Sinning against the Holy Spirit - Unforgivable? How does one commit it?

Shawn10538

i seem to remember a doctrine that says that the only sin that is unforgivable is a sin against the holy spirit. Is apostasy a sin against the holy spirit?

Burger Time

My understanding was that sinning against the "holy spirit" was accepting Jesus, gaining holy spirit then rejecting both it and Jesus as your only sourch of salvation.

Open mind

This last week's WT study's theme was "Have You Sinned Against the Holy Spirit?"

It came a hair's breadth away from saying that if you have become an apostate, you've sinned against the Holy Spirit. Most dubs will easily be able to make the jump across that hair.

Open Mind

nicolaou

***w522/15pp.126-127QuestionsFromReaders***

What is the unforgivable sin against the holy spirit that Jesus spoke about?—B. E., New York.Jesus had just cured a demon-possessed man who was blind and dumb. The crowds marveled, but the Pharisees scoffed and said Jesus did it by means of Beelzebub. Jesus refuted their claim by showing that if Satan expelled Satan he would be divided against himself and his kingdom could not stand. Also, if Jesus expelled demons by means of Beelzebub, by whose means did their sons expel them? Then he said: "Every kind of sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the spirit will not be forgiven. For example, whoever speaks a word against the Son of man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the holy spirit, it will not be forgiven him, no, not in the present system of things nor in that to come."—Matt. 12:22-32, NW.

They could speak against the Son of man and later be forgiven on the grounds of their ignorance of the facts about him. Their sins of ignorance are forgivable if they do not resist knowledge of the truth when they are brought face to face with it. However, it was different when the Pharisees said: "This fellow does not expel the demons except by means of Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons." Why so? Because this was a sin against the holy spirit, since manifestly such a cure as Jesus had just performed could not be by human power. To say it was of Satan was illogical, as Jesus showed them. The Pharisees did not say such cures were of Satan when their sons cast out demons. Why arbitrarily say it now, in Jesus’ case? Why say it was God’s spirit when their sons did it, but deny the manifest operation of the holy spirit when Jesus did it? Why? Because they did not love the truth and did not want to be led to the truthful conclusion that they were false teachers and Jesus was the Messiah. To admit this would mean giving up many selfish practices. Too many selfish things were at stake for them.

So they resisted the true conclusion to which Jesus’ works should have led them. Let them speak against the Son of man if they wished; still they should have listened to the witness borne him by his works, works performed by the power of the holy spirit. Jesus said: "If I am not doing the works of my Father, do not believe me. But if I am doing them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works." (John 5:36; 10:37, 38, NW) When they said these miraculous works were done by Satan they sinned against the spirit. They blasphemed God’s spirit, saying it was of Satan. Willfully and for selfish reasons they resisted the display of its power. To such ones Stephen said: "Obstinate men and uncircumcised in hearts and ears, you are always resisting the holy spirit."—Acts 7:51, NW.

It was this willful quality of the sin that made it unforgivable, because it made them unteachable, beyond correction, and opposed to God’s provision for forgiveness. As Jesus said: "Whoever blasphemes against the holy spirit has no forgiveness forever, but is guilty of everlasting sin." (Mark 3:28-30, NW) There is no sacrifice to cover such willful sinning against the holy spirit, "not in the present system of things nor in that to come." This does not mean such Pharisees will return in the thousand-year judgment day to find themselves still unforgiven; that would accomplish nothing. It means that the operation of God’s spirit will be very manifest then, as it was when Jesus was on earth, and that then, just as when Jesus was on earth, some will sin against the manifest operation of the holy spirit, and especially so at the end of the thousand-year reign when Satan will be loosed for the final test on earth’s inhabitants. Such sin will still be unforgivable, at that distant time.

Writes John: "If anyone catches sight of his brother sinning a sin that does not incur death, he will ask, and he will give life to him, yes, to those not sinning so as to incur death. There is a sin that does incur death. It is concerning that sin that I do not tell him to make request. All unrighteousness is sin; and yet there is a sin that does not incur death." (1 John 5:16, 17, NW) If one sins in ignorance or because of human imperfections, forgiveness is available. But for willful sinning there is no sin-atoning sacrifice: "If we practice sin willfully after having received the accurate knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice for sins left, but there is a certain fearful expectation of judgment and there is a fiery jealousy that is going to consume those in opposition." (Heb. 10:26, 27, NW) Willful sin, with eyes wide open to the undeniable operation of God’s holy spirit or active force, is unforgivable and we should not pray for the forgiveness of such sinners. Even before Christ’s time intercession was not to be made for such ones. (Jer. 7:1-16; 11:14; 14:11) Willful sinners, insincere and unrepentant, set in their evil ways and unwilling to conform to God’s requirements, have "no forgiveness forever"; which means that when they die they go into second death.

So we see that one does not have to be of the anointed class to sin against the holy spirit, nor does he have to have God’s spirit upon him as do the "other sheep" class in order to sin against it. Many in Satan’s visible organization sin against the holy spirit by deliberately and willfully disobeying what they know to be written in God’s Word and by not conforming to the new world society when they see the manifest operation of God’s spirit upon his visible organization

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Their

SinsWereUnforgivable

7

Certain Jewish religious leaders who opposed Jesus did commit willful, and thus unforgivable, sin. Though they saw God’s holy spirit at work through Jesus as he did good and performed miracles, those clerics ascribed his power to Beelzebub, or Satan the Devil. They sinned with their eyes wide open to the undeniable operation of God’s spirit. Thus, they committed unforgivable sin, for Jesus said: "Whoever speaks against the holy spirit, it will not be forgiven him, no, not in this system of things nor in that to come."—Matthew 12:22-32.

8

The sin of Judas Iscariot also was unforgivable. His betrayal of Jesus was the willful, deliberate culmination of a course of hypocrisy and dishonesty. For instance, when Judas saw Mary anoint Jesus with costly oil, he asked: "Why was it this perfumed oil was not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor people?" The apostle John added: "[Judas] said this, though, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief and had the money box and used to carry off the monies put in it." Soon thereafter, Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. (John 12:1-6; Matthew 26:6-16) True, Judas felt remorse and committed suicide. (Matthew 27:1-5) But he was not forgiven, since his deliberate, persistently selfish course and his treacherous act reflected his sin against the holy spirit. How appropriate that Jesus should call Judas "the son of destruction"!—John 17:12; Mark 3:29; 14:21.

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g032/8pp.12-13IsThereanUnforgivableSin?***

The

Bible’sViewpoint

Is

ThereanUnforgivableSin?

IS THERE a punishment worse than death? Yes, death without the hope of a resurrection because one has committed an unforgivable sin. Jesus said that there is a type of sin that "will not be forgiven."—Matthew 12:31.

The Bible, however, describes God as being forgiving. Although men can be prone to hold a grudge and withhold forgiveness, God ‘forgives in a large way.’ (Isaiah 55:7-9) In fact, at great cost to himself, God sent his dear Son to earth to be a propitiatory, or covering, sacrifice so valuable that it could blot out our sins.—John 3:16, 17; Acts 3:19; 1 John 2:1, 2.

In due time God will resurrect many who have been guilty of serious sins but who will no longer be accountable for their past actions. (Acts 24:15; Romans 6:23) In fact, Jesus said that with the exception of the unforgivable sin, "every sort of sin and blasphemy will be forgiven." (Matthew 12:31) So you may wonder, ‘What could be so terrible that it is unforgivable by God?’

Past

thePointofRepentance

Jesus’ warning referred to willful and deliberate "blasphemy against the spirit." There is no acquittal for this type of sin. "No, not in this system of things nor in that to come," he added. (Matthew 12:31, 32) Those guilty of such sin will not be resurrected.

What is blasphemy against the spirit? It emanates from the heart, revealing a malicious attitude and intent. The purposeful intent to oppose God’s holy spirit intensifies the seriousness of this sin. To illustrate: In some parts of the world, the law distinguishes between murder in the first degree and murder in the second degree on the basis of intent and the way the murder was committed, and it limits capital punishment (death) to intentional or premeditated murder.

The apostle Paul was formerly a blasphemer but said: "I was shown mercy, because I was ignorant." (1 Timothy 1:13) To sin against the holy spirit is to oppose it willfully. It involves a wicked heart condition that reaches the point of no return.

Paul was evidently referring to this kind of sin when he wrote: "It is impossible as regards those who have once for all been enlightened, and who have tasted the heavenly free gift, and who have become partakers of holy spirit, and who have tasted the fine word of God and powers of the coming system of things, but who have fallen away, to revive them again to repentance." (Hebrews 6:4-6) The apostle also said: "If we practice sin willfully after having received the accurate knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice for sins left."—Hebrews 10:26.

It was the conduct of some religious leaders in his day that prompted Jesus to warn against the unforgivable sin. But they did not heed his warning. In fact, they had him killed. Later they heard undeniable evidence that the holy spirit had done something miraculous. They were told that Jesus had been brought back from the dead! It was clear that Jesus was the Christ! Still, they acted wickedly against the holy spirit by paying the Roman soldiers to lie about Jesus’ resurrection.—Matthew 28:11-15.

Warning

toTrueChristians

Why do true Christians take the warning of the unforgivable sin to heart? Because although we have accurate knowledge of God and of the activity of his spirit, a wicked heart could develop. (Hebrews 3:12) We should be careful not to think that this could never happen to us. Consider Judas Iscariot. He was once a faithful follower of Jesus. He was chosen as one of the 12 apostles, so he must have had good qualities. But at some point he began to let wicked thoughts and desires grow, and they eventually overtook him. During the period of time he was an eyewitness of Jesus’ incredible miracles, he was stealing money. Then, for money, he knowingly betrayed the Son of God.

Some people who were once faithful Christians have purposely drawn away from God, perhaps because of bitterness, pride, or greed, and are now apostate fighters against God’s spirit. They willfully oppose what the spirit is clearly accomplishing. Have these individuals committed the unforgivable sin? Jehovah is the final Judge.—Romans 14:12.

Rather than judging others, we do well personally to guard against committing secret sins that can gradually harden our hearts. (Ephesians 4:30) And we take comfort in the fact that Jehovah will forgive us in a large way, even of serious sins that we have committed, if we are repentant.—Isaiah 1:18, 19.

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Uncertain

Take a look at this:

Jehovahs Witness Discussion Forum > Bible Research & Study Articles > Comments You Will Not Hear at the 8-26-07 WT Study (SIN-HOLY SPIRIT)

aSphereisnotaCircle

The society has never been clear on this, they only hint at what sinning against the holy spirit might be.

I remember having this discussion with a couple of pioneer sisters, after receiving a QFR asking "how does one sin against the holy spirit?". After reading the article, we couldn't figure out what the answer was. We went to an elder and asked him "How do you sin against the holy spirit?" He pointed to the article and said the answer is right here. We said that we had studied the article but still did not know the answer and maybe he could show us wich paragraph it was in. He said you have to read it for yourself.

I now realize the elder didn't know the answere either, but wouldn't say so. He just kept treating us like children who hadn't done their homework................ what an asshole.

M.J.

Simple. Jesus was casting out demons by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Pharisees attributed this power not to God but to Satan.

So what the Pharisees committed was blasphemy against the Holy Spirit by associating the Spirit with Satan.

When the WTS makes blanket statements that every work of every Bible believer aside from themselves is in fact carried out under the influence of Satan, they very well could be committing blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

AlphaOmega

Simple. Jesus was casting out demons by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Pharisees attributed this power not to God but to Satan.

So what the Pharisees committed was blasphemy against the Holy Spirit by associating the Spirit with Satan.

When the WTS makes blanket statements that every work of every Bible believer aside from themselves is in fact carried out under the influence of Satan, they very well could be committing blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

As a Christian Non JW, this has always been my understanding of it too. M.J. I like the idea in the last paragraph !

White Dove

I thought it was not being sorry for disobeying God. Then, I thought it was attributing to Satan what God did. Hmmm...don't care anymore

Shawn10538

Practically speaking, even after reading all those articles (thank you so much by the way, you guys are awesome!!) I still don't have a clear picture of what a sin against the holy spirit looks like TODAY. The way I read it, every single person who gets baptized as a Witness and who later rejects the faith, attributing it perhaps to Satan, as I would do if I believed in Satan, is sinning against the holy spirit. So it shoud be impossible for such a person to get reinstated. This is a scary situation. Does the Society have a list pf people they beieve to have sinned against the holy spirit, and therefore deny them getting reinstated without telling them? In such a case a person might be attending meetings indefinitely with no hope of getting reinstated! Love to hear more comments on this one.

Sinning against the Holy Spirit - Unforgivable? How does one commit it?

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