RPG Adults
A KINGDOM DIVIDED? – UNPARDONABLE SIN?
TUESDAY, MAY 19
Mark 3:22-30
Memory verse: Mark 3:28-29
“…All sins shall be forgiven
unto the sons of men…”
A KINGDOM DIVIDED? – UNPARDONABLE SIN?
An unpardonable sin is a sin that cannot be pardoned even if the person repents of that sin before God in Christ! Is there such a sin? Some say that it is a sin against the Holy Spirit. But every sin man commits is a sin against the Holy Spirit just as much as it is a sin against Christ and God. When Ananias lied to Peter, the charge against him was that he sinned against the Holy Spirit (cf. Acts 5:3). There is no such sin as an unpardonable sin. The view of an unpardonable sin is based on popular theology, not the Holy Scriptures. It is a dangerous error because this view undermines the infinite worth of Christ’s death on the cross. Christ’s death at Calvary has the power to cleanse and forgive any and every sin committed by sinful man. To say there is a sin that not even the blood of Christ can cleanse is an abomination to God who raised Jesus Christ from the dead because Christ’s salvific work can forgive all sins.
The context of Mark 3:22-30 is the scribes rejecting Christ and saying that He was of Beelzebub, and sinning against the Holy Spirit, the One whom God sent to convict all sinners so they can be saved. If the scribes were to see the light, repent in the future, and believe in Christ, they would be saved like all sinners. Have we not rejected the Gospel several times, before the grace of God convicts us again, then we repent and receive Christ as Lord and Saviour? The parallel passage is Matthew 12:24-32. In Matthew, Jesus warned them that the sin against the Son of man can be forgiven but the sin against the Holy Ghost cannot be forgiven. Jesus meant that when we sin against a fellow man, we can find him and seek forgiveness by paying the penalty for our sins. But when we sin against the Holy Ghost, where can we find Him to seek forgiveness? Even if we can find Him, what can we give Him to make restitution for our sins? There is nothing man can give to God that is not created and owned by God. Only in and through Christ can a sinner be saved. But these scribes said that He came from Beelzebub! Christ wanted to convict the scribes of their foolishness so that they might not reject Him but be saved.
THOUGHT: If there is an unpardonable sin, the worth of Christ’s death will not be infinite.
PRAYER: Father, help me to know the truth that sets me free from all errors.