The Unpardonable Sin
by M. R. DeHaan O NE OF THE MOST MISUNDERSTOOD SUBJECTS in the Bible, one causing untold heartache and sorrow concerns the so-called “ unpardonable sin.” The sin against the Holy Ghost is mentioned by the Lord Jesus Christ in His address to the religious rulers of Israel who had attributed the work of Christ to Beelzebub the prince of demons. The sin unto death is mentioned by John the apostle in the fifth chapter of his First Epistle, and was spoken to BELIEVERS, who alone can commit the “ sin unto death.” Neither of these, however, is the unpardonable sin. In fact, the expression, “ unpar donable sin,” occurs nowhere in the Bible but is the name applied by men to one or both of the aforemen tioned sins. These three sins refer to three different classes of people. The sin against the Holy Ghost was a sin committed by a nation in rejecting the testimony of the Spirit concerning the authority of the Lord Jesus. The “ sin unto death” is a sin which is committed by the individual Christian and born-again believer in this dispensation. The unpardonable sin, accepting that term for the sake of distinction, is committed by the sinner. Let us take first the “ sin against the Holy Ghost.” The record is found in three of the Gospels, Matthew 12:31-32, Mark 3:28-29 and Luke 12:10. There is no reference to it in John. John is the Gospel of the grace of God through faith, Matthew is the Gospel of the Kingdom, Mark is the Gospel of the Servant of Jehovah, and Luke is the Gospel of the Son of Man. John empha sizes the one necessity in this church age: faith in the finished work of the Saviour. In searching the writings of theologians and com mentaries, one is forcibly struck by the lack of clarity, and the discouraging disagreement among Bible stu dents in interpreting these passages on the sin against the Holy Ghost. This alone indicates that it is one of the most difficult passages to interpret. There are those who say that to use the name of the Holy Spirit in vain constitutes the sin which cannot be pardoned. Others believe from the context that the sin consists in attribut ing to the devil the works of the Lord Jesus Christ which He performed through the Spirit. This seems to be implied from the record in Mark. Jesus had been casting out demons. The scribes and leaders of the people accused Him of doing it by the power of Beelzebub, the prince of devils. That accusa tion was the occasion for His making the declaration about blasphemy against the Spirit. From this setting, the sin may therefore be defined as the sin of rejecting
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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