The Unpardonable Sin

According to A Wesleyan-Holiness Theology by J. Kenneth Grider, page296, "the unpardonable sin" has been widely misunderstood, partly because of incorrect interpretation of a few isolated passages of Scripture, and partly because of an excessive zeal to secure an immediate response to the gospel in evangelistic services.

This sin no doubt consists of a repeated and willful attributing of the work of the Holy Spirit to demons. This is what Mark 3:28-30 suggests; "'I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.' He said this because they were saying, 'He has an evil spirit.'" Attributing the Holy Spirit's work to an evil spirit is blasphemy (cf. Matt. 12:31-32). It is unpardonable because the person sets himself or herself into this kind of stance and will not let God transform the mind and forgive. It is therefore unpardonable more from our standpoint than from God's—for we read elsewhere in Scripture that God will graciously forgive anyone at all who asks for pardon (see Hos. 14:4; Eph. 4:32; Rom. 8:32; Col 2:13; Heb. 10:17; Luke 15:11-32).

Some people use Isa. 63:10 to teach that God will refuse to forgive some people. There we read: "Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned and became their enemy and he himself fought against them." Adam Clarke is no doubt correct when he suggests that this turning to become their enemy, on God's part, is a reference to the Last Judgment—when probation is past.

Some people feel that 1 John 5:16 refers to the "unpardonable sin"; "There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that." This more likely refers to a sin that carries the death penalty in civil law. We are not necessarily to pray that the civil law's penalty will be alleviated, although God will, of course, forgive the repentant sinner.

The most important thing to remember about the unpardonable sin is that all who fear that they have committed it, and are concerned about the matter, have not.