Unforgivable

“Anyone who is not with Me is against Me, and anyone who does not gather with Me scatters. Because of this, I tell you, people will be forgiven every sin and blasphemy, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 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, either in this age or in the one to come.

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart. A good man produces good things from his storeroom of good, and an evil man produces evil things from his storeroom of evil. I tell you that on the day of judgment people will have to account for every careless word they speak. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12:30-37)

What happens when an immovable object meets an irresistible force? Though such a riddle may appear profound, it’s really nothing more than a word game. Can you commit the unpardonable sin? It, too, is a silly question.

But many decent people fear they have done something so bad that they can never be forgiven. Weighed down by guilt, they are convinced that they are beyond hope of redemption. Some respond to their guilty consciences by deciding that they might as well try to “eat, drink and be merry” for tomorrow they’re going to die and there’s nothing they can do to change their circumstances.

But there is no one alive today that is guilty, or ever can be guilty, of the “unpardonable sin.” The unpardonable sin was something that the religious leadership of Israel became guilty of when they attributed Jesus’ miracles, done by the power of the Holy Spirit, to the Devil. Such blasphemy against the Spirit of God, Jesus told them, would never be forgiven. And that was only because they didn’t want to repent. They thought they were right.

But Jesus is not walking the earth now, and neither are those Pharisees that spoke against Jesus’ demon casting. Jesus’ death on the cross covers any sin that we have ever committed or ever will or ever can commit. Today, no one is beyond the hope of forgiveness.