THE UNPARDONABLE SIN

In the Chronicles of Avonlea, the writer L.M. Montogomery, makes this remark in the short story, ‘Each in His Own Tongue,’ the old man Abel Blair says this, when he discovers that the grandfather of the young boy has forbidden his grandchild to ever play the violin although the boy has an extraordinary talent,

“Felix Moore will live," he said positively, "You can't kill that kind until their work is done. He's got a work to do–if the minister'll let him do it. And–if the minister don't let him do it, then I wouldn't be in that minister's shoes when he comes to the judgment–no, I'd rather be in my own. It's an awful thing to cross the purposes of the Almighty, either in your own life or anybody else's. Sometimes I think it's what's meant by the unpardonable sin–ay, that I do!"

How often we have seen the hand of God at work in the miracles that take place in our lives and yet there are many who refuse to give God the credit.  They will thank their luck, their stars, the  people who helped them – everybody else but the true Giver of all good things.

Let us see what Jesus meant when He spoke of the unpardonable sin in the Gospel of Mark 3:28-29 and in Luke 12:10.

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Mark 3:28-29

28 Truly, I say to you, every sin will be forgiven humankind, even insults to God, how­­ever numerous. 29 But who­ever slanders the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven: he carries the guilt of his sin forever.”

Luke 12:10

10 There will be pardon for the one who criticizes the Son of Man, but there will be no pardon for the one who slanders the Holy Spirit.

Fr. F, asks us to look at the context and the setting in which Jesus spoke and this will help us to better understand what He meant.  The Pharisees refused to give God the glory for the various healings that accompanied the work of Jesus wherever He preached.  They did not doubt the validity of the healings but attributed it to Satan, accusing Jesus of being an agent of the devil.  If they believed this, they had  closed their eyes to the truth and light.

In  the Gospel of Mark, the sin against the Holy Spirit is deliberately shutting one’s eyes to the light and calling good evil.

In  Luke it is the final apostasy – turning away from God’s salvation.


For more in-depth commentary go here:

http://www.holyspiritinteractive.net/columns/francisjamieson/hardsayings/unforgivablesin.asp