"I think I've committed the unforgivable sin...what do I do?"
This page is part of our Frequently Asked Questions section
Author's Response:
The Bible has several passages addressing the “unforgivable sin.” We often hear from people who want to return to God to repent, but are worried that they have committed the unforgivable sin. Here are two example passages that discuss unforgivable sin:
8
"Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man
also will confess before the angels of God. 9But he who denies Me
before men will be denied before the angels of God. 10"And
anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but to
him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven.
Luke 12:8-10 NKJV
4For
it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the
heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5and
have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6if
they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for
themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. Hebrews 6:4-6 NKJV
First, let us consider what
Jesus meant by the unforgivable sin. The
context of Luke 12 is where Jesus was talking about the Pharisees’ spiritual
blindness to the works of God. Though
very knowledgeable of the scriptures, they rejected the plainly visible truth
about who Jesus was and the power by which he performed miracles.
In fact, they attributed his miracles to the work of Satan (see Luke
11:14-17). Since it was by the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus performed
the miracles, the Pharisees were basically blaspheming the Holy Spirit.
And so, a working definition of the unforgivable sin is "attributing
the works of the Holy Spirit to the work of the devil."
Next, let us consider Hebrews
6:4-6, which talks about people who have known the Holy Spirit, "tasted"
his gifts and have since fallen away. The
Bible says it is impossible to renew those people to repentance…not
because they can’t, but because they will not repent. People who
have fallen away from God in this way will never want to repent from what
they’ve done.
This is a key point that the
devil twists and uses as a tool for despair and hopelessness.
He says something like, “Since you knew God and turned away, you
can’t return to him. You’ve committed the unforgivable sin and you can’t
repent.” This is a lie.
If you want to repent for your sin of falling away from God, you can!
You will be forgiven through the blood of Jesus Christ (see Receive
Forgiveness).
If you are wondering if you’ve
committed the unforgivable sin and desire to repent, then I venture to
say you have not committed the unforgivable sin. Even if you may have denied God
and said evil things about him, I would question whether you ever really knew
God. If you had known his true
nature, I doubt seriously that you would have turned from him in the first
place.
God is a forgiving God.
He welcomes you back home, just as the father welcomed the wayward
(prodigal) son back who wasted his inheritance on wine, women and rock-n-roll (Luke
15:11-32). Jesus died for every
sin you may have committed. He
loves you!
If you desire to repent from your sin, confess your sin of turning away from God and ask for his forgiveness through the blood of Jesus Christ. My page Peace with God should help you do this. Following that, I encourage you take my online course Freedom Journey, which will help you develop a meaningful walk with Jesus in a personal way. It is written with sex addicts in mind, but useful for anyone desiring to discover God in a real way.