{"id":5897,"date":"2012-10-10T18:28:01","date_gmt":"2012-10-10T22:28:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/?p=5897"},"modified":"2020-01-28T12:04:32","modified_gmt":"2020-01-28T17:04:32","slug":"what-is-the-unforgivable-sin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/what-is-the-unforgivable-sin\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the &#8220;Unforgivable Sin&#8221;?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!-- This site is converting visitors into subscribers and customers with OptinMonster - https:\/\/optinmonster.com :: Campaign Title: Life Transforming Stories --><\/p>\n<div id=\"om-qdrj9bdbkdxzj5jyrhhn-holder\"><\/div>\n<p><script>var qdrj9bdbkdxzj5jyrhhn,qdrj9bdbkdxzj5jyrhhn_poll=function(){var r=0;return function(n,l){clearInterval(r),r=setInterval(n,l)}}();!function(e,t,n){if(e.getElementById(n)){qdrj9bdbkdxzj5jyrhhn_poll(function(){if(window['om_loaded']){if(!qdrj9bdbkdxzj5jyrhhn){qdrj9bdbkdxzj5jyrhhn=new OptinMonsterApp();return qdrj9bdbkdxzj5jyrhhn.init({\"u\":\"12320.657227\",\"staging\":0,\"dev\":0,\"beta\":0});}}},25);return;}var d=false,o=e.createElement(t);o.id=n,o.src=\"https:\/\/a.optnmstr.com\/app\/js\/api.min.js\",o.async=true,o.onload=o.onreadystatechange=function(){if(!d){if(!this.readyState||this.readyState===\"loaded\"||this.readyState===\"complete\"){try{d=om_loaded=true;qdrj9bdbkdxzj5jyrhhn=new OptinMonsterApp();qdrj9bdbkdxzj5jyrhhn.init({\"u\":\"12320.657227\",\"staging\":0,\"dev\":0,\"beta\":0});o.onload=o.onreadystatechange=null;}catch(t){}}}};(document.getElementsByTagName(\"head\")[0]||document.documentElement).appendChild(o)}(document,\"script\",\"omapi-script\");<\/script><!-- \/ OptinMonster --><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/bg3-blog.s3.amazonaws.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/01111946\/Adam_Listening_to_the_Voice_of_God_the_Almighty._John_Martin.jpg\" alt=\"Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden\" width=\"300\" height=\"205\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-29764\">In one memorable New Testament scene, Jesus&#8217; critics <a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/monday-morning-scripture-mark-320-35\/\">accuse him of being in league with the devil himself<\/a>. In answering his critics, Jesus refers to something that has troubled Christians ever since: the so-called <strong>&#8220;unforgivable sin.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Here are Jesus&#8217; words:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;I promise you that any of the sinful things you say or do can be forgiven, no matter how terrible those things are. But if you speak against the Holy Spirit, you can never be forgiven. That sin will be held against you forever.&#8221; \u2014 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Mark%203:28-29&amp;version=CEV\">Mark 3:28-29<\/a> (CEV)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Different Bible translations word this differently; some use the phrase &#8220;eternal sin&#8221; or &#8220;unforgivable sin.&#8221; In some, the sin is to &#8220;blaspheme against&#8221; or &#8220;curse the Holy Spirit.&#8221; Whatever the wording, what troubles many readers is the suggestion that there is a type of sin that God will not forgive. Doesn&#8217;t this contradict verses like <a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=1 John 1:9\">1 John 1:9<\/a>, which state that God will forgive <em>all<\/em> of our wrongdoing? What exactly is the sin that can&#8217;t be forgiven\u2014and is it possible that you&#8217;ve committed it, even unintentionally?<\/p>\n<p>These are serious questions. For an answer, I turned to author and apologist Lee Strobel&#8217;s <em>Investigating Faith<\/em> newsletter, where earlier this year he published a thoughtful reflection on a difficult Bible passage. Here&#8217;s Lee&#8217;s response to the question.<\/p>\n<h2>What is the unforgivable sin, and how do I know I haven&#8217;t committed it?<\/h2>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cIf you\u2019re worried that you may be guilty of the unforgivable sin, you almost certainly are not,\u201d Rick Cornish aptly points out in his book <em>Five Minute Theologian<\/em>. \u201cConcern about committing it reveals the opposite attitude of what the sin is. Those who might be guilty wouldn\u2019t care because they have no distress or remorse over the possibility.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jesus talked about the unforgivable sin in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Matthew%2012:31-32&amp;version=31&amp;src=tools\" target=\"_BLANK\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matthew 12:31-32<\/a>: \u201cAnd I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s face it \u2013 that\u2019s a very sobering teaching! But let\u2019s put it into context. Note that Jesus didn\u2019t address his comments to his disciples or a mere crowd. He was talking specifically to Pharisees who had personally witnessed his miracle of completely and instantly healing a blind and mute demon-possessed man (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Matthew%2012:22&amp;version=31&amp;src=tools\" target=\"_BLANK\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matthew 12:22<\/a>). Rather than acknowledging the obvious fact that Jesus was exercising divine powers, the Pharisees were so spiritually depraved that they attributed his power to Satan (v. 24).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTheir problem was not blind ignorance, but willful rejection,\u201d pointed out Cornish. \u201cThat deliberate refusal to believe, even though knowing the truth, seems to be what Jesus called the unforgivable sin.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As the <em>Quest Study Bible<\/em> puts it, \u201cJesus gave the solemn warning in these verses to people whose hard-heartedness placed them on the brink of disaster. Blasphemy against the Spirit evidently is not just a one-time offense; rather, it is an ongoing attitude of rebellion \u2013 a stubborn way of life that continually resists, rejects and insults the Holy Spirit. This is what makes it, in effect, an <em>eternal sin<\/em> (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Mark%203:29&amp;version=31&amp;src=tools\" target=\"_BLANK\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mark 3:29<\/a>). Blasphemy against the Spirit is not unforgivable because of something done unintentionally in the past, but because of something being done deliberately and unrelentingly in the present.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So if you\u2019re an authentic Christian, don\u2019t spend time fretting over whether you have accidentally committed this unforgivable offense. \u201cThere is no biblical evidence that a genuine Christian can commit this (unforgivable) sin,\u201d says the <em>Apologetics Study Bible<\/em>. \u201cFear that one has done so is probably a good sign that one hasn\u2019t, for full-fledged apostasy is a defiant rejection of everything Christian and lacks the tender conscience that would be worried about such an action.\u201d \u2014 Lee Strobel<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is the &#8220;unforgivable sin&#8221; mentioned by Jesus in Mark 3? Is it possible that you&#8217;ve committed it without realizing it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52999,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[138,601,1022,75,263,1024,357,1023,1020,1021],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v17.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is the &quot;Unforgivable Sin&quot;? - Bible Gateway Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is the unforgivable sin mentioned in Mark 3, and is it possible you&#039;ve committed it without realizing it? We investigate what the Bible says.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/what-is-the-unforgivable-sin\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is the &quot;Unforgivable Sin&quot;? - Bible Gateway Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What is the unforgivable sin mentioned in Mark 3, and is it possible you&#039;ve committed it without realizing it? We investigate what the Bible says.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/what-is-the-unforgivable-sin\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Bible Gateway Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BibleGateway\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-10-10T22:28:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-01-28T17:04:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/bg3-blog.s3.amazonaws.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/28120406\/Adam_Listening_to_the_Voice_of_God_the_Almighty._John_Martin-e1580231060540.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"205\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"205\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@BibleGateway\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@BibleGateway\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andy Rau\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Bible Gateway Blog\",\"description\":\"News and reflections from BibleGateway.com\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/what-is-the-unforgivable-sin\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/bg3-blog.s3.amazonaws.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/28120406\/Adam_Listening_to_the_Voice_of_God_the_Almighty._John_Martin-e1580231060540.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/bg3-blog.s3.amazonaws.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/28120406\/Adam_Listening_to_the_Voice_of_God_the_Almighty._John_Martin-e1580231060540.jpg\",\"width\":205,\"height\":205,\"caption\":\"V\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/what-is-the-unforgivable-sin\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/what-is-the-unforgivable-sin\/\",\"name\":\"What is the \\\"Unforgivable Sin\\\"? - Bible Gateway Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/what-is-the-unforgivable-sin\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-10-10T22:28:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-28T17:04:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a7a18a8a59fb0079bd11470ad40eecbc\"},\"description\":\"What is the unforgivable sin mentioned in Mark 3, and is it possible you've committed it without realizing it? We investigate what the Bible says.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/what-is-the-unforgivable-sin\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/what-is-the-unforgivable-sin\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/what-is-the-unforgivable-sin\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What is the &#8220;Unforgivable Sin&#8221;?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a7a18a8a59fb0079bd11470ad40eecbc\",\"name\":\"Andy Rau\",\"description\":\"Andy is the former senior manager of content for Bible Gateway. He currently works at Calvin College.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/author\/jrau\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What is the \"Unforgivable Sin\"? - Bible Gateway Blog","description":"What is the unforgivable sin mentioned in Mark 3, and is it possible you've committed it without realizing it? We investigate what the Bible says.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/what-is-the-unforgivable-sin\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What is the \"Unforgivable Sin\"? - Bible Gateway Blog","og_description":"What is the unforgivable sin mentioned in Mark 3, and is it possible you've committed it without realizing it? We investigate what the Bible says.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/what-is-the-unforgivable-sin\/","og_site_name":"Bible Gateway Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BibleGateway","article_published_time":"2012-10-10T22:28:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-01-28T17:04:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":205,"height":205,"url":"https:\/\/bg3-blog.s3.amazonaws.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/28120406\/Adam_Listening_to_the_Voice_of_God_the_Almighty._John_Martin-e1580231060540.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary","twitter_creator":"@BibleGateway","twitter_site":"@BibleGateway","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Andy Rau","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/","name":"Bible Gateway Blog","description":"News and reflections from BibleGateway.com","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/what-is-the-unforgivable-sin\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/bg3-blog.s3.amazonaws.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/28120406\/Adam_Listening_to_the_Voice_of_God_the_Almighty._John_Martin-e1580231060540.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/bg3-blog.s3.amazonaws.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/28120406\/Adam_Listening_to_the_Voice_of_God_the_Almighty._John_Martin-e1580231060540.jpg","width":205,"height":205,"caption":"V"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/what-is-the-unforgivable-sin\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/what-is-the-unforgivable-sin\/","name":"What is the \"Unforgivable Sin\"? - Bible Gateway Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/what-is-the-unforgivable-sin\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2012-10-10T22:28:01+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-28T17:04:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a7a18a8a59fb0079bd11470ad40eecbc"},"description":"What is the unforgivable sin mentioned in Mark 3, and is it possible you've committed it without realizing it? We investigate what the Bible says.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/what-is-the-unforgivable-sin\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/what-is-the-unforgivable-sin\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/what-is-the-unforgivable-sin\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What is the &#8220;Unforgivable Sin&#8221;?"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/a7a18a8a59fb0079bd11470ad40eecbc","name":"Andy Rau","description":"Andy is the former senior manager of content for Bible Gateway. He currently works at Calvin College.","url":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/author\/jrau\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5897"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5897"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53000,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5897\/revisions\/53000"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}