Joel M Bradshaw

22And 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.” 23And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. 27But 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.

28“Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, 29but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”–Mark 3

Reading this passage sometimes brings fear. Over the years, I have been asked many times about this issue. The question usually looks like this: I am worried I may have committed the unpardonable sin. How do I know if I have or not?

THE ACCUSATION: Jesus had been driving out demons and His enemies were accusing him of using Satanic power to do so.

THE THEOLOGICAL REALITY: From a Trinity standpoint, God the Son worked miracles in the power of God the Spirit to the glory of God the Father. So Jesus linked their accusation to calling God Satan. This is evidence that the Holy Spirit is God, for Jesus said that He can be blasphemed.

THE FORGIVENESS ISSUE: The Bible is clear that if you confess your sins to God that He is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse you of all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). So for this not to work means that you don’t trust God with the faith required to confess. Or you don’t believe you have committed a sin and therefore don’t confess it to God. Both apply here to the religious leaders accusing Jesus.

THE THEOLOGICAL REALITY: Jesus spoke of salvation in terms of ‘all who the Father gives to me’ (John 6:37). And the Holy Spirit in terms of ‘guiding you into all truth about Jesus’ (John 16:13). So from a Trinity standpoint, you are saved because God the Father used God the Holy Spirit to draw you to Jesus, God the Son. To be so hard hearted that you would call the Holy Spirit Satan meant that they never would receive Jesus in faith and be forgiven of their sins. Forgiveness isn’t possible for the unrepentant and stubborn who don’t exclusively trust Jesus.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS: My usual answer to the opening question is that if you are truly worried about having committed the unpardonable sin then you haven’t done so. Remember, Jesus leveled that accusation to religious leaders who were so hard-hearted that they linked a wonderful miracle to evil Satan. If reading today’s passage leads you to repent and confess stubborn attitudes to God then that is wonderful. It also means you haven’t committed which Jesus called unpardonable.

If you think about it theologically once again, if a sin is never pardoned then it is always on your books working against you. The only way that happens is if you never trust in Jesus for salvation. If you have trusted Jesus alone to save you then every sin is forgiven. Only the stubborn refusal and rejection of Jesus displayed by those religious leaders in the face of an obvious and verifiable miracle would receive such a condemnation.–JMB