, because the Bible holds out that promise for him. Whoever believes will be saved (John 3:16; Romans 10:13). It's the inability to repent and believe which marks one as having gone over the line.”
And for a blast from the past, here is a small sample of Augustine’s thoughts on the subject:
“Against this gratuitous gift, against this grace of God, does the impenitent heart speak. This impenitence then is the blasphemy of the Spirit, which shall not be forgiven, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. For against the Holy Spirit, by whom they whose sins are all forgiven are baptized, and whom the Church has received, that whosesoever sins she remits, they may be remitted, does he speak, whether in the thought only, or also in the tongue, a very heinous and exceedingly ungodly word, who when the patience of God leads him to repentance, after his hardness and impenitent heart treasures up unto himself wrath against the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds. This impenitence then, for so by some one general name may we call both this blasphemy and the word against the Holy Ghost which has no forgiveness for ever; this impenitence, I say, against which both the herald and the Judge cried out, saying, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand; against which the Lord first opened the mouth of the Gospel preaching, and against which He foretold that the same Gospel was to be preached in all the world, when He said to His disciples after His resurrection from the dead, it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem: this impenitence, in one word, has no forgiveness neither in this world, nor in the world to come; for that repentance only obtains forgiveness in this world, that it may have its effect in the world to come.
But this impenitence or impenitent heart may not be pronounced upon, as long as a man lives in the flesh. For we are not to despair of any so long as the patience of God leads the ungodly to repentance, and does not hurry him out of this life; God, who wills not the death of a sinner, but that he should return from his ways and live. He is a heathen today; but how do you know whether he may not be a Christian tomorrow?”
If that was tough to understand, don’t be discouraged. It’s not easy to read Augustine. He’s basically saying that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is rejecting the gospel, and that it’s never too late to repent until someone actually dies.
In a nutshell, Graham, Piper, and Augustine were all basically saying the same thing: to generalize, they believe that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is unrepentance. Billy Graham seems to be suggesting that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is literally another term for unrepentance. John Piper is subtly different, suggesting that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit leads to unrepentance. Augustine spends thousands of syllables on the subject and ends up presenting a complicated synopsis that basically states both ideas.
But however you look at it, through Billy Graham’s Arminianism, John Piper’s Calvinism, or Augustine’s Catholicism, (I mean Catholicism in that this was a pre-Reformation Bible teacher who loved God’s Word) the general consensus remains consistent: if you want to be a Christian, you are not disqualified by anything in your past, no matter what that sin was.
I’m not sure how timeless, orthodox, or solid an idea can be as one that is accepted by Christian leaders in Calvinist, Arminian, and Catholic circles. Doesn’t that nearly bring the unpardonable sin out of the category of a disputable matter and into one that is generally accepted by virtually all Christians? And yet, countless Christians wrestle with the fear of having blasphemed the Holy Spirit, undergoing depression, anxiety, and I would dare to say (speaking from personal experience), mental torture. And these mental breakdowns are really just theological breakdowns. And confession, I’ve had my ample share. And so this book sets out, not to offer a new idea (this idea is widely acknowledged among theologians). I’m only hoping to break it down - down into terms that a mind hardened by years of fear and shackled by layers of poor theology may be able to receive.
I desire to address the specific fears and petty bunny trails of a doubting disciple, to be dreadfully honest about my own theological misadventures, and to seek through testimony and truth to perhaps phrase things in such a way as to bring comfort to other kindred spirits who may be having theological breakdowns of their own. And may God guide us all closer to that blessed assurance that sings, “Jesus is mine!”
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