The Ultimate End of Willful Blindness
Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. Matt. 12:31, 32.
The unforgivable sin!
That is quite a thought in the light of Jesus' ministry. How could there even be such a thing as a sin that He cannot forgive? After all, yesterday we noted that Jesus forgave a woman caught in the "very act" of adultery. And the New Testament expresses full and complete forgiveness for all sorts of sins. How could there be one so serious as to be unforgivable either in this life or in eternity?
Here we need to look a little more carefully at today's Scripture reading, which says that the unforgivable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. What does that mean?
To get a fuller perspective we need to go to John 16:8 in which Jesus tells us that a major function of the Holy Spirit is to convict us of sin. And when He does so, I can respond in one of two ways. First, I can drop to my knees, confess, and be forgiven (1 John 1:9). Or, I can tell the Spirit to "bug off," to leave me alone, that I am happy without His interfering in my life.
The function of the Spirit is to bring me to conviction of sin through the avenue of my conscience. Those with a healthy conscience repent, but those who consistently refuse the Spirit's ministry develop what Paul calls a "seared" (1 Tim. 4:2) or "defiled" (Titus 1:15) conscience. That is, their conscience is no longer functional. As a result, the Holy Spirit can no longer reach them. Thus they do not repent and cannot be forgiven. It is no accident that Jesus brought up this teaching in the context of the Jewish leaders labeling His ministry as from Satan (Matt. 12:27). Although they had plenty of evidence to the contrary, by ignoring the Spirit's testimony they were passing judgment on themselves and hardening their hearts. They were in the process of sealing themselves off from the only channel through which God could reach them.
If you are worried about committing this sin, it is a good sign that you haven't done so. On the other hand, as N. T. Wright puts it, "once you declare that the only remaining bottle of water is poisoned, you condemn yourself to dying of thirst."
Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. Matt. 12:31, 32.
The unforgivable sin!
That is quite a thought in the light of Jesus' ministry. How could there even be such a thing as a sin that He cannot forgive? After all, yesterday we noted that Jesus forgave a woman caught in the "very act" of adultery. And the New Testament expresses full and complete forgiveness for all sorts of sins. How could there be one so serious as to be unforgivable either in this life or in eternity?
Here we need to look a little more carefully at today's Scripture reading, which says that the unforgivable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. What does that mean?
To get a fuller perspective we need to go to John 16:8 in which Jesus tells us that a major function of the Holy Spirit is to convict us of sin. And when He does so, I can respond in one of two ways. First, I can drop to my knees, confess, and be forgiven (1 John 1:9). Or, I can tell the Spirit to "bug off," to leave me alone, that I am happy without His interfering in my life.
The function of the Spirit is to bring me to conviction of sin through the avenue of my conscience. Those with a healthy conscience repent, but those who consistently refuse the Spirit's ministry develop what Paul calls a "seared" (1 Tim. 4:2) or "defiled" (Titus 1:15) conscience. That is, their conscience is no longer functional. As a result, the Holy Spirit can no longer reach them. Thus they do not repent and cannot be forgiven. It is no accident that Jesus brought up this teaching in the context of the Jewish leaders labeling His ministry as from Satan (Matt. 12:27). Although they had plenty of evidence to the contrary, by ignoring the Spirit's testimony they were passing judgment on themselves and hardening their hearts. They were in the process of sealing themselves off from the only channel through which God could reach them.
If you are worried about committing this sin, it is a good sign that you haven't done so. On the other hand, as N. T. Wright puts it, "once you declare that the only remaining bottle of water is poisoned, you condemn yourself to dying of thirst."
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