The Unpardonable Sin

The Unpardonable Sin
Mark 3: 20 – 35.

Introduction.

We don’t like to rank sins.  This puts us in good company with other Protestant Christians.  In fact, this is one of the differences between Protestant and Catholic theologies.

In Catholic theology, there are basically two types of sins.  There are venial sins, which can be forgiven.  Then, there are mortal sins, which can be forgiven but are just a little bit harder to forgive.  A person who commits a mortal sin is required to confess that sin and all the accompanying details of the sin to a priest and then perform acts of penance.  Unless, of course, the sinner dies before confessing and performing penance.  In that case, the person’s soul goes immediately to Hell.

The difference between venial sins and mortal sins is not exactly precise.  A mortal sin is defined as a sin which is “grave” in nature and has been committed in full knowledge that it was a sin.  A mortal sin separates the sinner from God.  A venial sin is not “grave” in nature and was not committed in full knowledge…therefore, it represents only a “partial loss of Grace” and does not break fellowship / relationship with God.

Protestant theology—beginning with Martin Luther’s 95 Theses he posted on the door of the church in Wittenberg—rejects the Catholic system of confession and penance.  Instead, we believe every individual has the freedom and responsibility to confess their sins directly to Jesus, with no need of an intermediary priest to hear our confessions and pronounce our forgiveness.

We also reject the Catholic idea of mortal and venial sins.  Instead, we believe that all sin separates us from God.  Some sins are more effective at completely destroying your life and relationship with other people.  But, all sins effectively separate us from God.  There is no such thing as a small sin.

But, if we take the Bible seriously…we need to pay attention to something Jesus said about an eternal sin.  We usually refer to this as the Unpardonable Sin.

Mark 3: 28 – 29, “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 (NIV).”

In one sense, we can say that Jesus was very specific in describing the Unpardonable Sin.  He tells us that whoever “blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven.”  But, that raises a whole list of other questions for us.  Our primary question is: What is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?

One way to answer this question is to define the terms “blasphemy” and “Holy Spirit.” 

The Holy Spirit is the eternal Spirit of God.  The Spirit was present with God in the act of creation—hovering over the emptiness and breathing life into the first human beings.  The Spirit descended on Jesus at his baptism and empowered Jesus to accomplish his ministry as well as his crucifixion and resurrection.  The Spirit is the gift of God, who was promised by Jesus and later given to all believers at the Day of Pentecost.  The Spirit empowered the early Christians and continues to empower us to live the kind of life God wants us to live and enables us to do the ministries God has called us to do.  God has not left us powerless.

In a general sense, “blasphemy” means the same thing as “slander.”  In this sense, it means to use “abusive speech” about other people—to speak disparagingly of others or even to tell outright lies about others.  In a more technical sense, it refers to taking the Lord’s name in vain, making a claim to be equal to God, or even denying the saving power of God.

I am not sure that defining these terms helps us out very much, since Jesus refers to a very specific form of blasphemy—blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.  That leads me to believe we need to look at Jesus’ comments in context of what was taking place when Jesus named the Unpardonable Sin.

Mark 3: 20 – 35.

20 Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat.

21 When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."

22 And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons."

23 So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: "How can Satan drive out Satan?

24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

26 And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come.

27 In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house.

28 I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them.

29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin."

30 He said this because they were saying, "He has an evil spirit."

31 Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him.

32 A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you."

33 "Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked.

34 Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers!

35 Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother."

(NIV)

This is the first time in the Gospel of Mark where we encounter Mark’s “sandwich technique.”  He begins by telling a story, then interrupts the story with another story, and then returns to finish the original story.  In this example, Mark tells us that Jesus’ family left their hometown of Nazareth to come to Capernaum where Jesus was teaching and healing the sick.  Before Jesus’ family arrive in Capernaum, Jesus gets into a controversy with the Pharisees.  Then, Mark finishes the sandwich by telling us Jesus’ family arrived.

Whenever Mark uses this “sandwich technique,” he is telling us that the two stories have something in common.  Therefore, we should read the stories together and interpret them together.  They should not be separated.

Jesus’ Family.

When Mark introduced Jesus’ family, he didn’t tell us exactly who he was talking about.  We have to read the very end of the story to discover it was Jesus’ mother and brothers.  But Mark did tell us why they traveled from Nazareth to Capernaum.  They wanted to arrest Jesus—to physically take control of him—because they believed Jesus was out of his mind.

It is easy for us to judge Mary, James, Jude and the others at this point, because we have a luxury they did not have.  We know about the crucifixion and resurrection.  We know that Jesus is the fulfillment of Israel’s hope in a coming Messiah.  But, they did not know.

All they knew is that Jesus had left the family carpentry business.  It is possible that Joseph had died, and they expected Jesus to take over in his place as the first born son.

All they knew is that Jesus was preaching about the Kingdom of God.  Crowds of people were attracted to Jesus, but the religious leaders were not.  In fact, the religious leaders were becoming more and more hostile toward Jesus.  More than likely, the family knew this would lead to serious consequences for Jesus.  He could be executed for preaching instead of working as a carpenter.

This leads me to believe one of two things was going through the mind of Jesus’ family.  Either, they wanted to protect Jesus, or they were trying to protect the family.  If they were trying to protect Jesus, then they wanted Jesus to stop preaching so that he could live.  If they were trying to protect the family, they wanted Jesus to stop preaching so they would not be embarrassed by what he was doing.  (Of course, if Jesus were to be executed, they would have been even more embarrassed.)

Whatever their motivation…Jesus’ family wanted him to stop.

Teachers of the Law.

Mark tells us that teachers of the Law had traveled from Jerusalem to check Jesus out.  These men did not come so they could learn from Jesus or to repent and become disciples.  More than likely, they represented an official investigation.

Word about Jesus, his teaching about the Kingdom of God, and his miracles had spread to the religious capitol.  Therefore, the religious leaders needed to investigate to see for themselves what was going on.

These religious leaders did more than just investigate.  They made an immediate judgment about Jesus and his ministry.  They thought Jesus was possessed by a demon.

In fact, they gave the name of the demon.  It was Beelzeboul, the prince of all demons.  This is a reference to Satan himself.

One of the things Mark wants us to learn about Jesus through reading his Gospel is that Jesus is the Son of God.  Mark tells us in the very first verse that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.  Then, Mark tells us about what happened at Jesus’ baptism.  The Spirit descended in the form of a dove and a voice from Heaven said, “This is my Son.”  At the end of Mark, a Roman soldier stood at the foot of the cross and watched Jesus die.  His immediate response was, “Surely this man was the Son of God.”  Since this was the only human to confess Jesus as the Son of God in Mark, I believe it makes a theological point.  The cross is the only way to know who Jesus really is. 

Until the cross no human recognized Jesus as the Son of God.  But, the demons recognized him.  Whenever Jesus encountered a demon in the Gospel of Mark, the demons bowed down to him.  They confessed, “I know who you are” and showed reverence to Jesus.  But Jesus would not let the demons tell others about his true identity.

Since Jesus had demonstrated power over demons, and since the demons recognized Jesus and bowed down to him, the religious leaders assumed Jesus was using the power of Satan to cast out demons.

Jesus told the teacher of the Law how ridiculous this idea is by telling two parables.

In the first parable, Jesus described an internal struggle within the kingdom of Satan.  If Satan is casting out demons, then his kingdom is doomed to fail.  Satan wants to take control over people’s lives.  He wants to distract people away from God’s will and ways.  He wants to lead people into destructive lifestyles, defined by continuing in a life of sin.  He wants to do to us what he did to Adam and Eve—(Genesis 3: 4 – 5, “’You will not surely die,’ the serpent said to the woman.  ‘For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil’ (NIV).”)  According to Jesus, if Satan is casting out his own demons, then Satan’s kingdom is losing ground.  It will be defeated by a civil war.

In the second parable, Jesus described an external threat to Satan and his kingdom.  The only way to rob a strong man is for a stronger man to overpower him and tie him up.  In this parable, Satan is the strong man, and Jesus is the stronger man who has already tied up Satan.  Now, the kingdom of Satan is under attack.  Satan’s kingdom is losing ground, because the Kingdom of God is advancing into enemy territory.

Notice that the religious leaders do not question that Jesus has the power to cast out demons.  They question where that power comes from.  That is why Jesus told two parables in order to set up a choice between two options.  Either Satan is fighting against himself, or Jesus is defeating Satan from the outside.  Since it is ridiculous to think of Satan fighting against himself, we are left to believe that Jesus is defeating Satan by the power of God—the Holy Spirit at work in him.

Jesus’ True Family.

When Jesus’ family finally arrives in Capernaum, they cannot get to Jesus.  Jesus is in the house.  The crowd is too large.  The family cannot get in the house.  All they can do is send a message to Jesus.

I believe Mark wants us to see a difference between the crowd and Jesus’ family.  The crowd is gathered around Jesus.  The family is left on the outside looking in.  Jesus says that the ones gathered around him are his true family.  Those on the outside are not a part of Jesus’ family.

At this point, I think we are supposed to draw a comparison between Jesus’ biological family and the religious leaders from Jerusalem.  Both the family and the religious leaders are on the outside looking in.  Why are they on the outside?  They are outside, because they have made similar accusations against Jesus.  His family said he was “out of his mind.”  The religious leaders said Jesus was possessed by a demon.  It is possible that these two accusations mean the same thing.  In the ancient world, people who were “out of their minds” were typically believed to be possessed by a demon.

There is one more similarity between Jesus’ family and the religious leaders.  They both tried to stop Jesus.  His family tried to stop Jesus by physically taking him back home to Nazareth.  The religious leaders tried to stop Jesus by turning the crowds against him.  They thought no one would continue to follow Jesus if they could discredit him by accusing him of demon possession.

Mark is telling us that the old sources of power do not provide special advantages in the Kingdom of God.  The ancient Jews placed a high value on their nationality, their religion, their family of origin and their standing in the community.  Jesus places a higher value on the work of God, which is empowered by the Holy Spirit.  The person who acknowledges the work of the Spirit is on the inside with Jesus.  The person who depends on their nationality, religion, family of origin or social standing is left on the outside looking in.

I don’t believe Jesus wanted his family and the religious leaders to remain on the outside.  In fact, I think Jesus actually left the door open for both his family and the religious leaders to come in and become a part of Jesus’ true family.  Notice Jesus’ last words in this section: “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

“Whoever” means that anyone can become a part of Jesus’ true family.  All they had to do was acknowledge that Jesus is doing God’s work and join him in doing the same.

Conclusion.

Ultimately the Unpardonable Sin is rejecting Jesus and trying to stop his work in the world.  To reject Jesus is to reject God’s saving Grace which was demonstrated in the words and actions of Jesus.

There are two ways a person can commit the Unpardonable Sin…personally and publicly.

Jesus’ family demonstrates the personal side.  They willfully rejected that Jesus is the Son of God and Israel’s promised Messiah.  Therefore, they were blind and deaf to the Holy Spirit’s call.

The religious leaders demonstrate the public side.  They did everything in their power to turn other people against Jesus.  They could not even recognize the difference between good and evil.  They said the good work of Jesus was evil.  They claimed their evil works were good.  They challenged and sabotaged the activity of the Holy Spirit.

If you are worried that you might have committed the Unpardonable Sin, you can stop worrying.  The person who has committed the Unpardonable Sin does so without any sense of guilt or remorse.  That person has so rejected the work of the Holy Spirit that he or she does not believe in the difference between good and evil.  They don’t even believe they have sinned.