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Bible Question: Can you help me understand the "unforgivable sin"? Can a believer
commit it?
Bible Answer: The sin you are referring to is commonly called the "unpardonable
sin." Two gospels, Matthew and Mark, record Jesus' words as follows:
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He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather
with Me scatters. "Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven
men, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. "And whoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall
be forgiven him; but whoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit,
it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age, or in the age
to come. (NASB) Matthew 12:30-32 |
and in Mark,
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Truly I say to you, all sins shall 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" - because they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit." (NASB)
Mark 3:28-30 |
The table below shows which sins can be forgiven and which will
not be forgiven.
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Situation |
Forgiven? |
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Any sin and blasphemy |
Yes! |
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Word against the Son of Man |
Yes! |
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Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit |
No! |
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Word against the Holy Spirit |
No! |
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Situation. Mark 3:21-22 tells us there were so many people that Jesus and
His disciples did not have time to themselves. There were people
everywhere. The people had overwhelmed Him and His followers.
They were amazed at the miracles Jesus was performing and they
were asking, "This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?" (Matt.
12:23) Apparently, this was a question the people were asking
their "spiritual leaders." The Greek text says that His own family
came to "seize" Him because they believed He had "lost His senses."
But the Pharisees had another opinion. The Greek text says the
Pharisees were constantly, continually telling the people, "This
man casts out demons only by Beelzebub the ruler of the demons."
In essence, they were saying, "No! This is not the Son of David
- he is empowered by a devil." I cannot help but picture the laymen
being excited, believing Messiah was present and wanting to know
who Jesus was. So they went to their "leaders" for spiritual guidance.
What a sad situation - trusting people who are seeking truth from
"spiritual leaders" who have evil motives. We need to pray for
our leaders . . .
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