Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

UNFORGIVABLE SIN

A phenomenon also called the “unpardonable sin.” Specific references include the Beelzebul controversy (Mark 3:20-30 par.), an “eternal sin” identified as a “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit”; the Lukan prophetic warning of future persecution and Holy Spirit assistance (Luke 12:4-12); 1 John 5:13-21, a “mortal sin.” Other references include lying to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3); the warning against those enlightened but now unrepentant (Heb. 6:4-6; cf. 10:26-30); and the condemnation of those who slander (blaspheme) angelic beings (Jude 8). References are also found in Did. 11:7b; Gos. Thom. 44.

Theological interpretation of this concept has been varied. Some have seen this as an extreme form of rejection of the gospel. The rejecters are not candidates for God’s forgiveness because their refusal to believe the gospel necessarily includes a refusal to repent of sin. This view is that it does little more than equate the unforgivable sin with the unsaved condition. Others see this as a definite action from which there is no turning back. In this interpretation, if a person willingly commits a certain forbidden act, it is the deliberate commission of a sin for which there is no hope of forgiveness. This is in keeping with the warning of Mark 3:30, that the sin is to attribute the supernatural activity of the Holy Spirit to an “unclean spirit.” It is the ultimate demonstration of the mind-set of Isaiah’s opponents who “call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” (Isa. 5:20).

Bibliography. J. G. Williams, “A Note on the ‘Unforgivable Sin’ Logion,” NTS 12 (1965): 75-77.

Mark S. Krause

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

UNFORGIVABLE SIN

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)