Jesus said as recorded in Mark 3:28-29, “I tell you this: no sin, no slander, is beyond forgiveness for man; but whoever slanders the Holy Spirit can never be forgiven; he is guilty of eternal sin.”
This Scripture has been a source of struggle for many people over the centuries. There are even committed Christians, devout, serving the Lord who are fearful they could commit the unforgivable sin. This thinking robs such a person of peace and trust in God. It defames the intention Jesus had in saying these words.
There are those in psychology, theology, and sociology that insist people are basically good. They just need guidance and support. They need help in routing themselves to a higher standard, a better way of life, an improved thinking pattern. At the same time, they ignore the evil that some have committed. They refuse to acknowledge the fact is that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We are all in a desperate state of spiritual collision. We need divine help.
It is through God’s grace that whatever sins we have committed he will forgive. Out of his love, God stands with his arms wide open ready to receive any penitent sinner. Jesus gave examples in this quote declaring that badness is never too bad for God to forgive. We need a better understanding of what it is to totally reject God as an unforgivable sin.
Jesus was very emphatic when he said these words. At one point the Pharisees accused Jesus of performing his miracles through black magic. No one could deny the miracles that he performed. Yet, they would not attribute it to God. Their only alternative was to say that Jesus was in league with the devil. No doubt Jesus was angry. He wanted to draw the line between sin committed by man’s nature and that of attacks on the divine position. These people were spiritual perverts making them incapable of repentance and therefore forgiveness.
It was Jesus’ intent to clarify the difference between various transgressions and those things that arose from a state of mind out of the wicked unbeliever. He specifically said the sin was against the Holy Spirit. That means the people who commit this sin are anchored in a disposition contrary to God’s Spirit of love and support. They disregard any action from God’s Spirit that would prompt a guilty conscience. They are so anchored in their own thoughts, in their own sinful life that whatever the Holy Spirit would impress upon them falls on deaf ears.
Keep in mind that the Holy Spirit is not belligerent. He is a gentleman. He is not forceful. Instead, he whispers or encourages us to pay attention to the solution to our spiritual needs. The Holy Spirit seeks to guide, to comfort, to walk alongside us through life’s perplexing journey. To reject all that the Holy Spirit is, what the Holy Spirit does, must be in itself such blasphemy that they can only be called unforgivable. The lack of forgiveness being unavailable is not God’s fault. It is the deep hole the rebels against God’s love dug for themselves. They pulled the dirt in over themselves. Then they blame the Holy Spirit for suffocating under the weight of the soil. This is a state of rebellion against the kindness, love, beauty, wonderment, help that the Holy Spirit provides.
To commit the unforgivable sin a person must never have been a Christian. That sinner slaps in the face all the good that would come from the Holy Spirit. It is to say to God that he does not matter. Such a person cannot be redeemed because they are in that deep pit they made for themselves. They generate a resistance that is so strong not even the Holy Spirit can penetrate. Their destiny has been sealed because of their own rejection.
Christian Writer 