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Christianity is very much under attack,what does the Bible have to say about this?

If Jesus and the Holy Spirit are not your God ,the Bible calls it blasphemy against the Holy Spirit hich will not be forgiven.

.Mark 3:20–35 says,

The crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for people were saying, “He is beside himself.” And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul, and by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” And he called them to him, and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man; then indeed he may plunder his house.
“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin” — for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
And his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside they sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting about him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, asking for you.” And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking around on those who sat about him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

About eight years ago a young woman came into my office at Bethel, extremely distressed over this issue of the unforgivable sin. She told me how one day when she was a young teenager, she got so angry at her mother who was a Christian that she locked herself in her room and used every swear word and oath and all the foul language against the Holy Spirit that she could think of. That day was seared into her conscience and came back to haunt her again and again. She wanted to know if she had committed the unforgivable sin. It is not a merely academic question. What could be more terrifying than to believe you are beyond forgiveness and bound for eternal misery with no escape?

THREE QUESTIONS

Let’s ask three questions to our text:

  1. Is there really an unforgivable sin?
  2. If so, what is it?
  3. How should we live in view of it?

1. IS THERE REALLY AN UNFORGIVABLE SIN?

Is there really an unforgivable sin? Note verse 29, “Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.” Three observations:

God’s Forgiveness in View

First, the forgiveness in view is God’s forgiveness. The sweetest news for a sinner is that God has forgiven him, that God no longer holds his sins against him. But the worst news in the world is that God will never forgive you. God is the one to reckon with. What men think about our sin is relatively unimportant. What God thinks is infinitely important.

On God’s Lips, “Never” Really Means “Never”

Second, Jesus says that God will never forgive a person who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit. When a human says, “I’ll never forgive you,” we may go on with life. There are others we can turn to; and “never” really doesn’t mean never. But when God says, “I will never forgive you,” then there is nobody to turn to in all the universe and “never” really means “never.” If God says to you, “Never will I forgive you,” then a million ages from now his verdict will be like granite. His sentences are as unbreakable as his pardons.

Someone may say to you, “Literally Jesus simply said that forgiveness would not be given ‘unto the age,’ meaning in this age; but in the future age pardon can be found.” This is not what Jesus meant. Matthew 12:32 makes his meaning more precise, “Whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven either in this age or in the age to come.” When Mark 3:29 calls blasphemy against the Holy Spirit an “eternal sin,” it means a sin that God will not forgive to all eternity. If all the mountains on the earth were wearing down at the rate of one millimeter every thousand years, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit would still be unforgiven when the face of the earth is as smooth as a billiard ball. It is an eternally unforgivable sin.

Forever Under God’s Wrath

Third, therefore the person who commits this sin is guilty forever before God and under his wrath without end: “Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness; but is guilty of an eternal sin.” If forgiveness is withheld for eternity, guilt is sealed for eternity. God is never neutral to sin. He either forgives it or punishes it. There is no neutral middle ground of indifference. Not to be forgiven by God forever is to suffer his wrath forever. To reject the doctrine of eternal hell under the wrath of God is to reject the forthright teaching of our Lord Jesus. Mark 3:29 is one of the clearest passages in the Bible to the effect that there will be those shut out of forgiveness, bearing their guilt forever. And it is the teaching of Jesus, who loved us and gave himself for us!

There Is an Unforgivable Sin

So in answer to the first question, yes, there is an unforgivable sin. Jesus calls it an eternal sin, one that never has forgiveness, one that sends a person intoeternity to bear his guilt under God’s wrath forever.

2. WHAT IS THIS UNFORGIVABLE SIN? 

The second question: What is this sin that is beyond forgiveness? Again verse 29: “Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness.” The unforgivable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. But what is that?

The Context in Mark

Verse 30 makes clear that Mark wants us to understand blasphemy against the Holy Spirit in relation to the scene in verses 20–27. Verse 30 gives the reason why Jesus brought up the issue of an unforgivable sin: “for they had said [or: were saying], ‘He has an unclean spirit.’” That points us back to verse 22: “The scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, ‘He is possessed by Beelzebul, and by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.’”

Note very carefully: Jesus does not say that these scribes have committed the unforgivable sin. He hears them attribute his power over demons to Satan instead of to the Holy Spirit and he says, “Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness” (v. 29). It is a warning to the scribes. Maybe they have committed the unforgivable sin, maybe they haven’t. But when they see the work of the Holy Spirit and call it the work of Satan, they are at least on the brink of never-ending guilt. Perhaps they have even fallen over the edge.

“Whatever Blasphemies They Utter”?

Why do I hesitate to equate what the scribes said with unforgivable blasphemy? I hesitate because Jesus invites me to with verse 28. “Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter.” Literally: “All things will be forgiven to the sons of men, the sins and the blasphemies whatever they blaspheme.” No exceptions are mentioned. The key to understanding the unforgivable sin is how verse 28 can be stated so absolutely (“all sins and blasphemies will be forgiven”) and yet verse 29 can say that there is a blasphemy and a sin beyond forgiveness.

What does verse 28 mean? Mark makes it plain that sins are forgiven only if a person repents. Mark 1:4, “John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Mark 1:14–15, “Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel.’” (See also 4:12; 6:12, and Acts 2:38 and 5:31.) In order for anyone to receive forgiveness of sins, they have to repent — that is, to turn from sin to God and trust his grace and follow him. So when Jesus says in Mark 3:28, “All sins will be forgiven the sons of men and whatever blasphemies they utter,” he means, all sins and blasphemies from which you genuinely repent.

Beyond Repentance

Why, then, in verse 29 does Jesus seem to exclude one sin and one blasphemy from this promise: the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? I think the reason is that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit puts you beyond repentance, andtherefore beyond forgiveness. Verse 29 is not an exception to verse 28. Jesus isnot saying, All blasphemies that you repent of will be forgiven except blasphemy against the Spirit. He is saying, all blasphemies that you repent of will be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven because it puts you beyond repentance — you won’t be able to repent of it. If a sin makes it impossible for you to repent, then that is an unforgivable sin, because forgiveness is promised only to those sins from which we genuinely repent (cf. 4:12).

Why This Particular Sin Makes Repentance Impossible

But why does this one particular sin, this one blasphemy, make it impossible to repent and be forgiven? What about blasphemy against the Son of God, or God the Father, or angels, or Scripture, or the church? Why do these not put us beyond repentance and forgiveness? Why only blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? I think it’s because of the unique and decisive role the Holy Spirit plays in our salvation. If we look to God the Father and then turn from his glory to embrace sin, that is bad. If we look to his Son Jesus Christ whom he sent into the world and then turn away from his glory to embrace sin, that is doubly bad.

But in either case there is hope. The Father has planned redemption and the Son has accomplished redemption. This wonderful redemption is outside ourselves and available to us if we repent of our sin and turn back to Christ in faith. But it is the unique and special role of the Holy Spirit to apply the Father’s plan and the Son’s accomplishment of it to our hearts. It is the Spirit’s work to open our eyes, to grant repentance, and to make us beneficiaries of all that the Father has planned and all that Christ has done for us.

If we blaspheme and reject the Father and the Son, there is still hope, for the Spirit may yet work within us to humble us and bring us to repentance. But if behind the Father and the Son we see and taste the power of the Holy Spirit and reject his work as no more precious than the work of Satan, we shut ourselves off from the only one who could ever bring us to repentance. And so we shut ourselves off from forgiveness.

Not Simply a Lifetime of Resistance

Let’s take one more step before we define the unforgivable sin. Some people say that the unpardonable sin is continual rejection of the Holy Spirit until death. And thus only death puts a person beyond forgiveness. I think that is wrong for two reasons. One is that in Matthew 12:32 Jesus says, “Whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven either in this age or the age to come.” If the possibility of forgiveness were taken away only after death, then Jesus would not have said that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is unforgivable in this age as well as the one to come. Another reason is1 John 5:16 teaches that there is a sin unto death which is pointless to pray about. It puts a person beyond forgiveness even in this life. Therefore the unforgivable blasphemy against the Spirit is not simply a lifetime of resistance against the Holy Spirit.

The Unforgivable Sin Defined

What then is it? The unforgivable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is an act of resistance which belittles the Holy Spirit so grievously that he withdraws forever with his convicting power so that we are never able to repent and be forgiven.

3. HOW SHALL WE LIVE IN LIGHT OF THIS POSSIBILITY?

Our final question is: How should we live in view of this possibility?

Run from Sin with Fear and Trembling

The fact that there is an unforgivable sin — that there comes a point in a life of sin after which the Holy Spirit will no longer grant repentance — that fact should drive us from sin with fear and trembling. None of us knows when our toying with sin will pass over into irrevocable hardness of heart. Very few people feel how serious sin is. Very few people are on the same wavelength with Jesus when he said in Mark 9:43, “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.”

Instead, many professing Christians today have such a sentimental view of God’s justice that they never feel terror and horror at the thought of being utterly forsaken by God because of their persistence in sin. They have the naïve notion that God’s patience has no end and that they can always return from any length and depth of sin, forgetting that there is a point of resistance which belittles the Holy Spirit so grievously that he withdraws forever with his convicting power, leaving them never able to repent and be forgiven.

They are like the buzzard who spots a carcass on a piece of ice floating in the river. He lands and begins to eat. He knows it is dangerous because the falls are just ahead. But he looks at his wings and says to himself, “I can fly to safety in an instant.” And he goes on eating. Just before the ice goes over the falls he spreads his wings to fly but his claws are frozen in the ice and there is no escape — neither in this age nor the age to come. The Spirit of holiness has forsaken the arrogant sinner forever.

The Offer of Grace: Repent and Be Forgiven

You have heard the warning. Now hear the offer of grace. “All sins will be forgiven the sons of men and whatever blasphemies they utter.” I urge you in the name of Christ: If by God’s grace you can repent today of your sin, do it now, because you may not be able to tomorrow.

http://www.desiringgod.org/messages/beyond-forgiveness-blasphemy-against-the-spirit

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1 hour ago, angels4u said:

The Unforgivable Sin Defined

What then is it? The unforgivable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is an act of resistance which belittles the Holy Spirit so grievously that he withdraws forever with his convicting power so that we are never able to repent and be forgiven.

 

It is simply a vessel filled with lie so that no truth remains in them... they have become as their father Lucifer.

Ro 1:26-27

26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
KJV

 

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Blessings Angels,,,,,,,,,,,,,

    I didn't read the entire OP through,I am just really bad about those really long one's,I will come back though & finish,,,

However,I do want to comment because there was a time when I was in complete rebellion,just like a spoiled brat that it mad at her earthly father ,I suppose I was"mad" with my Heavenly Father,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Now I would say I was more likely mad at myself  or  simply the spirit of anger & rebellion, brought about by the spirit of "pride",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,the result of which brought me eve5n closer to God in Christ,Praise Jesus!

But here is the thing,I truly believed that I had committed the "unforgivable sin",,,,BLASPHEMY! Was I forgiven,was I reprobate,,,,I was so confused & sick with worry                    that was the answer right there,I later discovered

The unforgivable sin is not one that you do accidentally or later regret have made an awful mistake,,,,,,,,,,,,,no,not at all,,,,it is willingly ,knowingly,intentionally & purposefully chosen ,,,the blasphemer who grieves the Holy Spirit has done so because he has chosen who he will serve and there is no doubt about it,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,the true reprobate does not want anything to do with God & he is not later blindsided to find out he will go to hell,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,just as satan made his bed & never has any intention of kneeling down at the foot of the Cross to ask Jesus forgiveness & the Grace of God,neither does the one who has decided to make his choice to blaspheme,,,,,,,,,,,,,

  God knows the heart,that is why He knows it has hardened so much with so much hatred for the Holy Spirit that HE Will NEVER FORGIVE

                                                                                                   With love-in Christ'

When a person earnestly comes to Jesus see4king forgiveness,that is not a hardened heart,,,,,,,,,,,,,just the fact that they are "worried" is very telling

Quote

It is simply a vessel filled with lie so that no truth remains in them... they have become as their father Lucifer.

                                                                                               posted by enoob

SPOT ON!!!!!

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scary stuff, God never forgiving you

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40 minutes ago, everseeking said:

scary stuff, God never forgiving you

Hi Everseeking.,

It's not really scary ,it's only scary if you don't believe the gospel message , it's all about denying who Jesus is.

As a believer you never have to be afraid that you committed this sin,you only commit it by not believing in Jesus and died he died for you on the cross.

John3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
 

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Unforgivable sin is as follows.

Denying the The Word became flesh and sacrificed himself for our sins, then rising on the third day to give us eternal Life.

That is the unpardonable sin.

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The unforgiven/unforgivable sin troubles many.  They worry that they have committed that sin.  It is my opinion that if you worry about having committed that sin it is proof that you have not.  To have sorrow for sin and conviction of sin is a gift.  What many experience is condemnation from the accuser.

The person that has committed this sin will never have a sense of wrong doing.

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On May 16, 2016 at 5:50 AM, angels4u said:

it is the unique and special role of the Holy Spirit to apply the Father’s plan and the Son’s accomplishment of it to our hearts. It is the Spirit’s work to open our eyes, to grant repentance, and to make us beneficiaries of all that the Father has planned and all that Christ has done for us.

 

Looking back at the context:

Mar 3:1  Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. :2  And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. :3  And he said to the man with the withered hand, "Come here.  4  And he said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?" But they were silent. :5  And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.  :6  The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

A Great Crowd Follows Jesus

Mar 3:7  Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea  8  and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. :9  And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him   10  for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him.:11  And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God."12  And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.-------------------Mar 3:20  Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat.

Mar 3:21  And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, "He is out of his mind."

Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

Mar 3:22  And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, "He is possessed by Beelzebul," and "by the prince of demons he casts out the demons."

 

Jesus had said that we should believe because of His works, which fulfilled prophecy.  They were works of compassion and grace.  So when the pharisees refused to acknowledge it was OK to even save lives and do good on the Sabbath, He was angry with them for their hardness of heart.  It was at that time they started to plot to destroy Jesus.  When He cast out demons they further hardened their hearts by accusing Him of doing good and casting out demons by the power of satan.

Jesus' reply indicated that evil cannot be destroyed by evil.  (In other places He tells us to overcome evil with good.)  However, He was trying to warn them how close they were to being beyond forgiveness.  The Pharaoh had hardened his heart 7 times, and then God hardened his heart 7 times.  Judas, who had been the purse keeper for the disciples, had been skimming from it.  When Mary applied costly ointments to Jesus feet and washed them with her tears, Judas complained that she was wasting it; he was also continuing to harden his heart.  Then satan entered Judas' heart to betray Jesus.  So at the last supper he was so hardened that even when Jesus identified him as the betrayer, he did not repent.  

 

People who have committed the unpardonable sin are so hardened to the works of the Holy Spirit that they despise Jesus and those in whom the Spirit of Jesus lives.  Yet I have seen even these come to repentance and give their lives to God.  So perhaps those who have so given their lives to satan to do horrible evil are the ones.  But even Saul who was having Christians stoned to death was saved.  So there may be an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to soften a person's heart up until the time of their death.  If they continue to refuse and resist His work in their lives, they are lost.  God knows when they are at the point of no return and it is possible that He hardens their hearts to seal the deal, but up to then It is their choice.  

So I have to disagree with the author on this point.  I still believe that God might still get through to them until death.  It is true that we harden our hearts by continuing in unrepentant sin.  And we never know at what point our lives will be taken.  It is possible that God might harden a person at some point.  Do our prayers for people make a difference?  I really don't know, but it is God Who puts it on our hearts to pray for individuals and to intercede.  We are saved by grace alone, through faith which is also a gift.  So perhaps the sovereignty of God has more to do with it all than I want to admit.  

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On 5/16/2016 at 8:50 AM, angels4u said:

Christianity is very much under attack,what does the Bible have to say about this?

If Jesus and the Holy Spirit are not your God ,the Bible calls it blasphemy against the Holy Spirit hich will not be forgiven.

.Mark 3:20–35 says,

The crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for people were saying, “He is beside himself.” And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul, and by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” And he called them to him, and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man; then indeed he may plunder his house.
“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin” — for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
And his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside they sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting about him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, asking for you.” And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking around on those who sat about him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

About eight years ago a young woman came into my office at Bethel, extremely distressed over this issue of the unforgivable sin. She told me how one day when she was a young teenager, she got so angry at her mother who was a Christian that she locked herself in her room and used every swear word and oath and all the foul language against the Holy Spirit that she could think of. That day was seared into her conscience and came back to haunt her again and again. She wanted to know if she had committed the unforgivable sin. It is not a merely academic question. What could be more terrifying than to believe you are beyond forgiveness and bound for eternal misery with no escape?

THREE QUESTIONS

Let’s ask three questions to our text:

  1. Is there really an unforgivable sin?
  2. If so, what is it?
  3. How should we live in view of it?

1. IS THERE REALLY AN UNFORGIVABLE SIN?

Is there really an unforgivable sin? Note verse 29, “Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.” Three observations:

God’s Forgiveness in View

First, the forgiveness in view is God’s forgiveness. The sweetest news for a sinner is that God has forgiven him, that God no longer holds his sins against him. But the worst news in the world is that God will never forgive you. God is the one to reckon with. What men think about our sin is relatively unimportant. What God thinks is infinitely important.

On God’s Lips, “Never” Really Means “Never”

Second, Jesus says that God will never forgive a person who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit. When a human says, “I’ll never forgive you,” we may go on with life. There are others we can turn to; and “never” really doesn’t mean never. But when God says, “I will never forgive you,” then there is nobody to turn to in all the universe and “never” really means “never.” If God says to you, “Never will I forgive you,” then a million ages from now his verdict will be like granite. His sentences are as unbreakable as his pardons.

Someone may say to you, “Literally Jesus simply said that forgiveness would not be given ‘unto the age,’ meaning in this age; but in the future age pardon can be found.” This is not what Jesus meant. Matthew 12:32 makes his meaning more precise, “Whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven either in this age or in the age to come.” When Mark 3:29 calls blasphemy against the Holy Spirit an “eternal sin,” it means a sin that God will not forgive to all eternity. If all the mountains on the earth were wearing down at the rate of one millimeter every thousand years, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit would still be unforgiven when the face of the earth is as smooth as a billiard ball. It is an eternally unforgivable sin.

Forever Under God’s Wrath

Third, therefore the person who commits this sin is guilty forever before God and under his wrath without end: “Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness; but is guilty of an eternal sin.” If forgiveness is withheld for eternity, guilt is sealed for eternity. God is never neutral to sin. He either forgives it or punishes it. There is no neutral middle ground of indifference. Not to be forgiven by God forever is to suffer his wrath forever. To reject the doctrine of eternal hell under the wrath of God is to reject the forthright teaching of our Lord Jesus. Mark 3:29 is one of the clearest passages in the Bible to the effect that there will be those shut out of forgiveness, bearing their guilt forever. And it is the teaching of Jesus, who loved us and gave himself for us!

There Is an Unforgivable Sin

So in answer to the first question, yes, there is an unforgivable sin. Jesus calls it an eternal sin, one that never has forgiveness, one that sends a person intoeternity to bear his guilt under God’s wrath forever.

2. WHAT IS THIS UNFORGIVABLE SIN? 

The second question: What is this sin that is beyond forgiveness? Again verse 29: “Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness.” The unforgivable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. But what is that?

The Context in Mark

Verse 30 makes clear that Mark wants us to understand blasphemy against the Holy Spirit in relation to the scene in verses 20–27. Verse 30 gives the reason why Jesus brought up the issue of an unforgivable sin: “for they had said [or: were saying], ‘He has an unclean spirit.’” That points us back to verse 22: “The scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, ‘He is possessed by Beelzebul, and by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.’”

Note very carefully: Jesus does not say that these scribes have committed the unforgivable sin. He hears them attribute his power over demons to Satan instead of to the Holy Spirit and he says, “Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness” (v. 29). It is a warning to the scribes. Maybe they have committed the unforgivable sin, maybe they haven’t. But when they see the work of the Holy Spirit and call it the work of Satan, they are at least on the brink of never-ending guilt. Perhaps they have even fallen over the edge.

“Whatever Blasphemies They Utter”?

Why do I hesitate to equate what the scribes said with unforgivable blasphemy? I hesitate because Jesus invites me to with verse 28. “Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter.” Literally: “All things will be forgiven to the sons of men, the sins and the blasphemies whatever they blaspheme.” No exceptions are mentioned. The key to understanding the unforgivable sin is how verse 28 can be stated so absolutely (“all sins and blasphemies will be forgiven”) and yet verse 29 can say that there is a blasphemy and a sin beyond forgiveness.

What does verse 28 mean? Mark makes it plain that sins are forgiven only if a person repents. Mark 1:4, “John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” Mark 1:14–15, “Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel.’” (See also 4:12; 6:12, and Acts 2:38 and 5:31.) In order for anyone to receive forgiveness of sins, they have to repent — that is, to turn from sin to God and trust his grace and follow him. So when Jesus says in Mark 3:28, “All sins will be forgiven the sons of men and whatever blasphemies they utter,” he means, all sins and blasphemies from which you genuinely repent.

Beyond Repentance

Why, then, in verse 29 does Jesus seem to exclude one sin and one blasphemy from this promise: the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? I think the reason is that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit puts you beyond repentance, andtherefore beyond forgiveness. Verse 29 is not an exception to verse 28. Jesus isnot saying, All blasphemies that you repent of will be forgiven except blasphemy against the Spirit. He is saying, all blasphemies that you repent of will be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven because it puts you beyond repentance — you won’t be able to repent of it. If a sin makes it impossible for you to repent, then that is an unforgivable sin, because forgiveness is promised only to those sins from which we genuinely repent (cf. 4:12).

Why This Particular Sin Makes Repentance Impossible

But why does this one particular sin, this one blasphemy, make it impossible to repent and be forgiven? What about blasphemy against the Son of God, or God the Father, or angels, or Scripture, or the church? Why do these not put us beyond repentance and forgiveness? Why only blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? I think it’s because of the unique and decisive role the Holy Spirit plays in our salvation. If we look to God the Father and then turn from his glory to embrace sin, that is bad. If we look to his Son Jesus Christ whom he sent into the world and then turn away from his glory to embrace sin, that is doubly bad.

But in either case there is hope. The Father has planned redemption and the Son has accomplished redemption. This wonderful redemption is outside ourselves and available to us if we repent of our sin and turn back to Christ in faith. But it is the unique and special role of the Holy Spirit to apply the Father’s plan and the Son’s accomplishment of it to our hearts. It is the Spirit’s work to open our eyes, to grant repentance, and to make us beneficiaries of all that the Father has planned and all that Christ has done for us.

If we blaspheme and reject the Father and the Son, there is still hope, for the Spirit may yet work within us to humble us and bring us to repentance. But if behind the Father and the Son we see and taste the power of the Holy Spirit and reject his work as no more precious than the work of Satan, we shut ourselves off from the only one who could ever bring us to repentance. And so we shut ourselves off from forgiveness.

Not Simply a Lifetime of Resistance

Let’s take one more step before we define the unforgivable sin. Some people say that the unpardonable sin is continual rejection of the Holy Spirit until death. And thus only death puts a person beyond forgiveness. I think that is wrong for two reasons. One is that in Matthew 12:32 Jesus says, “Whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven either in this age or the age to come.” If the possibility of forgiveness were taken away only after death, then Jesus would not have said that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is unforgivable in this age as well as the one to come. Another reason is1 John 5:16 teaches that there is a sin unto death which is pointless to pray about. It puts a person beyond forgiveness even in this life. Therefore the unforgivable blasphemy against the Spirit is not simply a lifetime of resistance against the Holy Spirit.

The Unforgivable Sin Defined

What then is it? The unforgivable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is an act of resistance which belittles the Holy Spirit so grievously that he withdraws forever with his convicting power so that we are never able to repent and be forgiven.

3. HOW SHALL WE LIVE IN LIGHT OF THIS POSSIBILITY?

Our final question is: How should we live in view of this possibility?

Run from Sin with Fear and Trembling

The fact that there is an unforgivable sin — that there comes a point in a life of sin after which the Holy Spirit will no longer grant repentance — that fact should drive us from sin with fear and trembling. None of us knows when our toying with sin will pass over into irrevocable hardness of heart. Very few people feel how serious sin is. Very few people are on the same wavelength with Jesus when he said in Mark 9:43, “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.”

Instead, many professing Christians today have such a sentimental view of God’s justice that they never feel terror and horror at the thought of being utterly forsaken by God because of their persistence in sin. They have the naïve notion that God’s patience has no end and that they can always return from any length and depth of sin, forgetting that there is a point of resistance which belittles the Holy Spirit so grievously that he withdraws forever with his convicting power, leaving them never able to repent and be forgiven.

They are like the buzzard who spots a carcass on a piece of ice floating in the river. He lands and begins to eat. He knows it is dangerous because the falls are just ahead. But he looks at his wings and says to himself, “I can fly to safety in an instant.” And he goes on eating. Just before the ice goes over the falls he spreads his wings to fly but his claws are frozen in the ice and there is no escape — neither in this age nor the age to come. The Spirit of holiness has forsaken the arrogant sinner forever.

The Offer of Grace: Repent and Be Forgiven

You have heard the warning. Now hear the offer of grace. “All sins will be forgiven the sons of men and whatever blasphemies they utter.” I urge you in the name of Christ: If by God’s grace you can repent today of your sin, do it now, because you may not be able to tomorrow.

http://www.desiringgod.org/messages/beyond-forgiveness-blasphemy-against-the-spirit

That is a wake-up call to both the saved and the unsaved.

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The counceling situation is most tragic! Though we have to learn. The Mind in general is most tricky – in doing such things as this: Oh I am outside. This is the most shamefull sin. Look how bad this is ! Now God can no more forgive me. … This is wrong. Though this persons mind is caught in a loop and can not get out. For a long time.

 

Lets try some exegesis: Lets change something. - Are we not like little bit lost here?. where is the bigger picture.

When Gospel is teached – (is allways good to have a bigger portion of the context at hand). Can we answer a question: What would such scribes – likely to beleaf and argue – before they ever talked to Jesus, like seen here in your pasage? My answer: Yes we can. There is 4 things that this (Mark 2) storie line already has told us. 1. The lame on the roof, 2. the Followers feast, 3. HIS presence (means no fasting) and 4. Shabat rules (or opposing them),

As this text follows these, it follows the tone after these. – Now I can read the Belzebul (and strong man) accusation of the scibes.

Maybe we can prepare even better. – we ought to have punch lines of each of the 4 stories that preced : The forgivenes of Jesus, sinners wanted (while eating together), a correcting fellowship

 

This followers (and Apostels) move contradicts many things seen befor...

The scibes version: We live... safer among beleavers, and have small minded rules. / This (Jesus) repentance move is dangerous ! Think about it....

Scribs in particular decided to - a) not join in. b) Standing appart, c) constructing a legalistic set of rules, d) explaining away the seen changes, e) direktly acusing this movement as outside of gods way

What is the scibes position? We are the Temple crew: We do not want – spoken forgiveness of Jesus (like with the lame through the roof). This is unclean people he eats with / clelebrates with (No: this is fellowship of Jesus calling). And so on..

 

To understand from context it makes this confrontation more clear. These people in particular opose a move of god. They try to blaspheme the obvious Spirit of god.

So what – again is this – oposing the Holy Spirit (in our times)? This is my question.

 

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