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Q&A Friday: Can someone commit ‘The Unpardonable Sin’ today?

On the heels of this disturbing post a question arises: “Can someone commit the unpardonable sin today”

The first question that needs to be answered is what is the unpardonable sin as referenced in Mk. 3.29, Mat. 12.31, Luk. 12.10?

The setting is of the Holy Spirit conducting miracles through the ministry and person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is testifying to the authentic Messiahship of Jesus. The crowds began to respond with ‘amazement’ to the powerful miracle of the healing of a demon possessed, blind, and mute man (Mat. 12.22-23). However, the religious leaders wrongly concluded that the source of the miracle(s) in the ministry of Christ was demonic rather than divine.

So, in short, the sin that is referenced in this context by Jesus is the conclusion that the miracles done by Jesus were performed through the ruler of the demons rather than through the Holy Spirit.

They had been fully exposed to the power and majesty of God through the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus and had wrongly concluded that it was demonic. And the Son of God eternally condemns them: Mark 3:29-30 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin “because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

So the question is can this sin be committed today?

Well at least in this manner the quick answer is no; for we do not have the Son of God incarnate walking the earth doing miracles today. So can we apply this verse in principle?

Would it then be the sin of blasphemy itself ? Apparently not since the Apostle Paul was no doubt forgiven and he was a blasphemer (1 Tim. 1.13).

Is it the rejection of the general call of the gospel? I am not comfortable with this as many do not believe the gospel the first time they hear it.

Is it apostasy from the gospel? This makes it a little more comfortable, knowing that those who are mentioned in Hebrews 6 have been ‘enlightened’, ‘tasted’, ‘been partakers’…and then ‘have fallen away’ in other words apostates from the gospel, having seen something of the Holy Spirit’s power and work in and through the church, even snuggling up to some warm fruit in the ministry, and then showing themselves to be apostates (cf. 1 Jn. 2.19).

But my question is who is going to make the call that it is the ‘unpardonable sin’. It is easy in Mark 3 for Jesus makes the call. However, you and I do not know with certainty who has turned away and will not be ultimately saved. Our job seems to be the pursuit of holiness, both personally and corporately as the body of Christ, and to those who would turn away from the truth (who were never saved in the first place) to evangelize them with the truth of the gospel with the stern warnings against apostasy as mentioned in Hebrews (2, 6, 10, & 12).

So can someone commit the unpardonable sin today? Not in the sense that it is referenced in the gospels, but in principle, I believe so. But I am not comfortable saying on my own self-authority that they are damned eternally, instead I want to evangelize them. The people in the video are unbelievers who are storing up wrath for the day of wrath lest God is gracious and grants them repentance. If in the end they prove to be unbelievers that sin of unbelief may well have been the unpardonable sin, but from my current view, I am in no position to make that call.

I feel kind of bad because this is sort of a jumbled answer, however, it is good to think/work through.

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