QUESTION: Matthew 12:31 says, "Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men." Is it possible that a believer may commit this unforgivable sin?

ANSWER: It is evident from John 10:26-30; Romans 8:33-39; Hebrews 10:14-17; 1 John 2:12 and many other Scriptures that it is impossible for a believer to commit this unforgivable sin. These Scriptures assure us that a believer's sins are forgiven him for His Name's sake, that these sins will be remembered no more, that the believer will never perish and that nothing can ever separate the believer from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.

To understand better what the unforgivable sin is, we need to look at those to whom the Lord addressed these solemn words and what it was that they did. Reading the full account given us in Matthew 12:22-37, we find the following:

1. The Lord had just healed a man who had been possessed with a demon and was also blind and dumb (verse 22).

2. The Pharisees, who were the religious leaders, said that the Lord had done this through Beelzebub, the prince of demons (verse 24).

3. The Lord said that He had cast out this demon by the Spirit of God (verse 28).

From these verses we see that the Pharisees were attributing the miracles and works of power which our Lord Jesus did by the power of the Holy Spirit of God to that which represented Satan (verse 26). This was speaking injuriously (blasphemy) against the Holy Spirit. There is no forgiveness for this sin because it shows a condition of heart hopelessly hardened against the light of God. This is not a sin into which a believer, through carelessness, may fall; such as Peter, who denied the Lord three times. Nor is it a sin of ignorance. It is a willful and deliberate rejection of the manifest power of the Holy Spirit and amounts to a final rejection of the testimony of God to His Son Jesus Christ.

In relation to the Holy Spirit, the believer is exhorted to so walk as not to grieve the Holy Spirit whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:25-32).

—John McNeil