WHAT IS “SIN AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT?”

What is Sin against the Holy Spirit

***This question was asked to The Archbishop of Canterbury (Justin Webly). However, this was my own answer as His Grace will also speak on this at the Live Bible Study.

 

 There is something am really struggling with. I don’t understand which is “blasphemy against the holy spirit” I don’t know what it means and what it is and I don’t remember all of my sins in the past so I don’t know if I’ve ever committed this sin or not which is really worrying me and confusing me because I got baptized last Sunday and the bible says god forgives everyone of their sins which I know that but it says blasphemy against the holy spirit is an unforgivable sin and don’t know what it means by that. – Mitch Thomson (Location Unknown)

Hi Mitch, I want to answer your question and I hope you read with open heart. It will be a long one though. I thank God that you have been baptized and I thank God you have confessed Jesus as your personal Lord and savior. As much as baptism is good and great, it was for all your sins that Jesus died for. The bible said, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

The death of Jesus is what guarantees that your sins are forgiven and not baptism. Baptism is for believers who have come to Christ and not for unbelievers who will come to Christ. By baptism, you have publicly declared that which you have done privately. By baptism you declare that you died with Christ and resurrected with him and the life you live now is no longer yours but his. The bible said

“Or aren’t you aware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We therefore were buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life”. Romans 6:3-4

By confessing that Jesus is your Lord and by believing in him, you became born again, you received brand new spirit and you certainly became perfect in the sight of God. You don’t need to remember your past sins anymore, you don’t need to confess them anymore and you don’t need to continue in them anymore because your past is dead! You do not exist to sin and sin does not exist to you because you have received the spirit of God, the perfect Spirit! The bible said in Romans 6:11 “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” And the Bible also said concerning your new life in Christ “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17

Now, you are worried concerning a particular portion of the scripture that says the sin against the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven. I was worried about it too until I came across the explanation just like you are coming across it today. Let’s look at that portion of the scripture according to context

“Truly I tell you, the sons of men will be forgiven all sins and blasphemies, as many as they utter. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of eternal sin.” Jesus made this statement because they were claiming, “He has an unclean spirit.”… Mark 3:28-30

Jesus actually said this to them after they couldn’t believe in him in spite of all the miracles he did. Jesus said as many sins as possible can be forgiven but that sin against the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven forever. Sin against the Holy Spirit is the deliberate confession against Jesus and his Lordship after one have experienced and felt the signs. It doesn’t mean people of other faith have sinned against the Holy Spirit and Jesus wasn’t even saying that the Jews had sinned against the Holy Spirit. He was only informing them that they are drawing near to that sin. Why can’t it be forgiven since God has forgiven all sins? I will tell you.

There is no sin that God can’t forgive. However, sin against the Holy Spirit is simply the outright and deliberate rejection of God’s forgiveness and salvation which often comes by outward or inner confession. So, no matter what you do, you cannot sin against the Holy Spirit unless you deliberately declared Jesus is no longer your Lord and savior and maintain that stand till you depart from earth. Let me explain with a verse of the scriptures

“For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved” Romans 10:10

You first of all believed in Jesus, you were convinced that he died for your sins and you confessed what you believe and got saved. In the same way, when you disbelieve in your heart, you will definitely confess with your mouth too that your Jesus isn’t your Lord. If one maintains that stand till there is no longer opportunity to submit to God then it is the sin against the Holy Spirit. Not because God can’t forgive such a person but because the person rejected God’s forgiveness. In 1 John 5:16-17, John talked about two kinds of sin, a sin that leads to death and that which doesn’t lead to death but in the previous verses he had acknowledged that every believer in Jesus have overcome the world. So, you are no longer a sinner and you cannot sin against the Holy Spirit as a Christians.

I believe this portion of the scripture will clear you and also bless your life.

1 John 5:1-12 (NIV)

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony. Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

God bless you.

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