Unforgivable Sin; Mark 3-5

May the mumbling commence!

What is unforgivable – even for God?  Is there anything unforgivable?  Read from Mark chapter three:

Then he went indoors, but again such a crowd collected that it was impossible for them even to eat a meal. When his relatives heard of this, they set out to take charge of him, for people were saying, "He must be mad!"

The scribes who had come down from Jerusalem were saying that he was possessed by Beelzebub, and that he drove out devils because he was in league with the prince of devils.

So Jesus called them to him and spoke to them in a parable – "How can Satan be the one who drives out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, it cannot last either. And if Satan leads a rebellion against Satan – his days are certainly numbered. No one can break into a strong man's house and steal his property, without first tying up the strong man hand and foot. But if he did that, he could ransack the whole house.

Believe me, all men's sins can be forgiven and their blasphemies. But there can never be any forgiveness for blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. That is an eternal sin."

He said this because they were saying, "He is in the power of an evil spirit." (Verses 20-30)

“There can never be any forgiveness for blasphemy.”  Never is a long time.  I know of people who have read this passage and wondered if they have committed this unforgivable sin.  I was told by one of my spiritual fathers that if you are worrying about committing this sin, then it is highly unlikely that you have fallen in this way.

But what does it mean to blaspheme the Holy Spirit?  In the context of this passage, the scribes were accusing Jesus of using the power of Satan to drive out demons.  Jesus was actually using the power of the only living God – the power of the Spirit of the only living God.  The scribes misnamed the working of the Holy Spirit and had fallen into the unforgivable sin…

Should this passage not give us pause to criticize the work of another Christian?  Think about it.  If we brashly claim that another Christian’s ministry is powered by Satan and we denounce it as such we run the risk of an unforgivable sin.

In these circumstances, we must stay the tongue and listen for the Spirit.  It is better to err on the side of silence than it is to speak boldly against another’s ministry that actually has been done in the Spirit.

Help us remember, O Lord, that our Christian lives are not lived in competition with one another but in collaboration, cooperation and compromise.  Let us listen together for the Spirit of God to speak through the Scripture, through tradition and through one another.

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out