The Unpardonable Sin | Vincent Cheung

Now it is common for Satan to harass people by suggesting that they have committed the unpardonable sin. At this point, theology will either sink us into a deeper level of deception, or it will offer a clear statement that removes all deception, to relieve those who ought to be relieved. Almost 100 percent of historically accepted orthodox theology has added to the deception. Christian preachers and thinkers respond by calling the spiritual attack a deception, but their explanation amounts to either reducing the words of Jesus to irrelevance or outright contradicting him on the subject. They claim that this sin is either a persistent and permanent rejection of Christ or it is something that is impossible to commit. This is supposed to be the truth that sets people free. However, this universal teaching is false. Jesus said that if you blaspheme the Son, you can be forgiven, but if you blaspheme the Spirit, you cannot be forgiven. He did not say that if you blaspheme the Son intensely and endlessly, then eventually that is to blaspheme the Spirit. He clearly distinguished between speaking against the Son and speaking against the Spirit. He was referring to those who opposed his ministry of healing and called the work of the Spirit the work of a demon, so that they indirectly spoke against the Spirit and called the Spirit himself a demon. These are different sins because they speak against two different objects or persons. The Pharisees were doing it left and right, in front of everybody, and spreading the blasphemy around like butter. It was easy to commit. It was so easy to commit that when he warned about this sin, Jesus said that “on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak.” He did not say that the Pharisees were making scholarly premeditated blasphemies. He warned that a “careless word” could be blasphemy. This is the truth about the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

The popular antidote for this attack is in fact poison. It attempts to comfort people by dismissing what Jesus said. Some people have indeed committed this sin of speaking against the Holy Spirit, and they will burn in hell forever and ever and ever. The proper way to face the spiritual attack is to study what Jesus said about it to obtain the correct definition. Then if you have never committed it, you will know for sure because any sin you have done will not fit the definition. And the truth has set you free. If you have committed the sin, then it does not change anything even if someone lies to you about it to make you feel better. If you have indeed done it, then no one can help you. I have no authority to change what Jesus said. And if you have committed this sin, I have no power to save you. What I know is that it is possible to commit this sin. Perhaps your pastor does it every Sunday when he criticizes those preachers on television as you shout “Amen!” Perhaps your shelf is full of books by scholars who blaspheme the Spirit in every volume as they persecute those who have faith in God for the ministry of healing and miracles. I don’t know what trash you read. What I know is that you cannot fight deception with deception. When you do, Satan wins. Either the second deception replaces the first, so that the person thinks he is no longer deceived when he is taken even deeper, or the second deception reinforces the first deception, and also takes the person deeper. Either way, compound deceptions make the person more stubborn in his delusion and it becomes harder for him to escape. Satan knows this, and Christian preachers and thinkers have been his accomplices.

This is often a very religious sin. The people of the world usually do not care to speak against the Holy Spirit, if they even know there is a Holy Spirit. If they witness a ministry or miracle of healing and such, they might marvel at the reality and compassion of God, and often become followers of Christ, while others might remain skeptical without calling the ministry the work of demons and wickedness. Some might indeed commit the unpardonable sin at this point, but they are rare in comparison. Most of the people who commit this sin are church leaders and church members. Like the Pharisees, they are those who consider themselves experts in religious matters, and zealous to defend the orthodox faith. It would not occur to them that they have committed this sin, and that they will burn in hell forever. They are so self-righteous that this is the last thing on their minds. They consider themselves the most educated and the most faithful, the Christian elite. Theologians extraordinaire. Apologists supreme. They will harden their hearts and continue their wickedness. And they will burn in hell. If you tell them this, they will become enraged with you, do some of their apologetics on you…and then burn in hell. They did that to Jesus too, and then they burned in hell.

Of course, Satan incites some people to think that they have committed this unpardonable sin when the truth is that they have not. They become pressed down and extremely fearful. Some of them become crazed and obsessed. Some choose the way of denial. Others choose to resign themselves to a life of wickedness. Some commit suicide. It is possible for Satan to cause such damage because people are not clear about what this sin is. The solution is to restate the correct definition of the sin, rebuke the devil in the name of Jesus, and set them free. The most common reaction is destructive. Preachers would rush to offer false assurance, nullifying the words of Jesus in the process, so that even those who have committed this sin would think that they have not done it. This response in itself is blasphemy against Jesus Christ, because it shoves him out of the way in order to introduce a lie to make people feel better about themselves, whether or not they should have relief. And the lie makes it more likely for people to commit the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. People would assume that whatever they have done or whatever they want to do, it is not the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, or that they can be forgiven even if they were to speak against the Holy Spirit, to imply that he is a demon, to call his work in healing the sick and casting out demons deceptive, fanatical, against orthodoxy, or some such thing. They would not think to avoid the sin. In fact, they would think that they perform God a service by doing some of their apologetics on those who follow the example of Jesus, when their whole enterprise is a ministry of blaspheming the Holy Spirit! All this certainly sounds ridiculous to them. See, it is because they are deceived, and they are deceiving others.

For our purpose I have no interest in specifying individuals or groups that might have committed this sin. I might have my opinion, but you can judge for yourself based on what they say. Examples are easy to find. Here I am only telling you what Jesus said. If you do not want to hear it from me, read what he said about it. He said that if you speak against the Holy Spirit, such as to imply that the ministry of healing is the work of a demon, a work of evil, then you are finished. Taking what he said elsewhere about God’s judgment against sin, we deduce that if someone makes a habit of doing this or even build a ministry dedicated to calling the Holy Spirit demonic, then he will suffer more extreme punishment when he burns in hell. All this is a direct application of what Jesus said. You are not accountable to me. If you do not believe me, forget about me and go read this from him. Believe him. But if he said the same thing I am telling you, then more than a few people are in deep trouble. Oh, they are in so much trouble. They will suffer and hurt in ways that I cannot describe or imagine. The pain and anguish will never end. It will never become dull for them. It will be as fresh and intense ten thousand years later as it shall be on the first day. And it will keep going and going and going.

Some people have criticized me for agreeing with Jesus on the definition of this sin and on the fact that it is possible to commit. They blame me for troubling the faith of some and instilling a sense of hopelessness in them. But…I am not troubled and I am not hopeless. How come? Because I have never committed this sin! If the people are troubled by a clear definition of the sin rather than liberated by it, then they are the ones in the wrong, not me. In fact, I have done very well. The ones who blame me are those who perpetuate the lie, and thus continue to allow more and more people to commit this unpardonable sin. I have troubled some people by repeating what Jesus said and agreeing with him, and this is because I have done well. In contrast, my critics are smoothing the way for people to slide into hell and burn forever. They are the problem, not me. Let those who ought to be disturbed, be disturbed. Let those who ought to lose hope, lose hope. In fact, many people instinctively know that the common teaching on this sin is false, so that even if they take hold of it as the only lifeline, the worry remains at the back of their minds. On the other hand, anyone who has not committed this sin no longer needs to wonder, because we know what this sin is, and so anyone who has not done it is fortified by the truth. Satan can no longer find any vulnerability to trick us into thinking that we have done something unpardonable when we have not done it. This is what I have done for the people.

If you are disturbed when I define the sin of adultery directly from the words of Scripture, how is that my fault? Why blame me? Is it not because you have probably committed adultery? If you have not committed adultery, you would be liberated by a proper definition of it, especially if you have been confused about it before. A burden would lift from your shoulders. The dark cloud of condemnation would depart. You would thank me. You would share the teaching with other people. If you become troubled and blame me, you bring condemnation upon yourself, because it is as if you are admitting to something. To criticize me for this would be more like a confession than some heroic attempt to defend everybody’s faith and feelings. Either you have committed adultery, or you have not defined it correctly, and you are angry because I have made you look bad. As Paul said, “Have I become your enemy by telling you the truth?” The more you complain, the more guilty you appear. Why are those people disturbed by a definition of sin? Have they done something that they should be worried about? If so, why weren’t they disturbed before? No one showed them the truth. You see, I have done so well. Perhaps you should blame your conscience instead, because it agrees with me more than you will admit. I must talk about the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit and tell it like it is. People are so dismissive about this ultimate sin, and some are even eager to commit this sin, and I do not want their blood on my hands.

Practically all Christian preachers and thinkers that mention this topic condemn Jesus’ definition of this sin, and also against the possibility of committing it. They would assure people that they have not committed this sin without even asking what these people have done. This does not come from compassion, for true compassion cannot break ranks with Jesus. They are zealous to do away with what Jesus said about it probably because they have done it or they want to do it. Why are you so eager to establish a right to speak against the Holy Spirit? Have you done it yourself? Do you want to do it again? Is this why you are like this? Hmm. The more you deny the definition or the possibility of this sin, the more problems you allow because there is no clarity. The way to fight Satan is with the truth, and not with more deception. The way to fight doubt is not by covering up the conscience, but by the knowledge of the truth and the assurance of the Spirit.

Even Peter’s triple denial of Christ was not unpardonable. What he did was not good, but it was not blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. He did not speak about the Spirit, speak against the Spirit, or make disparaging implications about the Spirit. He spoke about Christ. He denied Christ. He even cursed while he denied Christ to add emphasis. But he did not speak against the Holy Spirit. He did not call the Spirit a demon. He did not say that the ministry of healing the sick and casting out demons was evil, or any such thing. If someone sins like Peter did and becomes disillusioned, the truth would set him free from condemnation and hopelessness. The truth would be that his sin can be forgiven. As the Scriptures say, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” As he repents and returns to Christ, he is restored. This is the solution for those who are being deceived by the devil to think that they have committed the unpardonable sin, when the truth is that they have not.

The blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is what it is, and it is unpardonable. If you have done it, you will never be forgiven. If you have not committed this sin, then whatever you have done, you will be forgiven if you repent and confess that Jesus Christ died in your place. The whole thing is not complicated. You say, “But Jesus died for all sins.” Well, don’t tell me that. Tell him! See how far that gets you. He is the one who said, “The blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven” and “Whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” Tell him: “You died for all sins. So why don’t you shut up, Lord!” Go. Go tell him that. Leave me out of it. If Jesus died for all sins in the sense you mean, then he also died for the sin of the final rejection of Christ, and there is no need to believe in him. You say, “He died for all sins, but each one must receive what he has done by faith.” But if he died for all sins in the sense you mean, in a sense that can even overturn Jesus’ own explicit exception to forgiveness, then he must have also died for the sin of refusing to receive what he has done by faith.

Of course, the Bible is clear that faith is necessary to receive the benefits that Jesus Christ achieved for his people. Anyone who does not receive Jesus by faith will burn in hell. The notion that he died for all sins does not overturn this, but it is understood in the context that salvation is received by faith. Likewise, the Bible is clear that the one who speaks against the Holy Spirit, such as calling the ministry of miracle healing demonic, evil, or some such thing, will never be forgiven. The notion that he died for all sins does not overturn this, but it is understood in the context that blasphemy against the Spirit will never be forgiven. In fact, another way of looking at this is that the one who speaks against the Holy Spirit has never been given faith in Christ and he will never be given faith in Christ. You can declare that Jesus died for all sins in any sense you wish to mean it, as long as the gospel saves only those who have faith, a person who speaks against the Holy Spirit is still locked out forever.

It follows that another attempt at false comfort is also futile, which is to declare that a Christian will never commit the sin of speaking against the Holy Spirit. This is marvelously stupid. This solves nothing. Suppose I say, “God can never die.” This is true. But then I continue, “Therefore, John Smith can never die.” This would be true only if John Smith himself is God. The first premise does not show that John Smith is God, and it does not show that John Smith will never die, because John Smith might have nothing to do with this first premise. But if John Smith dies, it shows that he has never been God in the first place. The first premise is true — God can never die. But we cannot establish that John Smith is God by this premise. The second premise is missing: “John Smith is God.” In an argument, the first premise is never meant to establish the second premise, but they are both supposed to be known as true, so that the conclusion follows from them. If we can establish that John Smith himself is God by some other way, then we can use the first premise to deduce that John Smith will never die.

We can say that a believer will never fall away, because God will keep him by divine power, and a believer will never commit the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. However, this premise does nothing to show if a specific person is a believer. It provides assurance only if we can establish that a person is a believer by some other way. Only then can we deduce that this person has never committed the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, and that he never will commit this sin because God will keep him from it. Otherwise, if he has spoken against the Spirit, and if a Christian would never commit this sin, then obviously he has never been a Christian. All claims and appearances are then irrelevant. For him, the doctrine that a believer will never commit the unpardonable sin becomes a pronouncement of ultimate damnation instead of assurance.

All of this is simple and impossible to refute, but people will still resist and criticize me. Why? It is because I am correct about this, and as much as they want to attack Jesus openly, they do not want to expose themselves as false disciples. They dislike the idea of an unpardonable sin. They refuse to honor the Holy Spirit as much as God does. They resent God for extending this unique jealousy toward the Spirit. They resist because their own historic and modern heroes might have committed this sin, and have convinced many to do the same. It is because they themselves might have done it, repeatedly and gleefully, full of mocking words and condescending tones. Now someone tells them they will reap what they have sown, and they are afraid and angry. As Jesus said, “There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Even the sinful rich man said, “Father Abraham, at least send someone from the dead to warn my brothers, so that they will not come here to suffer with me.” These “Christians” are worse than this rich man who went to hell. They strive to tell everyone, “Be comforted. What Jesus said does not apply. You have not committed this sin. In fact, it is probably impossible to commit.” When the blind leads the blind, they will both fall into the ditch. They wish to lead others to hell with them. The result is that these liars will suffer even more than others in hell, where they will burn but they cannot die.

We talk about the unpardonable sin not because we wish to frighten people and rub it in their faces. We have a duty to talk about it, so that their blood will not be on our hands, so that God will not hold us accountable for their damnation. We wish to warn people about it, so that they will not commit this sin, and so that they will not endorse those who claim to be teachers but who diminish the seriousness of this sin. The accepted orthodoxy, characterized by a man-made theology of unbelief and defeat, actually increases the rate of depression, apostasy, blasphemy, and by extension also increases the rate of terminal tragedies such as suicide and damnation. This is because man-made orthodoxy does not believe in the promises of God for deliverance, and it does not accept the words of Jesus about sin. From the view of biblical orthodoxy, this traditional orthodoxy is in fact heretical and demonic. The good news is that it has no authority over us. If you flush it down the toilet, people cannot do much to you. As Jesus said, “Do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Even if I twist the words of Christ to destroy his teaching, he still said what he said, and even you would still know he said what he said. God will not send you to hell based on my words, but his words. So it does not help you at all to criticize what I said. If you wish to sin, but still save yourself, then refute God. That’s all you need to do. Destroy him if you can, and you will be saved. But if you have not committed this sin, then you have not committed this sin. And now that we are clear about it, you are free in Christ Jesus.

*Adapted from On Spiritual Attacks

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